Live trading summary of the month of August.
So last month was my first positive P/L month since I have been live. My first 3 months live were quite red. My next 5 months were flat. I define flat P/L as the EOM P/L +/- 3R. Then one positive month and now I just finished my first negative month in 7 months at -5.8R. Both my worse week and second worse week (P/L) occurred this month. With that said, it actually wasn’t a bad month.
My score card for the month was 85.9%, slightly higher than last month. My win rate for the month was 46%, which included one week of only 22% winrate. What is also very interesting is there was not even one trade that I took without a good setup. There were definitely bad trades, one to three a week, but not due to a bad setup. I would say all but one of my poorly scored trades were due to the same thing, how I handled a bad entry.
Half the time a bad entry is not my fault, it was a bad fill. That is OK, if you manage the bad fill correctly. I never did. The simplest way is just get out of the trade as fast as possible. Another way is to take a heavy partial renormalizing the risk. I don’t do either. I wait to be stopped out for much larger than my 1R. Sometimes the bad entry is my fault. I miss the correct entry and took the trade anyway.
I started taking the course (home study version): Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course for Traders last month. To place some accountability on myself to finish the course I have been posting my reading notes and assignments online. Please see my link if you are curious about the course. I have finished the first two volumes of the course (there are a total of 5 and they get bigger as you go). When I say finish, I mean reading, taking notes and completed the exercises.
https://forums.bearbulltraders.com/topic/1286-van-tharp-institute-peak-performance-course-for-traders-my-journey-through-the-course/
Stats for February/March/April/May/June/July/August:
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
Total # of live trades
21
34
36
36
38
19
25
Hulk Days
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Max Loss Days
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Broke max trade rule
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
Hot Key Mistakes
1
1
0
0
1
2
3
Score card
81%
81%
84.5%
85.8%
85.9%
Note all 6 hotkey mistakes, from the last 3 months, were due to incomplete transition from live to SIM.
SIM trades have gone well this month. I definitely see an improvement. Aiming to go live with some 5/10/15 min ORBs in September.
Goals for September:
1) Don’t go hulk.
2) Learn to control your emotions after a loss.
3) The trade score card average for the month should exceed the previous month.
4) Keep risk per trade $30.
5) Keep improving health.
6) Keep making SIM trades on 5/10/15 min ORBs
7) Start taking small live 5/10/15 min ORBs when stats say I am ready.
Continue with the Van Tharp course for traders.
9) Work on being able to manage a trade with a bad entry. Either exit or take shares off the trade to re-normalize the risk.
10) Allow a third trade if a previous trade was exited well early for a tactical trade management purpose.
11) Adjust score card for harsh penalties for not managing a trade well after a poor exit.
12) Keep P/L window closed for the whole month of September. Only after the last trading session, on the last day of the month I can look at it. I need to focus on score card only.