My Weekly Review Process
OVERVIEW
I started off the week with a solid trading day on Monday. I adhered to the new rule of adapting to price action, which proved successful and allowed me to profit nicely. I could have executed my plans better with better entries and exits, but as stated, I think I was too antsy/excited for the week, so it was challenging to remain calm.
This promising start to the week suddenly turned on Tuesday; I think this day resulted in a culmination of things that added to one big mess. I adhered to my plans and adapted to price action as well as I did on Monday, but it seems like my adaption this day proved to increase risk magnifying the choppiness of the day, so I got stopped out more than I wanted to with losing trades. So on choppy days like these, adapting to variable change is not a solid plan. So it is best to lower adaption on the priority scale now as it needs to satisfy certain conditions to minimize the risk when used. I did, however, manage my trades well and execute them well.
But all this effort was once again swept under the rug because of all days I increased position size with added losses and mistakes occurring, thinking I put orders in and did not, magnifying losses further. As a result, I definitely started to shift into the negative behavioral cycle. So, unfortunately, I ended the day sad, tired, and frustrated.
Then things went further south on Wednesday. My first trade was solid with a small position size, but that solid trade was easily negated as time passed. On the positive side, trading smaller allowed me more freedom as I could better manage the trade. I was feeling better, but the following trades quickly took away my profits from adapting too soon again in choppy markets and entering trades too soon.
Anticipating and adapting on this day increased risk dramatically. Every trade was a loss, and I continued to add to my losses with every trade. So even though my plans were activated and I should have at least tried them, they would all fail me today.
I overtraded, but it is difficult to lay blame for only that because I had the right ideas but got chopped up. All the losses were over-exaggerated, so I kept pushing, only to fail. I drastically decreased position size today, and it didn't seem like it on a dollar-wise base since it was a significant loss day. Losses just kept adding up.
However, monetarily and psychologically, being pummeled so severely made me think about the situation even more. I understand where my strategy works, but I need a better mindset to consistently achieve the desired results. I never seem to be in the majority of the move, and sometimes catch part of the move or plan it but fail to execute it. My issue is very much psychology based. It makes it extremely difficult to pinpoint what I need to do.
This was the day I decided to only use 1 contract moving forward. I knew it would suck, but it is essential because I don't deserve to use more than that. I don't. I need to earn it now.
I need to capture the moves I miss.
I need to figure out a better way forward.
The path I am currently on offers solid opportunities, but I need more to turn my progress chart around because I consistently form a decent trend. Still, then at some point, I end up having a sharp retracement down that keeps me from achieving what I need to succeed. But I will not give up!
I am missing something.
After everything I have learned, my performance is still not where it needs to be. My winning percentage is solid, yet monetarily I am still red; why?
Moving forward with trading only 1 contract will reveal the missing aspect I need to propel myself forward. I hate to go back, but there is something fundamental that I am missing.
My strategy desperately needs confidence, but building it incrementally over time and having big red days to wipe them out will not cut it anymore. Instead, I need a better catalyst to boost my confidence.
I need to discover the joy of trading/ pleasure of my strategy and try to capture that every time. With one contract, I can give more time to my trades. Not necessarily for the losers but at least for the winners, I can better optimize as much as possible. It is here and now. I must do this because this might be the key to getting me out of this longer performance cycle.
Then on Thursday, at my weakest physically and mentally in a long time, tired from not getting enough sleep and sick with a cold; I only traded once and was one of the best trades this year.
I want to build a robust trading system that can withstand lots of events, and pushing through and trading today would either reveal further weaknesses in my trading system or provide an opportunity for more data.
Focusing on one contract and the one plan that can propel me forward sets me up for better success, even in my weakest state. It is powerful. In other words, I need to continuously focus on the one thing with one contract size that can yield the best opportunity to fully capitalize on the day's opportunity/my plans.
Going back to one contract will be annoying, and I will most likely have the best percentage gains when I do this and will be tempted to increase position size again. Still, I must remain disciplined, hone this skill, and optimize this for my strategy.
This is the one skill/aspect of my strategy (offensive) that will propel and be the one thing that can stave off negative/ red trades. Honing this skill is absolutely necessary to combat those trades. I cannot eliminate them, but I can mitigate them and ensure they impact my bottom line minimally.
With this mindset, I nailed the entry and exit on Thursday's one and only trade to yield a 29% gain. However, I need to repeat this over and over again. Everything else needs to fall in line with this. This needs to be the first thing and might be the only thing I consider daily.
Everything up to this point provided the structure to arrive at this point.
Use the past structure to move forward.
This needs to be a new habit.
This is my next phase.
Let's see if things will finally start falling into place.
NEW GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK
The week was tough, but I have a path forward. Moving forward, I must focus on only one contract for plan optimization, and with the one contract, I must focus on the one plan that can propel me forward daily. If none, then none. This must be repeated over and over again. Let's see how this adds up over time.
So the priorities for the following days are:
(1) make pre-market plans
(2) Find the one plan to optimize the opportunity with one contract.
(3) Win or lose, adhere to the stop or profit target the best I can.
The idea is to focus on this, and this only, and see how doing this changes performance.
- Focus on Intraday System Pattern A-C.
- Pattern A: reaction zone crossovers for an RZ reject or bounce. Or a spike into RZ for an RZ reject/Panic into RZ for an RZ bounce.
- Pattern B: key levels for a KL reject or KL bounce.
- Pattern C: RZ breaks (only on clear long-time duration formations)
- Do not trade anything else.
- Keep position size small. DO NOT AVERAGE DOWN ON ENTRIES!
- Plan for the clear setups ONLY!
- Patience is the key to solid entries and to maintaining low-stress levels.
- Fewer trades with more confidence.
- Focus on SPY and TSLA options ONLY!
- Time to simplify the process and improve/reach the next level.
- Actively challenge my regression pattern to ONLY trade my plan.
- 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) CONTRACT FOR PLAN OPTIMIZATION
- FOCUS ON THE ONE PLAN THAT CAN PROPEL ME FORWARD DAILY
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