Be Like a Snake

When you look back at a trader's P&L or indeed your own, especially after a bad drawdown, you begin to wonder what you did wrong,... especially as you were doing so well in your sim account. This truth will only hit home if and when you look back at your trade log.

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'What's a trade log ... no need for that' I hear some of you say.

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Logging trades is one of the most important aspects and of your trading journey and is also one of the most overlooked.

It's through logging trades that you will be able to see what you were doing before (be it Sim trading), to what you were doing when u started giving back money to the market.

My trading style includes some simple rules that produce results. However, when I first transitioned from Sim to live, the contrast was stark and sobering, to say the least, .. what was I doing differently?

On inspection, my trades as they were going along were changing. Example: if I had just had 2 losing trades, .. now my third trade had to make up for the previous 2, ... that was never in my plan !... but I let emotions get the better of me, .. my third trade which would have been a profitable trade, but because now I was trying to get double out of the market, becomes another losing trade.

So what happens after the third losing trade, ... well, what does your trade plan say?

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My trade plan says to this day that if that happens then I'm not in the right frame of mind, .. I should walk away from the trading platform, . go for a walk, .. kick a ball, ... go grocery shopping, gym .. whatever,.. but I need to get away from the screen, or I will be drawn back in to make another silly mistake.

Looking back at my trading log the number of 4 losses in a row was there to be seen, and immediately you know what you have done wrong, . broken one of your golden rules.

Navigating through the pitfalls of emotional trading is key and keeping an accurate log of all your trades will help you immensely and will allow you to pinpoint your errors and also when you start going off track, otherwise your sailing without a rudder, ... whats the other saying ... 'pissing in the wind'.

What the heck has all this got to do with being like a snake?

So I was watching a wildlife program where a snake is stalking its prey, .. its some kind of rat, .. the rat is unaware that it is being stalked by the snake and is somewhat in the undergrowth where it has a fair chance of escaping even if the snake strikes now.

The snake appears to know this and is still and motionless, .. just watching, devoid of its emotions to strike now and possibly lose its dinner, .. he (or she ) the snake waits .... and waits for the right moment, silent and watching.

I couldn't help but feel an admiration at this point. The observation without emotion waiting for the correct moment. It's possible the rat may not venture close enough, .. but in the end, it did.

And at the correct moment, the snake struck, ... moved with what looked like immense speed and was rewarded.

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Don't chase the market, .. know your plan, .. log your plan and stick to it, ... if the market doesn't come to you according to your plan. let it go, whatever you do - once it starts running away from you - don't chase it!

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I hope this analogy resonates as much with you as it did with me.

So be like a snake! .. even the Goblin can do it :-)

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A quick shout out to @slobberchops the urbex king who got me back up to speed now using Hive.



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I have chased too many trades and still haven't learned - I am trying though... semi-successfully. :)

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hi @tarazkp, .. I'm not immune to it either, ... but looking back at the end of the day at your trades which you logged helps for next time. 😃

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The problem is that my trades are so small that even when I make gains, the bottle of gin I buy to drown my sorrows on the losses, eats the profits. :D

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Chasing the downturn, that seems to be the worst when you are trying to offload a load of tokens. I am too impatient for my own good.

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@slobberchops, ... it's a constant battle, on the last run of Hive, how many people will have jumped on at 50C+ thinking the days of 20C are history for good, yet here we almost are again.

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I'm a terrible trader, which usually means I just by HIVE, power it up, and hope for the best!

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lol, .. I love the simplicity of it and TBH I do the same for Hive, .. just buying on the dips and hope for the best. one day it will go to the moon and ill sell a few Hive to buy an apartment overlooking the boats in Monaco ..😄😃

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It saves me the stress of watching charts and ballsing trades up!

Monaco, I'd be happy with Blackpool... maybe not :)

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Good to see you posting. I am no trader, but I can see that waiting for the right moment is important. It's too tempting to just keep going when it's so easy online. Hope it's going well for you.

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thanks, @steevc, .. now that the Covid lockdown seems to be easing, hope to see you soon on a UK Hive shin dig.😃

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Likewise. There is one in London next week, but I need to think about whether it is worth the risks.

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I am pretty lucky that I don't have enough disposable income to do much trading. Everything I do is on a small scale and it doesn't really matter if I mess up. I can recall one recent screw-up. I was holding a stock and red some info that certain people were buying more of it. So I bought more of it thinking the price would go up. They ended up doing a reverse split and my shares were burnt. :P

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oh dear @bozz, .. sounds like you were a victim of 'pump and dump' these games do go on all the time and indeed when a big player needs to dump his stock, he can't do that all at once as the price will go down before he gets rid of it, ... needs buyers to fill his sells, .. and so the pump happens via 'leaked stories' and 'shares reviews,' .. it happened to me also, ... but my trading nowadays doesn't really pay much attention to longer-term professional advice. watch what they do, not what they say is something I learned the hard way, .. I hope you are well and the second half of 2020 is better the first !! .. for all of us.

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I hope so too! At least it was only about $20 that I lost. I have probably spent more than that on dumber things!

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Wonderful post ...
I didam a, post about 6 days ago on the importance od having a strategy. The importance cannot be overemphasized. I mean you have to know the exact entry point and the time to leave the trade.
Tradr logging is the final step one needs in tracking and identifying ones short coming .
I will like to end with the words of a famous trader

Successful trading relies on a good trading plan, a good trading psychology, a good risk management strategy and finally good record keeping skills.

Going to the market without aking note of how you were defeated is likevgoing to war without your tools. The market is the battlefield

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Thanks @bhoa, ... ill have a look at your post,... it's true the rules seem so simple in essence, .. but putting them into practice and sticking to them is a whole new ball game on human psychology and is driven by either greed or fear.

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I just feel that trading successfully requires the ability to control your self

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Don't chase the market, .. know your plan, .. log your plan and stick to it, ... if the market doesn't come to you according to your plan. let it go, whatever you do - once it starts running away from you - don't chase it!

Wow! Your illustrations and pictorial representation is just wonderful. There are no better words than what you just said. In bussines i feel you are as good as your startegy and how you stick with these strategies. So having a plan and sticking to it...so long as your plan don't involve being greedy instead knowing when to yield and restrategies.

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thanks, .. glad you like it, plans don't involve being greedy per se. , however, once you have exited a trade one thing to log is how many of those trades could have given more. and over a period of time, you could adjust accordingly and log the result. Plans shouldn't be carved in stone as none of them will work all the time, .. tweaking will be required.

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Totally get this... And yes, emotion is the worst enemy a trader can have...
We need to control our emotion, our mind and our finger when we trade...

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