Cory2679's Log

[emg 12]

Do all high performing athletes, astronauts, etc. extensively practice their craft in simulated environments to develop skills and habits for the real event. Yes they do, and they do it much more than they do the real thing because when the pressure is on, they want their trained habits to have already become instinctual reactions to whatever is placed before them. Is it possible to develop bad habits while training? Yes. Is it possible to develop good habits? Yes.

 

true, but, it is all based on that person personality and not chicken out. that makes 1 out of 20 athletes let say competiting for a gold medal on a single sport a winner. Perhaps that winner did a lot of live competitions vs a rookie

[thalestrader 14]

Do all high performing athletes, astronauts, etc. extensively practice their craft in simulated environments to develop skills and habits for the real event. Yes they do, and they do it much more than they do the real thing ...

 

Little league, Pop Warner football, junior varsity, varsity, college ... lots of practice, yes, but lot's of real live win or lose competition as well. Even pilots log thousands of hours of live, in the cockpit aerial maneuvers (help me out here jands) and do not learn their craft simply playing an expensive version of Nintendo.

 

Sim trading, more often than not, is itself a habit, and fairly often, a crutch.

 

If you want to trade, trade.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[Dinerotrader 10]

Little league, Pop Warner football, junior varsity, varsity, college ... lots of practice, yes, but lot's of real live win or lose competition as well. Even pilots log thousands of hours of live, in the cockpit aerial maneuvers (help me out here jands) and do not learn their craft simply playing an expensive version of Nintendo.

 

Thales

 

Gotta have both it seems. Figuring out how to balance them without simply losing all your money and losing the ability to even participate in trading is the challenge. Capital preservation while in my early years of trading appears to be my current leaning. Just my coming from a futures nintendo player so not worth too much.

 

I think you're on the right track, Cory trading with real money but in very small amounts. I hope you can crack this at such an early stage so you can give us all your unique perspective.

[MidKnight 12]

As someone who has undergone commercial aviation training back in the early 1990's. You would be surprised how little simulation there is. There is no simulation at all for the entire commercial license (your first 200 hours) and you only start doing sim when going to multi-engine IFR stuff due to the cost if you crashed the real plane. It is not because sim is a better teacher, strictly the costs...The same is said for major airlines that have sims for jets. It is a cost thing but not because it is a better teacher.

 

With kind regards,

MK

[Dinerotrader 10]

As someone who has undergone commercial aviation training back in the early 1990's. You would be surprised how little simulation there is. There is no simulation at all for the entire commercial license (your first 200 hours) and you only start doing sim when going to multi-engine IFR stuff due to the cost if you crashed the real plane. It is not because sim is a better teacher, strictly the costs...The same is said for major airlines that have sims for jets. It is a cost thing but not because it is a better teacher.

 

With kind regards,

MK

 

Yeah, aviation is a bad metaphor. Sports works better.

[DugDug 10]

A better analogy may be golf. It costs nothing to do a practice swing and to visualise the shot, yet when you put the little white ball in front of the player, the mind goes to mush.

 

I also think there is a big difference between SIM, trading live and visulalising (often the practive that is referred to in sports connotations)

In a trading situation, I guess visualisation is like the plan; ( the setup, the trigger, the trade management)

 

I think Thales made a good point in terms of how he trades a new instrument - he will paper trade it for a while, using various strategies that have been used before hand - then go live.

Additionally - here is a question for those stuck on SIM trading.

why not get a system that allows you to see an accurate market replay, and do the SIM trading in fast forward, testing, trying ideas, entering trades..... what is the difference?

[Dinerotrader 10]

How are things going Cory?

[Cory2679 11]

How are things going Cory?

 

Better than ever! Thanks for asking.

 

I've been trading currencies (well, still only the EUR/USD for right now) live with MB Trading and am currently in the process of scaling up to full size. Per my current schedule, I'll be trading full size beginning June 21!

 

I haven't posted much because I don't want to jinx it, start counting my chickens, etc.

 

Perhaps in a few months, I'll make a "what I've been up to" post to this log.

 

How are things going with you?

[Dinerotrader 10]

Still working out some system tweaking.

 

Good to hear things are going well.

[Cory2679 11]

I hate it when Friday's don't go well...it ruins my weekend.

 

This week my only losing day was today (Friday). At the close of Thursday, I was up 8.26R, but I lost 2.16R today and am finishing the week with a net 6.10R.

 

6.10R is nothing to be ashamed of...it could be better, of course...and only one losing day out of the week is good...but the fact that it was Friday will ruin my weekend because that will be what I remember and think about all weekend. I HATE that!

