Did not trade yesterday, took one trade today, it was a winner.
The price action today was pretty awesome and for any of you who are active traders I hope you caught some of the higher-lows on the way down and pull-backs on the way up.
I waited until 2 p.m for the FOMC minutes to come out before I executed a trade going long, catching close to 100 points or so in the NQ. As I am writing this after RTH - regular trading hours, the ES continues to rise and just touched PDH - previous day high, to complete a 70 point roundtrip for the day. For the veteran professional trader who know to ride their winners to the max, days like today would’ve been sensational.
The difference between the long term trader who knows how to trade and the neophyte trader who does not are many things. The technical aspect is common: edge and rules.
But the greatest difference between the two: the veteran trader is accepting of his trade once he is in the market and he is not emotionally disturbed by them, he understands the trade could turn against him and he could take a R1 loss but he also knows once the trade starts going in his favor he has to maximize the profits because days like today are few and far between.
The neophyte trader? He starts sweating bullets the moment he’s in a trade, he’s living and dying with every tick, his mind a trap box of a thousand thoughts. The moment he’s in the green he quickly takes a profit because he’s tired of losing and wants the emotional warmth of making money. Worse, if the trade goes against him he moves his stop and loses a large chunk of his account.