Running your own race

This quote has been something that our mentors has instilled within all of us during the course. I have always taken it to mean that our biggest obstacle to success is ourselves. 

In my previous posts, I have repeatedly said that you have to fit your trades to your profile. Make it fit to your lifestyle. To who you are. 

Well, recent events have made this very applicable and real to me. The little robot has started going to school and unfortunately the school schedule has absolutely wrecked havoc on my trading style. Since the class starts just before the time when humans need sustenance and ends sometime in the early afternoon and with the daily traffic, I have had to adjust, adapt, and innovate as a fellow tribe member has stated. 

At first, I thought it would be an easy transition. This past two months it really hit me that I can no longer buy at the close. Or even see what happens during closing. Checking the charts after trading is now a regular session of disbelief at seeing breakouts missed. Intraday buying opportunities that happen right before leaving for school have to be skipped. My system didn't want to have any lingering thoughts of buying super volatile stocks while driving on the road. 

So to compensate, I have had no choice but to change strategies. I went back to my notes and reviewed about trend following and sleeper plays. Being a mentor to bastards and the seed has also been a big help since it allowed me to get a fresh perspective on the power of MAs. Having had a coffee session with Zodiac's resident Dog was also very timely for it showed social proof that a different technique can still give massive gains. The only difference was time.

Time because...

- instead of being able to buy on the actual breakout, you buy in anticipation of the breakout. Your patience will be tested.

- your entries and exits are different from being an intraday trader. It means looking at the bigger picture. 

- instead of just focusing on the daily charts, the weekly chart now gets equal significance as well. 

- I would be at the mercy of forces that are not in my control.

This has been my first attempt at a TF trade. Not perfectly executed, but I think that it will do. 

MCP

But do take note, that I still try to keep up with a checklist of the intraday breakouts that did happen successfully. Which ones that were still caught by my scanners and which ones were missed completely. For at my core, I am still an intraday trader at heart. That is something that cannot be taken away. This is just a temporary setback. 

Going back to the previous analogy, this is a race that I intend to win. I imagine that we are all in a marathon, it doesn't matter how we reached the finish line, the important thing is we reach it. My circumstances might take me a bit slower than the others for now, but I will persevere.

For what does not kill us, only makes us stronger right? And being able to add and master a whole new weapon to my arsenal will only make my final form that much more deadlier. 

HOPE as a strategy

Such a simple word. But it can trigger such a mess of human emotions. 

A fresh start. 

A better outlook. 

A new beginning. 

A chance for a new day. 

Sounds so nice and dandy. All sunshine and rainbows. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but it's not all that. 

HOPE 

It can also sometimes bring the worst out of humans.

Just remember, HOPE should never be applicable to the stock market. For this is not the place for your emotions. You have to be very objective in your buying and selling. Stick to your plan and execute. Hope should never be a strategy. For here, only the charts are your friend. 

New programming upload: One Day Reversals

It's been a while since my system has had new programming uploads. This one has been a long time coming to say the least. My trading profile has always been about breakouts and uptrends. For me, it's always so much easier to trade from strength to strength. 

But to focus on just your strengths is a mistake since you will leave a resource left untapped. And there is so much potential in bounce plays. This has been one of my goals this year. To try and assimilate bounce plays into my system. 

To do this, I went back to the charts. Reviewing past discussions and lessons. Analyzing where I went wrong and what held me back from execution. 

So I started with just paper trades here and there. A lot of mistakes were made and adjustments were in order. Some extra calibration was needed. Some more reps were needed. 

Finally, this past month I think I have successfully integrated and passed the one day reversal technique. Here are some of my results.

DD trade. Textbook one day reversal. 

APX trade. This one I was not able to maximize due to scheduling difficulties. But for me, the important piece was the execution. Never mind the lost profit because of the way it behaved after. 

That's one kind of bounce play that I can safely say is already in my arsenal. Here's to adding some more bounce weapons in the future.