 

There was actually some really good opportunity that I missed out on today...the market did exactly what I anticipated it would do...and I lost money!

 

I know what my problem was, though. My problem was that I really wanted to make 10R this week, and I only had to make about 1.75R to achieve it...so my mindset was to get in, take 1.75R with one trade, and be done for the day and have 10R for the week. However, the problem was, since I really wanted to do it in one trade, I wanted a trade with "no risk," which didn't happen of course...so I watched opportunites play out that I normally would have taken that I instead passed on because I perceived them as too risky.

 

It's ironic...if I wouldn't have been so determined to finish with 10R for the week today, I would have easily finished with 10R for the week! :o

 

Oh well, I'm really not that bummed I guess...could be worse. Live and learn.

 

I just had to vent a little...

 

-Cory

 

EDIT: Reading back over this, I realize a reader may wonder why I'm down for the day rather than even...well, after missing out on opportunity, I realized I'd missed out and reacted by forcing some trades that didn't work out.

 

Furthermore, I pulled out of a trade prematurely for a loss...instead of waiting to see what would happen and possibly re-entering, I was frustrated so I went and took a shower...I came back and the original trade, had I stayed in (or re-entered), would have given me my 10R for the week. That was when I called it a day.

 

I just traded all around poorly today.

Edited June 11, 2010 by Cory2679

[Cory2679 11]

Well, it's time...time to go "full size" (the point where I won't add any more money to my trading account...only growing the account with profits from now on).

 

I had a total of about $10,000 available to devote to my trading account, and my original plan was to eventually deposit it all, but I've changed my mind...

 

I've brought my account to $5,000 and I'm not going to add any more. I'll begin trading that amount on Monday (I actually didn't trade today).

 

I risk 2% of my account per trade, so I will begin with risking $100 per trade. I'm solely daytrading the EUR/USD during the 6E/EC regular trading hours (8:20am-3:00pm ET) with MB Trading.

 

I've decided to stop the deposits at this point because I think it will be better for me psychologically if I do it this way.

 

Cory

[Cory2679 11]

God I hate Elite Trader! lol I'm so grateful for TL.

 

Every now and then I open ET and read through some of the threads...did it just now...and I just had to close out of it. I really think a more appropriate name would be Elite Anti-Trader!

 

There may be some good content, but it is certainly ruined by all the negative, bitter losers who appear to hate trading. Why do they waste their time on a trading forum? Who knows?

Edited July 13, 2010 by Cory2679
typo

[daedalus 10]

Couldn't agree more. How that place remains open and active considering the usual average post quality and content baffles me to this day.

[Cory2679 11]

This is what I just found in my inbox. :doh::o:roll eyes:

 

[Cory2679 11]

Update

 

Well, my attempt to move to a "full size" $5,000 account has unfortunately not gone well at all. Thankfully, I haven't lost money...but I haven't really made any either.

 

I had been doing very well lately...I was very pleased...I was doing well week after week. But, I was still trading small size...and eventually no longer really had a concrete plan of exactly how to scale up to "full size." I was getting impatient and increasingly confident...at the end of each week I'd think, if I would have been trading larger size I would have made such and such!...I deserve to be properly conpensated for my time!...so I foolishly made the sudden leap from trading a roughly $1,000 account to a $5,000 account...suddenly multiplying my risk per trade by 5! It was too much for me to handle.

 

It actually threw me way off, but I think I've pulled myself back together. For the last several days, I've been doing a mix of taking a hard look at myself and what went wrong, studying charts, watching charts in real-time, and demo/sim trading.

 

I've decided the best thing I can do now as far as scaling up to "full size" is to start from scratch/rebuild from the ground up...I have to rebuild my confidence, which will take a little time. I honestly think I'm a little too "damaged" from this experience to just go back to trading a $1,000 account and everything be fine. So, I have a new official plan now...a plan to scale up to full size...the plan I should have had a long time ago. "Full size" will once again be a $10,000 account, risking $200 per trade. I've attached a picture of my "plan." I think it's fairly self-explanatory if you look at it closely, so I won't go into details explaining it. All it is is basically doubling my risk each time I accumulate 10R (10 times the amount of money I risk per trade)...as I progress through the phases, hopefully the stress of adding more size will be balanced by the confidence I'll have gained with another 10R under my belt. I'll have a full 50R of live/real profits under my belt by the time I begin trading a "full size" $10,000 account. You may notice that under the tentative "actual results" (which I'll fill in with actual results once I have them), the balances are different than under the "plan"...that's because I don't feel like making a withdrawal and multiple deposits (and a new MB Trading demo/sim forex account begins with $10,000 and you can't subtract money)...the way I'm doing it is more practical/efficient. The balances under the "plan" are more like theoretical balances.

