Today or, at the latest, next week will be my last day of discretionary trading for a while. With my silver trade, I've recovered all the losses, caused mostly by impatience during the last few months. Now I have again the capital needed for automated trading.
I will split the account in two, as advised by many before, and will use one small account for discretionary trading and one big account for automated trading.
Now it's a matter of waiting a few more hours/days, because I am very tempted to close my trades early, given that they're showing so much profit.
Once I'll have two accounts, provided financial collapse still hasn't happened, I will allow my automated trading to run undisturbed, and I will focus only on my discretionary trading, practicing on the chart game, and trying to reproduce on TWS what I do on the chart game. I will finally be able to use the paper trading account on TWS, something that they don't allow anymore if you're already running the real TWS, so, given that I run my systems, I haven't been able to practice on TWS paper trading. But with two accounts, I'll be able to do it.
Although... I am not really sure that what I do on a daily timeframe on the chart game can be done on intraday on my futures - due to commissions, and to the difference of timeframe, too. I might have to practice on TWS a form of overnight trading, just as I do on the chart game, which is boring though, because on the chart game you can speed things up, but on TWS you can't.
I'll see as I go along. The most important thing for now is that I split the account in two, so I don't put it at risk, as I did before. Discretionary trading makes the most money, but it has the emotional involvement, which can cause disaster. Automated trading is less dangerous but it doesn't make as much money.
I am still not sure and wondering whether I should resume my private math lessons, given that I am no longer focused on finding a formula that automates my money management (we did that 4 months ago), and only want to focus on discretionary trading.
There are advantages to reasoning with someone else, but there's probably even more advantages to reasoning alone. Especially if this implies that you don't have to disclose your ideas, don't have commitments to go to a place and meet someone. I don't know which choice has more benefits. You see, here I can come and write what I want, but if I create expectations in someone else, it will probably have a negative effect on my trading, because then I will have to succeed, and if you have to
succeed, you fail. It reminds me the usual quote by... by Brian Lund:
10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Trading | The bclund BlogThe bclund Blog
This one may seem obvious but when I first started trading I was more interested in showing how smart I was by doing something most people didn’t understand. I spent a lot of time telling non-traders about the markets and making myself feel important.
I bought books, software, and attended seminars because I thought it was cool to be a trader. But all the while I was losing money in the markets.
Ask yourself this question, and be honest. What’s more important to you, having everyone you know idolize you because you’re “trader”, but lose money, or have everyone think that you are just some schlub who works in an ice cream store, while in fact you are really making a fortune in the markets?
In other words, the more people you involve in your trading, the more pressure you will feel when you're trading. So, in this sense, trading is easier if you're perceived as "some schlub who works in an ice cream store", than if you are, as he writes: "interested in showing how smart I was by doing something most people didn’t understand. I spent a lot of time telling non-traders about the markets and making myself feel important". The less your ego is involved, the better. And to help keep your ego down, you should not have any trading reputation to live up to.
...
several hours later.
I closed that silver trade and I tried to open that second account I was talking about but I gave up, because, after a chat with an IB representative and some thinking and investigating, i decided that:
1) too much paper work to open another account
2) you have to pay for the data fees twice
3) all, everything is doubled in complexity
Not worth it. Given that I don't have to trade discretionary with frequency, but only a few times per week. So, basically I will not open a second account.
Anyway, guys, I am back, finally:
Sting - Shape Of My Heart / Lyrics
He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn't play for the money he wins
He doesn't play for respect
He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of a probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance...
It took me four long months to recover from those famous losses i was telling you about. I didn't play for the money I won, I didn't play for respect. I played to find the answer, the sacred geometry of chance, the hidden law of a probable outcome.
Speaking of math, I have also decided that I will not resume my math lessons. They're very costly, and the only way I can adapt to the nature of automated trading (small gains) is if I don't put pressure on myself to make money fast, and the first step is to cut down on expenses.