Holding Yourself Accountable

[sydney 10]

I have been following this thread and very interested in joining... my paltalk name is sydney_912 and so is my skype id.

 

Soultrader, I tried to find the TL room but it didn't show up. Do you have a link that you could post?

 

Also, have we made a decision on how to organize the room/rooms (trading methodology, es/ym etc)?

 

Thanks for starting this brownsfan, I think this will be great.

[Soultrader 12]

Heres the group link: http://chat.paltalk.com/g2/group/1038141155/WebLoader.wmt

 

However, do I need to enter this room always to make it open? Can I appoint someone else as admin to have the room open?

[james_gsx 16]

I'll look into it this weekend James. That is, if someone doesn't beat me to it.

 

How about we do our first "meeting" this Friday? That way we have a week of data and time to plan it out and decide what we want to discuss. I'm looking forward to this.

[sydney 10]

James_gsx, friday sounds great... what time?

[james_gsx 16]

The markets are closed Friday for Good Friday. I will be available anytime after noon EST. So my scheduled is pretty flexible, who all is in?

[Hlm 10]

I think this is an EXCELLENT idea! I truly believe that getting together and discussing concepts and sharing ideas is way more valuable than people sitting around and just randomly calling trades. This is exactly why I have personally stopped calling my trades in the current TL chat room. Paltalk would be a great place to start. Especially since James already has it set up. However, depending on the meet up and topics being discussed it may eventually be helpful to have a room where charts can be displayed live. I know tradingrooms can be a pain but it does get the job done and is free (or at least use to be). Of course we can cross that bridge when the time comes and IF indeed the interest is there.

 

BTW, I should be free all day Friday.

[Soultrader 12]

From what I see, it seems like I would need to open the room everytime which is going to be impossible to do during US hours. I havent tried yet with additional admin accounts so should give it a try first. If anyone else can be committed to running a room, perhaps it could be an option as well.

[BlowFish 10]

Been away so a bit behind here. I like the A-F idea and think that could be reasonably expanded somewhat to ranking A-F for a couple of different categories. Those categories might be different for each trader but laid out somewhere up front.

 

An example

 

I took all my setups A-F

I didn't take spurious trades A-F

I stuck with trades until my exit conditions where met A-F

 

Striking a balance so just the traders most important issues are monitored rather than dozens of relatively unimportant stuff would be key. I would guess maybe 3-5 'elements' would be about right.

[Uli Schmuli 10]

I think that for most traders that if you stick to your plan you will be successful. Therefore, performance should be measured in how well you stuck to plan. My most important metric is trades taken without a valid setup. Response to wife/other could simply be in terms of performance with respect to the plan. Money will take care of itself.

 

Andrea Toghairae (spelling) featured this subject of reporting to your spouse in one of her interviews that I found on Woodie's website. She covers how often, what to include, etc. The frequency and information varies depending upon your relationship, and she talks about that.

 

I've tried being accountable to a partner and it has never worked. Ultimately, being accountable to anyone is just a tool to get you to execute your trading plan without those ridiculous lapses in judgement that cause you to stray from the plan.

 

Regarding discipline: Discipline is only required if you have bad habits that crop up. I no longer practice discipline, I just make sure to only practice good habits.

[BlowFish 10]

Absolutely Uli, The three examples are all areas where one might deviate from the plan. Acountability is really simple determining how well you stuck to the plan. Of course by going through this process you might discover areas where the plan could be improved or where it dosen't really suit your 'personality'.

 

Actually it can be made more mechanical so to get a 'score' for each area you are interested in. For example say you want to monitor your entries. For each setup correctly taken you would award yourself +1 giving a total of N. At the end of the day reviewing the action the total number of valid setups maybe M. How well you stuck to your plan (as an objective percentage) is N/M x 100. You could look at erroneous entries (E) in a similar way (though would perhaps express as a percentage of valid setups so E/N x 100).

 

I guess most people will be interested in monitoring entries, exits, stops etc. having said that there are all sorts of other metrics that can be measured fairly objectively. It is up to the individual trader to come up with the metrics they want to measure however this sort of % method makes it pretty easy for others to see whats going on.

[stanlyd 10]

One thing about Paltalk I have learned over the years is that it's known as a breeding ground for people spreading computer viruses. Just a heads up.

[james_gsx 16]

That's good to know Stanly, in the future we will have to look for an alternative to Paltalk. I think that will be a goal after we get things moving and we have proof that people are interested in this idea.

 

James - I can run this weeks chat in a private Paltalk room. All I will need is for everyone who wants to participate to add me so I can send them an invite.

 

Any updates on what time we want to do this?

[Soultrader 12]

That's good to know Stanly, in the future we will have to look for an alternative to Paltalk. I think that will be a goal after we get things moving and we have proof that people are interested in this idea.

 

James - I can run this weeks chat in a private Paltalk room. All I will need is for everyone who wants to participate to add me so I can send them an invite.

 

Any updates on what time we want to do this?

 

Hi James,

 

Did you want to setup one up for tonight? I wont be around but will leave my pc running throughout the night so ppl can access the paltalk room. I can give you admin priveleges as well. Let me know and will set that up for you. thanks

[Hlm 10]

One thing about Paltalk I have learned over the years is that it's known as a breeding ground for people spreading computer viruses. Just a heads up.

Yep. However the majority of virus complaints (that I know of) are no different than opening e-mail attachments or clicking on links. The rest usually come from programs that claim free payed service or admin access. They key is to only trust links and downloads from people you know.

 

I think that will be a goal after we get things moving and we have proof that people are interested in this idea.

Exactly...first we need to see what type of interest there is. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. If the interest is there I think it would be extremely beneficial to have a program where charts can be shared live. Also, this could be a good way to really see what everyone wants to discuss (specific hot topics) and could possibly lead to the creation of more videos for the website.

 

An easy way for everyone to share their paltalk name is to click on the link Soultrader posted and "Join" the group. Here's the link again:

 

http://chat.paltalk.com/g2/group/1038141155/DisplayGroupDetails.wmt

[james_gsx 16]

Well let's get things rolling. How does 2pm EST Friday, March 21 work for everyone?

[sydney 10]

Hello again. I'll be there at 2pm. See you then

[JBWTrader 10]

I will be there also. Thanks Guys.

All the Best

John

[btrader2 10]

I'll be there too. Looking forward to it.

[james_gsx 16]

Cool, I'll see everyone there in an hour.

 

Edit: If for some reason we can't meet in the Paltalk room, just join the TL chat. Thanks.

Edited March 21, 2008 by james_gsx

[sydney 10]

I am new to paltalk but how do I find you guys? the room is closed and I am not sure how to join the chat

 

thanks

[james_gsx 16]

Well HLM said we could create a private room, but I'm not sure how to do that. Just go ahead and join the TL chat. Up on the top menu on the site, click on Chat Room and we will use that. We can upload charts and such there, might be easier for now.

[JBWTrader 10]

I am in the same Position as Sydney.

Chat room says its closed.

Best

John

[james_gsx 16]

Here you go JBW - we created a new room.

 

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/tlchat2/info.php?hmmwhy=link

[JBWTrader 10]

Hi James,

Thanks.

Sorry to bug but when I click it on it tells me this.

 

"It seems you have tried to open a link in a new window. Click on the links instead. "

ie The Link wont let me in.

 

Thanks

John

[Hlm 10]

In Paltalk click:

 

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