Rough day in Crude oil - not every day can be peaches & cream
Today was not a good day for me day trading Crude Oil. I find it very helpful when i write up these publications as it helps me see where I made my mistakes and hopefully I correct poor behavior. So indulge me here as I walk you through how I ended up losing $330 on the day (sim). .Because of the holiday atmosphere (and roll issues relating to May contract expiry) I did not trade my combine today but rather just put trades on in my practice account. Regardless of sim vs. live, I consider every trade I do 'live' so when I fail in my practice account I consider it a fail.
Now on to the trades. I woke late (not a good sign in itself) and saw I missed the first BoT long setup off the double bottom registered through the Globex session. In classic FOMO fashion I took the first BoT setup that came on a greater than 33% correction in price. I, of course, assumed the bull market would go on endlessly. The setup was poor (at best) and I later realized it was on a bear momentum divergence (holy rookie mistake batman!).That long represented way too much risk (23 ticks) and I simply could never consider taking that amount of risk on a 'live' trade why I thought it was ok to do in the practice account eludes me. In hindsight one can see why we shouldn't take that amount of risk on any one trade. Anyway, that stop was hit and now I was 23 ticks in the hole.
I must admit, I hastily stalked another setup to get revenge (another bad sign) and took the first BoT short that came along shortly thereafter. Again, looking back in hindsight, momentum itself was on the upswing when I put the short on and later did 'top' out - well after I was stopped out.
So now 0/2 and down 32 ticks on the day. Even though it is just a practice account, I resigned myself to the fact that I just wasn't seeing the market correctly today and shut down operations. Sadder too, I see now a respectable BoT long setup working that I just simply could not consider taking.
Hopefully while you read this you see similar trading mistakes made on your own part and can learn from a 'veteran' that we all make them. No matter how long you have done this, nor how 'rich' you are, a trader is always prone to making mistakes. How we learn/grow from those mistakes is what separates the pro's from the amateurs.
Cheers,
Brian
aka CRInvestor
Now on to the trades. I woke late (not a good sign in itself) and saw I missed the first BoT long setup off the double bottom registered through the Globex session. In classic FOMO fashion I took the first BoT setup that came on a greater than 33% correction in price. I, of course, assumed the bull market would go on endlessly. The setup was poor (at best) and I later realized it was on a bear momentum divergence (holy rookie mistake batman!).That long represented way too much risk (23 ticks) and I simply could never consider taking that amount of risk on a 'live' trade why I thought it was ok to do in the practice account eludes me. In hindsight one can see why we shouldn't take that amount of risk on any one trade. Anyway, that stop was hit and now I was 23 ticks in the hole.
I must admit, I hastily stalked another setup to get revenge (another bad sign) and took the first BoT short that came along shortly thereafter. Again, looking back in hindsight, momentum itself was on the upswing when I put the short on and later did 'top' out - well after I was stopped out.
So now 0/2 and down 32 ticks on the day. Even though it is just a practice account, I resigned myself to the fact that I just wasn't seeing the market correctly today and shut down operations. Sadder too, I see now a respectable BoT long setup working that I just simply could not consider taking.
Hopefully while you read this you see similar trading mistakes made on your own part and can learn from a 'veteran' that we all make them. No matter how long you have done this, nor how 'rich' you are, a trader is always prone to making mistakes. How we learn/grow from those mistakes is what separates the pro's from the amateurs.
Cheers,
Brian
aka CRInvestor