 

I am beginning this new plan tomorrow (July 22). Make no mistake...I am firmly convinced, now more than ever, that I will make a living as a trader (sooner rather than later). I just have to be patient and do it the right way.

 

Edited July 21, 2010 by Cory2679

[ziebarf 10]

This might be the most responsible thing I have ever read on a trading forum. Are you still trading longer term S/R, or have you changed your strategy? Good luck with everything.

[Cory2679 11]

Are you still trading longer term S/R, or have you changed your strategy?

 

I do trade S/R, but I wouldn't say solely "longer term."

 

The way I would sum up my strategy is to say that it's derived from thalestrader's Reading Charts in Real Time thread. I basically took everything I possibly could from his thread, I've stuck with it and focused on solely that approach for months and months, and at this point I've basically made it my own...so I probably don't trade exactly like Thales (and I'm certainly not the trader he is), but my strategy's based on the principles in his thread.

 

-Cory

[Cory2679 11]

Update

 

Trading has been going great over the last week or so. I quickly went back to live trading. I actually only demo/sim traded the first day and had had enough.

 

I've decided the best thing I can do now as far as scaling up to "full size" is to start from scratch/rebuild from the ground up...I have to rebuild my confidence, which will take a little time. I honestly think I'm a little too "damaged" from this experience to just go back to trading a $1,000 account and everything be fine.

 

I thought it would take lots of time to rebuild my confidence, but luckily I was wrong...I'm feeling a LOT better now. Therefore, I have a new and improved accelerated plan...

 

 

I will begin this plan Monday, August 2. This plan will have me back to where I was very soon (trading a $5,000 account, risking $100 per trade)!

 

Cory

Edited July 29, 2010 by Cory2679

[Cory2679 11]

"Never argue with an idiot, because they will only bring you down to their level and beat you by experience."

 

- John Guerrero

 

(A quote I just came across...thought it was applicable for an environment such as an online forum. )

[Cory2679 11]

Vacation Time!

 

Tomorrow I'm leaving for a 1-week beach vacation, so I'll be taking the entire trading week off. I've done everything I can to get everything I need to do done, so that I have as little on my mind as possible and as little as possible waiting for me when I get back. This trip should be a great time to relax/recharge.

 

I've actually been dieting for a while now (I'm almost 6 feet tall and have gone from weighing in the morning over 210 lbs to under 160 lbs!). I'm about where I want to be weight-wise...now it's just time to get in shape...but during this week at the beach, I'm totally taking a break from health! haha I'm trying to make this a real vacation!

 

In other news, I got a new trading computer on Wednesday! It's just a laptop, but it has a 17.3" screen. I'm going to dedicate this computer to trading (all that's on it is what came on it and what I need during my trading day). My old laptop, which only has a 14.1" screen (which was nice during school) will now be my primary "personal computer."

 

I've attached a couple pictures of the new computer below.

 

I won't be taking either computer to the beach...I am deliberately taking time off. The only internet I'll have is my phone (so I can still get e-mail, etc.).

 

On a side note: my old computer's warranty is actually running out in about a week so I'm sending it in for some needed repairs (so I couldn't take it to the beach if I wanted to)...Dell was suprisingly cooperative...I'm getting a new screen & hinges, new mother board, new heat sink, and a new fan! lol My optical drive broke a while back so I just got one off eBay and replaced it myself, but if I had known this was so easy, I would have done all of this a long time ago!

 

Trading has been going well, but I know after taking a week completely off, I'm going to need to demo/sim trade for at least a few days to get back in the groove, so I might provide an "update" maybe a few weeks after I get back. We'll see.

 

Cheers!

[fxThunder 10]

I am envious, it has been a freezing winter here at the southern tip of Africa.

 

Have a great time!

 

Cheers,

fxT

[Cory2679 11]

In other news, I got a new trading computer on Wednesday!

 

Oh, I forgot to mention why I needed a new trading computer (not that anyone cares...haha).

 

It wasn't only that I wanted a laptop with a big screen or a separate computer solely devoted to trading. The primary reason was that my old laptop occasionally crashes...

 

Every now and then my computer would freeze, go to a white screen, turn off, and take a long time to come back on. It seemed totally random, and there could be weeks and weeks in between incidents. It really wouldn't be that big of a deal since it's so infrequent, except it has me scared while trading.

