wsam29

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNuSHBwY2Is]Futures Trading 101: Intro to Futures and Trading Decisions by John Hoagland - YouTube[/ame] This may answer some of your questions Edgar.

You're still learning and have lots to learn, everyday I learn something new, but worrying about the outcome of the trade does you no good, just focus on your trade management plan and the rest takes care of itself. Breaking even is the 2nd best trade or outcome for the day. Accept it, embrace it and know that following your plan is the goal. You won;t know if your plan has an edge unless you follow it consistently.

A pit trader said to the TST group once, "Look for a trade, not trade for a look" The temptation to make money is always knocking on all our doors, have the discipline to stick to your plan.

The first goal for any trader is simply learn the skill of following a plan consistently. It does not matter if the plan makes money or loses money, the goal is to follow a plan. Once you have proven to yourself and built the trust within to follow the plan, finding a set of rules that will give you an edge in the next step. Then you will find out the rest along your journey and meet them head on as they come along. It does not matter what your daily profit goal is if you cannot even follow a plan.

A trading coach said to me once, "Did you follow your plan, yes or no?" As long as you followed your plan, its good, even if it was a losing trade. Just keep things simple and don't over complicate an already difficult thing to do, ie trading. We all make mistakes, forgive yourself and try not to do it again.

I joined TST back in November 2012. This is the best way to learn to be a trader as their rules offer you structure. If you cannot follow their rules, you won't be able to follow your own, if you even have any. Its the best thing to happen to me after taking the Intuitive Development for Traders (IDT) program offered by Ray Burchett. For those who don't know who Ray is. http://www.cmegroup.com/education/trading-equity-e-minis.html To say the 30k combine with a $500 daily loss limit and a $1500 draw down is too restrictive, I beg to differ. I'm doing just fine refining my trade plan currently trading the NQ with an 8 tick stop loss with 3 lots. The 30k will teach you downside risk management and be more selective with your trades. The profit objective is only $1500 so its very obtainable. Feel from to come by on free for all fridays and chat with all the members. You;ll find me in the lounge when I am done trading at sam007. TST is a great way to learn whether you are new to trading or have blown out many accounts. I am the latter. Its the cheapest way to learn if you treat the practice account as if it were a live account. There is no short cut in learning, you have to put in the time as there is no holy grail or special indicator to tell you when, where and how to enter the markets and the same is true for your exit. It all starts with yourself and whats between your ears. If you can't trade small, you can't trade large. Just learn the fundamentals and the profits and size will come with time. "delayed gratification" as Nebraska says all the time to us.

Average Winner > Average Loser = good Average win duration trade > Average lose duration trade = good Total Winning average > 45% = good How much one makes depends on the size they trade. just manage the downside risk, the upside takes care of itself.

You, as a trader, need to be coach-able. If you're stuck in your ways and beliefs, no mater what a mentor tells you, you will not accept it and you won't change for the better. A mentor should tell you the good and bad about trading, not just all the money one can make from trading. learning what not to do is equally important as what to do, if not more important. i wish I was more open to being coached when I first started trading, being young and ignorant did not help the situation.

What he said, its as simple as following a plan. Its up to you to decide when its time to let it run or cut it lose based on what you see or don't see the market do. The trick to trading is really as simple as following a plan. If you can stick to following any plan, be it with good results or poor results. You've proved to yourself you CAN follow a plan, then its on to finding a set of rules that will give you an edge over time.

Not to sound arrogant, but all our issues have solutions to them, just re-read what you just wrote and think about what you just wrote. Try focusing on what is going good for the trade and not what is going wrong, which can take your profits away and that thought alone creates an urge to action, to take profits. Dude, it is easier said than done, but its one of the things you must over come to become successful. You can sorta say, it takes time to mature as a trader, just like in life, look back on how you have changed as a person. It just happened when you finally came to terms with the issues. It either happens or it doesn't, its something you cannot force. I used to that the same problem, taking profits early only to see the market run. Its at the moment when you have the thought of taking profits, is when you need to acknowledge that thought and refrain from acting on it. The next part is tricky, you gotta come to terms with getting stopped out if it happens, and a "could have taken profits" after thought kicks in. Because if you don't your next trade will be opposite of what you just did, its a revolving door of getting nowhere fast when you do stuff like that. Hope this helps.

