I had paper profits of R3 but ended the day with 0.25R in the NQ. Let me tell you what happened.
I knew we would get volatility today because of JOLTS but more so on account of Powell giving his semi-annual testimony in front of congress. I waited until 10.15 a.m. before Powell started speaking. Days like today the market can make violent rapid moves and the trader must be ready. Powell stuck to script and reiterated the Fed is looking to bring inflation down to 2% and then would consider cutting rates, although he did acknowledge the data was very good showing inflation well on track to further decline.
This is all the market needed to hear and more so this trader, and I promptly went long the first pull back to the EMA at 10.20 a.m. on the cusp. The market sold off a little bit without threatening my stop and then started to rise. I thought maybe today we would have a nice day-long one directional rally to the close so removed my profit target and left the house to take care of other business. On returning and looking at my position I saw that we had rallied to a high of 184 in the NQ and then retraced all the way back to 040 when I finally closed out my position for the day. Now, I had promised myself I would not do this: walk away from my desk with a live position on and if I can help it, and I need to keep that discipline to myself going forward. Because some days you can leave a lot on the table if you are not observing your position and seeing it go to your profit targets and closing your trade there.
Trading is about taking responsibility for your actions. The great traders are fully committed to their process, executing it like a machine and letting the market do what it does, fully knowing it is out of their control. This is where they are not getting emotional, angry, fearful or dejected, because they have committed all of these emotional mistakes in the past. Now with the years behind them they just trade with patience and discipline knowing it is a long-term game. This is why not tinkering with your position when in a live trade by taking profits too early or moving your stop is a killer in our business and an amateur move. It is about taking profits in a pre-determined zone as defined by you the trader. This is super important and this is a rule I broke today.
We still have a lot of data tomorrow and Friday.