 

I brought up the issue in my correspondence with Dell, explained it in detail, and they had me update my video drivers as a solution (because it does say that the display driver stopped responding when it begins to crash). HOWEVER, I don't believe that is a permanent fix because I used it for a couple years with the "old" drivers with no problem at all...it just started happening in the last 6-8 months or so. Furthermore, since it's been doing it, I've formatted the hard drive and loaded it back up from scratch and it's done it since I did that...which leads me to believe it's some sort of hardware problem. HOWEVER, since they've attempted at a solution by updating the drivers, obviously it will have to do it again before they'll take any further steps, so I've done all I can for now. Who knows...maybe the driver update has fixed the problem...but I don't think so.

 

Now, (hopefully) I have a good, reliable computer and I won't have to worry about anything like that. Also, I recently bought a battery backup for my modem/router so that in case of a power outage, I wouldn't lose internet (right away, at least). And obviously the laptop has a battery backup...and everything is surge protected. I'm also now using a wireless mouse, which is much nicer than using a touchpad for trading (and of course if the battery runs out, I have the touchpad as backup). SO, for now and a good amount of time to come, my trading setup is just how I want it.

 

EDIT: And of course, if something still went wrong, I have my broker's phone number and my account number saved on my desktop, saved in my phone, and printed out in a desk drawer.

 

Cory

Edited August 14, 2010 by Cory2679

[Cory2679 11]

Vacation was a freaking bad idea. It got me out of the zone.

 

I essentially ended up taking 2 weeks off. I started back yesterday, with real money, and I'm currently down about 6R (4R yesterday, 2R today).

 

I'm obviously not happy and need to do some work.

 

I think I'm going to take tomorrow (Wednesday) off from trading to "work." Then I'll probably demo/sim trade the rest of this week (Thursday & Friday) and at least Monday of next week.

 

Geez...

 

Till next time...

[Cory2679 11]

Happy Labor Day!

 

No trading for me, today.

 

Even though I'm not trading, I pulled up a chart...there's more movement than I thought there would be...I guess there's more to the world than the US. It may totally die off after the UK close, though...

 

 

ANYWAYS, I think I've pulled myself back together after last week's fiasco. Of course, I will know before too long!

 

Cory

[Cory2679 11]

It's Been a Year

 

It's been about a year since I joined Traders Laboratory and first discovered thalestrader's "Reading Charts in Real Time" thread...and what I'll call the Thales Chart Method. Over the past 50 weeks or so, I have been desperately trying to "master" the approach and "break out" as a trader. Thus far, I have experienced admittedly lackluster success overall. I have had periods of fairly consistent success, but the year has been a roller-coaster ride.

 

Needless to say, I have had periods of great discouragement...almost to the point of giving up...a state of mind that alone is probably a great hindrance to my success.

 

I decided to take a hard look at where I am, where I've been, and where to go from here. I obviously don't have forever to master this, so I need to use the time I have left as efficiently and productively as possible.

 

I've come to the conclusion that most of the problems I've been having aren’t with the mechanics of the approach, but with things extraneous to the approach.

 

Where I've Been

 

When I first began my Thales Chart Method apprenticeship, I think I caught on pretty well. I was getting positive feedback and I was optimistic.

 

However, after a short while I began to taint the "purity" of the approach and started having problems with my trading...

 

I sim-traded for a very short while, then went live with a futures account and suffered emotionally because of the large size one is forced to trade with futures...I was too new to the approach (and too poor) to jump in with that size.

 

Later, I decided to try to mimic Thales's daughter by trading a small spot forex account. However, I messed up again...after hearing stories that she had turned a $25 account into $10K in such and such amount of time, I had the brilliant idea to start with $250 so that I would turn it into $100K in such and such amount of time. The difference is that $25 is such a small amount of money that it can be lost and replaced without a problem...which made it not unreasonable for Thales's daughter to take on the amount of “risk” she did in the beginning (trading even 1 microlot with a $25 account can be a relatively hefty position size). But, I wasn't thinking about that...and I went on to eventually risking about 20% per trade with that $250 account! I'm sure I don't have to tell you how that went (I now risk no more than 2%!).

 

It gets worse...I later attempted the same thing with a $500 account! I didn't learn my lesson and traded risking 20% on a $500 account!! I'm a little embarrassed to even be typing this.

 

And the story goes on like this...continuously changing what size I'm trading, how much I'm risking, what broker I'm using, what hours I’m trading, my "plan" for scaling up to "full size," blah blah blah. This has gone on now for a year!

