So last week I posted a brief piece under the "Just A Thought" section titled "Refresh & Reset". This piece basically talked about how it was good to take a break sometimes in order to relax and get a better perspective on things. In the post I talked about how I gave myself a 5 day vacation in order to avoid burning out. However, during this 5 day break I was secretly fooling around in the market, just not as a live trader.
Around this time last year I was really struggling as a trader and I was in a very bad place mentally. I had just came off a month where I took a big drawdown, only to get scared out of trading and miss a few opportunities that would have almost tripled the amount that I lost. The thought of quitting never crossed my mind, but I did start to lose confidence that I had gained from coming out of the Pro Trader course. It was at this part of the year where me as my boss, sat the me as my employee down and had a true heart to heart with myself. After a reality check I decided to get back to the basics and start the new year with a bang. When the new year began I felt fresh, relaxed and confident and my trading results reflected that as well. Therefore I decided that maybe I should work that process into my trading plan as an annual or even bi-annual type of thing. So that's what i did this past week.
I won't take you through all of the details, but I basically like to go through and edit my trading plan. To so I start out my looking through my past trading logs for any notes that look to reoccur over time. If i'm able to notice a trend then I can make adjustments to my plan for the future. For example, I noticed that when trading certain patterns on lower time frames my 2nd target (61.8) was hit on basically every winning trade. Therefore I was able to make the adjustment of making the 61.8 my new 1st target in order to take advantage of more profit. I also like to take the time and go back through all of the saved videos I have from the Pro Trader course I took. Ok...well not all of them but a select few that I feel will help me out. At a quick glance it may seem like a waste of time because I've already learned the material, but I find review to be very helpful on both the technical and psychological side of things. I know a lot of you guys wern't Pro Trader clients so you don't have access t the videos but if you watch the videos on Trading Underground of the new Forex Market Preview site, i'm sure you will have similar results.
Anyway the point, I was always told that trading is a skill and being a former athlete, I understand how important practicing is to raising your skill level. With that being said it's always good to take some time out and review the basics. If anything , it at least gives you some time away from the real markets so you can come back in with a clearer prespective on things.
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