Spend the $8 or what ever it is, its well worth it. Money spent here will be money saved from trading when you understand yourself more.

Know yourself and what type of volatility you can stomach.

I always say "Practice what you preach."

Here are my results from taking the test and paying for a detailed report. Just to give you guys an idea of how useful this could be, just knowing WHO you are and WHAT you are capable of. Overall results (score 113) Ability to recognize and understand emotions, and handle them productively. You had an average score on this assessment, indicating that both your self-report and ability scores were in the mid-range. You appear to generally be able to accurately recognize the emotions of others, manage your own feelings and know how best to approach others in an empathetic manner. Moreover, you accurately perceive your abilities in this area. This is key to improving your abilities even more, as knowing your strengths and problem areas can help you know which areas you need to concentrate on. Self-report Component (score 104) Includes self-reported ability to understand your emotions and those of others, ability to motivate yourself, and your level of comfort with becoming close with others. According to your self-report answers, your emotional intelligence is slightly below average. People who score like you do feel that their ability to understand and deal with their own emotions and those of others is just barely acceptable. Emotionally intelligent people have an easy time overcoming difficulties in their lives and they are generally able to control their moods. It’s easy for them to motivate themselves to overcome obstacles and reach their goals. In addition, they find social interactions to be quite easy and fulfilling, for several reasons. They are comfortable allowing themselves to get close with others, and feel comfortable being vulnerable enough to establish intimacy. They also report having an easy time offering support to others; likely due to an empathetic nature and a solid ability to offer advice. Perhaps by working on your problem areas, you can become more confident in dealing with your own emotions and those of others. Ability Component (score 117) Refers to how well you identify emotions in others, whether you are able to understand complex emotional situations, and whether you understand how best to deal with emotions. Your scores on the ability component of this test were average. In fact, you scored as well as the average test-taker. People who score as you did appear to have some knowledge in the areas of recognizing, understanding, and managing emotions, but there is certainly room for improvement. This average score is mostly an indication of their ability to handle the emotions of others, although indirectly it also probably means that they sometimes have difficulty managing their own emotions as well. This area can certainly be improved. Making a conscious effort to be more observant of those around you could help. Emotional Insight (score 125) Measures aspects of self-esteem, recognition and control of emotions, and ability to console yourself in a crisis. You had quite a high score on Emotional Insight. People with such a score are typically in touch with their own emotions, and are able to recognize and identify their true feelings. They understand their own reactions in most situations. The fact that they are able to pinpoint the reason why something is bothering them gives them a sense of self-control because it helps them determine a course of action to deal with that issue. In fact, they can most often console themselves rather than unleashing a flood of uncensored emotions. Having such insight into their own emotions generally means they have a high self-esteem and are better able to bounce back quite well from life's difficulties. Emotional Expression (score 77) Measures comfort with expressing emotions, and your willingness to be emotionally vulnerable with others. You had a low score on Emotional Expression. People with such a score have quite a lot of difficulty handling strong emotions, both in themselves and in others. They generally don't feel comfortable expressing their feelings, and even when they want to communicate, they lack the skills to talk about emotional issues. Individuals who are unable to express emotions are often overwhelmed when faced with emotional situations, like dealing with people who are distraught or upset. In fact, this lack of comfort can even include an avoidance of expressing positive feelings and interacting with anyone exhibiting any strong emotional reaction, good or bad. This often results in a repression of feelings and pent up emotions that can lead to anger, sadness and emotional distance from others. People with this profile generally don't ask for support, and they might attempt to ignore or rationalize away their emotions. They often feel like they need to protect their integrity or ego by hiding what they consider to be "irrational" emotions. They tend to put on a poker face (perhaps as a defense mechanism), but they may not realize that others can't tell what they are feeling. While they