I wrote this last night before falling asleep around 4pm. I couldn’t sleep more than five hours. I don’t know what’s going on. This is getting to be taxing for me. My best bet is to work for a couple hours and try to nap during premarket. I don’t know what to do.
Anyway, for those of you following along at home here’s last week:
And Monday:
The last few trading days have exceeded my expectations. +$16k is a good (mental) buffer from my trough of -$118k. I believe it’s possible for me to never set a deeper low water mark if I am diligent about my process, intentional when clicking in, disciplined for hitting out, situationally aware when loading in to symbols, emotionally relaxed implementing with equanimity, and active about seeking out fertile setups.
It is 4pm and I am already in bed to sleep. My schedule is shifting earlier during this manic portion of the market cycle as there are many premarket opportunities that provide better volatility to yield tradeoffs and allow me to set up deeper understanding of how names are trading later in the day relative to levels they traded many hours earlier.
1a – 2p will be draining. I am drained today. 5 days of this in a row is an immense undertaking, especially to do each week.
I don’t know if I can sustain this level of focus and still put in my preparation and review afterwards. Today I started to review my trade log and my mind shut down. That’s due to only operating off five hours of sleep though.
I think with a full night’s rest, proper diet and exercise, and brief breaks each day I can maintain this volume of quality output. I am improving so rapidly. I said it earlier- if you could see what I see and feel what I feel when it comes to my skill progression, you’d be impatient to ramp your size up too.
Many of the changes we have made in recent weeks are performing well. I still take trades in small caps but only when they are particularly attractive. They take up a tiny fraction of my daily mental load and are sized accordingly. Our tech is in incredible shape. I commit fewer and fewer sins each session. My process is self correcting. My intuition for tape and price action is dialing in. My comfort hitting out when I’m supposed to is dutifully increasing. “Letting trades work!” is an aspect of my game that I am trying to turn into one of my strengths. My style is developing as well; I can tell clearly that hitting the bids with size ahead of the pack will be a core part of my playbook for many years. I used to play extremely loose and aggressive poker and my understanding of the constraints of trading is progressing to the point where this personality is manifesting in the spots I take. Lots of my trades involve calling BS on overextended tape or weak price action. I am very happy that my ability is starting to shine through in my results. At the same time I am conscious of only being up 30% of my max position size.
As such, I’m adding a new sin:
SIN 18 – OVERSIZING A POSITION BY ENTERING TOO QUICKLY OR BEING GREEDY
One day at a time, I am patient and not chasing after dollar objectives. I want to put as much size as I responsibly can into circumstances that I have good confidence will resolve favorably for me. Today I was in for too much size half a dozen times and got punished for it hard. I need to have this be my number one priority to focus on this week. Doing so will also help protect my p&l from catastrophes. I am very proud. I am exhausted. I am doing what I set out to do.
OTN