Thursday April 23, 2015

Trading Goal For Today: +20 pips. or $6.00 Prev. Goal Date: 11-10-15 (+4 days).
Current Goal Date: 11-13-15 ( +7 days) Pips This session: -25 pips  Goal Met? NO.

My First Loss in 9 trading days

Caution: Wet Paint Drying: Boredom Ahead 

Today was another one of "those" trading days, where you sit for long hours, waiting for that elusive setup that never comes. The GBPUSD has been quiet for the better part of the trading day. All sorts of thoughts have been running in my head-namely, look for another trading system. Why would I think that? I will tell you why. Here are the reasons why I should NOT be thinking of changing trading systems.

-1 net loss since I started trading my new trading method 1 week ago.
-It is highly mechanized, so it does reduces stress and emotionalism.
-It has audible and pop up alerts that allow me to step away from my screen.
-It is consistently profitable, and has given me my best recent trading performance.

Here is the one reason  that I am thinking of changing trading systems. Ready?
- I am bored and tired of waiting for a setup. Really? Yep. I know. Stupid.

The number one reason that traders "system hop" is because they get bored waiting for setups.
As traders, we crave action. We want to be "doing something". Let me push a button,  moving a stop loss, draw a line, bur please don't make me just sit and wait.  I would rather get into a trade and take a loss, than to sit and...wait.

It is during this space of time where we are doing nothing, because we are waiting for the next trade, that we start to think of "missed opportunity costs", and our minds wonder and wander over to that other trading system that we heard about.  We start to surf the 'net and "look around", and see if there is a system that will get us into more trades, so that we can spend less time, just...waiting. The truth is we get bored- plain and simple. Bored.
Guess what? Trading is boring, if you are doing it right. Today I was bored out of my skull, because I did not trade like a rapid fire machine gun buysellbuysellbuysellbuysellbuysellbuysell. I waited. 

A profitable trader is one that has mastered the art of waiting. Waiting for the right trade. Waiting for the target to be hit. Waiting for the swing to develop.

I heard a quote recently about guys that work on a bomb squad. These guys are notorious for being slow, and have mastered the art of waiting. Why? Because the next bomb they attempt to diffuse, may be their last, so they say, Slow down! Don't be in such a rush to die. That resonates with me. Rushing into trading can lead to that one trade that blows up your account. All of a sudden, waiting for the next trade, does not seem like a bad idea after all. Today, I lived to trade another day. Why? Because I learned to wait.

I still have a trade open ( Long GBPUSD), so I will wait to update the blog until my trade has closed.

I took my first loss in 9 trading days today. Here is the chart of today's trading.