 

I'll admit...from time to time I've lost sight of the forest for focusing too much on the trees...essentially focusing on 123's in isolation from S/R and context...but this is something that has happened, I've realized, and then gotten back on track...this is not what has primarily been holding me back, in my opinion.

 

My most recent hiccup comes from trying to apply Thales's approach to very fast timeframes...my logic being that if there is such and such opportunity on a 15 minute chart, then there must be 15 times the opportunity on a 1 minute chart! However, Thales advocates trying to identify and trade the main intraday swing (for daytrading). I won't go into details here, but a discussion about this topic began here.

 

Don't get me wrong...it's not like I've gotten absolutely nowhere...I think I've managed to sharpen my focus and attack some over the year.

 

Where I Am

 

After evaluating the problems I've been having, I'm now trying to clear my mind of all the muck, and take a fresh, uninhibited try at the Thales Chart Method.

 

Where I'm Going

 

Essentially, I'm now going to follow the plan Thales laid out here, plain and simple:

 

...If I were starting out as a trader, and I wanted to trade currencies, here is how I would do it...

 

One very minor change that I’m making to his plan is that rather than four weeks in a row of 50+ net ticks, my metric will be four weeks in a row of 2.5+ net R. I know Thales is an advocate of position sizing and R-multiples, and it is what I'm comfortable with. Realistically, 2.5 R for me will most often be more than 50 ticks...but R will be how I track my performance.

 

I've recently opened a FXCM Micro demo account. I'll be trading the EUR/JPY, EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and the USD/JPY...like Thales's daughter and he traded. They're highly correlated markets, and could be considered nearly "one market," and I will simply look for the best opportunity of the moment for day trading. I understand that Thales's daughter gradually favored the EUR/JPY and eventually devoted most of her attention to only that pair...something similar might happen with me, but if it does, I want it to happen "naturally" (like it did with her), rather than forcing it.

 

I'm trading from 7am eastern time (an hour before the New York open) until between 2pm-4pm, and from 7pm-11pm (Tokyo AM hours)...except on Sunday evenings, when I'll trade 5pm-11pm. I won't enter any new trades outside of those hours, although I may let some open trades run past them. I have a part-time job now that sometimes interferes with my trading...sometimes it will force me to quit in the morning by 2pm, and sometimes I won't be able to trade in the evenings.

 

I've also re-arranged my desktop and trading computer to best suit my trading.

 

I'm using Ninja Trader for my primary day trading charts...15 minute bars is the default, but I'll change time frames and use range charts as needed/wanted...

 

 

I'm using Meta Trader for my "secondary" charts...longer timeframe charts for context and longer-term S/R considerations. My default is 4 hour bars, but as with my primary charts, I'll switch to other timeframes as needed/wanted. I periodically update my markings on these charts as needed...I left my markings on the charts for the screenshot because I was afraid I'd have to redraw them if I removed them.

 

 

..and I'm trading on my new 17.3" laptop I bought a little while back.

 

 

My Pledge and Final Thought

 

My pledge...to myself, to the people who know me, to the readers at TL, to whomever...is to continue on this path and not veer from it in any way. This will allow me to devote all of my mental energy to the Thales Chart Method and not waste it on other things.

 

I get frustrated because I think, "Gosh, I've been doing this for a year!!" However, as illustrated in the "Where I've Been" section, I really haven't...I haven't been laser focused on Thales's approach for a year, day after day, week after week, just trying to master the approach…far from it, to be honest. I've been distracted by extraneous things. That ends now!!

 

I am determined to stick with it, because in my view, if it takes 2 years to master, it'd be well worth it...heck, if it took 5 years, it'd still be well worth it. However, I am well aware of the possibility that someone could stick with it for 10 years and get practically nowhere. However, I believe/hope that with hard work, study, diligence and patience, I will get to where I want to be within weeks or months from where I am now, rather than years (as long as I keep my head straight and emotions in check...and this should really be huge font, bright colors, double-underlined, etc.). Life is all about choices...and I am making the choice to continue (while I still have a choice). I am aware and mindful of the risk/tradeoff.

 

I’m going begin demo-trading at the start of next week…I plan to simply “study” for the rest of this week and over the weekend. After that I will continue to "study" and read/re-read the readings/books Thales has recommended. Also, I plan to be posting a lot more in the Reading Charts in Real Time thread over the next several weeks.

 

-Cory

Edited November 4, 2010 by Cory2679