Weekly Review: 4/17/23 to 4/21/23

 

My Weekly Review Process

OVERVIEW

I started the week patiently executing trades on Monday, missing some opportunities but otherwise satisfied with my performance. I remained focused on only trading the RZ cross-overs for the rejects or bounces and KL rejects or bounces. 

The week progressed similarly on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Again, most of the week performed as expected while waiting for and executing setups. Furthermore, it was very low-key and very non-stressful.

But things took a turn on Friday, where mistakes occurred, and my emotions got the best of me. Having been trading well and extremely patient all week, I strongly "regressed" to the mean. 

Friday resulted in abysmal emotional management and inferior discipline, a drastic shift from what unfolded all week. 

I am glad it was not a strategy issue since I had recently worked hard to refine my strategy. However, I admit that sometimes everyone must fall prey to mistakes and, at some point or another are more susceptible to being led astray. We all are human. 

These are the lessons from this big loss day:

1. The line between disciplined trading and undisciplined trading is fragile.
2.  When I have a solid performance, I must be cautious of a regression to the mean and trade accordingly with less risk to lower the effect.
3. When I am actively looking for trades and the charts offer convoluted or unclear zones, the need to be an observer is greater than participating.
4. Mistakes will occur, but how I respond to them is 100% in my control.

I am frustrated that this lesson or loss occurred this day because it has happened before and is something I already have accepted and know about. Still, its occurrence will be cyclical, and I need to be more aware of its recurrence going forward. More refining and understanding of this will make me better going forward.

Again, it is frustrating that all four days this week, it felt and seemed like I achieved what I finally needed, but it all was negated on one final day of the week. 

It makes me wonder, once I overcome and finally achieve the status of being consistently profitable, what aspects of trading will need to be learned to continue to move forward and scale up to where I want to be. The more and more I move forward, the fewer red-day lessons I will need to overcome, and the lessons will then shift to green days and how I can optimize green days.

I am excited about this.

This is where true innovation is needed because many successful traders are satisfied with their achievements when they reach this level. From my observation, when traders reach this level, it is more about maintenance than continued growth.

For myself, I want to go further. But, of course, it is all easier said than done; I will know more when I get there too. 

As always, one does not know what one does not know.

NEW GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK

The lessons from this week are more of a reminder of what to be aware of moving forward. First, be mindful of consistent success because regression is likely around the corner.

Will add this rule to my goals.

Be wary of excellent performance because regression is imminent. 

Which is the opposite of what I am accustomed to. Which is to learn from mistakes/failures to find ways of improvement. In a way, mistakes are the main thing occurring, so incremental change is to improve the situation. 

Vice versa, regression is the primary concern when success is predominant and how to continue to improve and move forward. As I am thinking about this now, one aspect is that it will be easy to fall prey to satisfaction once success is more or less consistently achieved.  

As in the behavioral cycles, there may be similar cycles for success and failure. The more I dwell on these cycles, there may be more intermediate/shared relationships to hidden processes that need more thought. 

Both negative and positive mindsets are outliers. In this case, both are extremes. More of one or the other will cause a regression (but the environment is a crucial variable to consider).

Success and failure are similar too. However, they are extremes of the spectrum and might have a system at a fundamental place that links them. 

I have yet to learn enough to fully describe this. But will be delving into this more and will write another post highlighting my thoughts soon.

But for now, these are my new goals for next week.

• Focus on Intraday System Patterns A & B. 
• Pattern A: reaction zone crossovers with confirmations for an RZ reject or bounce. 
• Pattern B: key levels for a KL reject or KL bounce.
• Fewer trades with more confidence.
• Focus on SPY and TSLA options ONLY!
• Time to simplify the process and improve/reach the next level.
• Do not give in to negative triggers.
• Do not give losers more time!
• FOCUS ON POSITIVE TRIGGERS
• FOCUS ON ADAPTING TO PRICE ACTION
• FOCS ON (1-2) CONTRACTS FOR PLAN OPTIMIZATION.
• FOCUS ON THE ONE PLAN THAT CAN PROPEL ME FORWARD DAILY.
• GIVE PLANS THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT AND LET THEM PLAY OUT.
• BE WARY OF SUCCESS AND THE REGRESSION METRIC (MINDFULNESS)