may actually be very sensitive, they could come across as cold and uninvolved. Motivation (score 133) Measures whether you report having the ability to motivate yourself, even in difficult situations. Your level of Motivation is way above average. People with such a score possess an amazing amount of natural motivation and self-discipline to work towards their goals. In addition, they do not depend on external reinforcement (like praise or frequent encouragement) to keep them going. Individuals with a high level of inner drive have what it takes to set personal goals and follow through on them, which likely stems from self-confidence and a proactive approach to life. Social Insight and Empathy (score 69) Assesses whether you report being able to understand, empathize with, and help manage the emotions of others. You had a low score on Social Insight and Empathy. People with such a profile typically have difficulty recognizing the emotions of others and thus cannot respond adequately. They have problems understanding the underlying motives behind people's actions, which may hinder their social interactions. They respond to the face value of behaviors, making them likely to misread and react to the wrong interpretation of the situation. They find it difficult to put themselves into someone else's shoes and see the situation from another perspective. This tendency can make them a bit narrow-minded and set in their ways. They are not generally empathetic or in tune with how others are feeling, lack social insight and may have some trouble making meaningful human connections. For individuals of this nature, it can seem that other people's reactions come out of the blue - they cannot anticipate what's coming. Recognition of emotions (score 143) Measures your ability to recognize other people's emotions. You appear to be much more accurate than the average person when it comes to recognizing the emotions of others. When asked to report what you think a person is feeling based on visual cues, you make many fewer errors than the average person. While you may have picked up on many, if not all, of the correct emotions, the ability to recognize emotions is a human capacity and most people make very few errors. When interacting with others, you are likely able to read body language and facial expressions. This is great because it can help you anticipate how best to approach the people around you. Emotional Integration (score 120) Ability to understand what a feeling would feel like, to understand mixed emotions and emotional progressions, underlying emotion behind art or music, or to liken feelings to physical sensations. You appear to be quite skilled when it comes to emotional integration – slightly more skilled than the average person. This scale entails a number of varied skills. First, it entails being able to describe how emotions feel physically, and to liken them to phenomena that occur in the world, such as colors, weather, etc. Second, it entails the capacity to identify the emotion that a person must be feeling based on physical sensations that he or she is experiencing. Finally, it involves the ability to understand how emotions progress when they become stronger or weaker, and what two emotions mixed together become when integrated. You are likely quite skilled at identifying which emotions you are feeling, figuring out what others are feeling, and empathizing with what others experience. Emotional Insightfulness (score 137) Assesses whether you are able to identify what a person might be feeling given additional contextual information. You appear to be much more capable than the average person of taking context into consideration when making judgments about other people’s emotions. You are sometimes able to go beyond what you see on the surface (i.e. what is being conveyed solely though facial expressions and body language), and take into consideration both his or her past and the current context when determining what he or she is feeling in that situation. Being able to put yourself in other people’s shoes is essential to understanding others. You almost always appear to have empathy for others and will rarely, if ever, come across as insensitive to their feelings. Control and Maintenance of Emotions (score 93) Measures the ability to make good decisions in dealing with emotional situations. While life is seldom black or white, there are certainly good and bad ways to handle emotional situations. On this test, you had more trouble than the average person when it comes to finding appropriate solutions to problems. You may have trouble making decisions about how to resolve issues in your life or when helping others do so. Conversely, you may not realize when something needs to be done; you might let things go instead of taking action. Being able to make decisions about how to deal with emotional situations is essential for many different aspects of life: having successful relationships, dealing with co-workers and handling life’s obstacles, among others. Your ability to nurture others, resolve conflicts, and offer insightful advice is probably somewhat poor because of your struggles in this area.