Hello Traders,
For 2014 I would like to wish all of you discipline and patience in your trading!
The EXTREMELY low volume today ( as well as last few days…) made me go look in my trading journal where sure enough I wrote down that the week before Labor Day is usually lower volume and a good time to take some days off….( too bad I did not schedule some vacation time LOL)
The point of the story is that keeping a trading journal has MANY ADVANTAGES….and I highly recommend it.
I keep notes on the following:
- different methods I test
- Market behavior during different economic reports
- Things I did well, mental state of mind
- Mistakes I have made, the reasons I did and how I can try to avoid these mistakes
- Different indicators, chart settings, ideas I read about
- Different codes I created for my charts
- Much more…
Many times the journal will help me put closure on a bad day but more so it helps keep track of work I have done so I don’t have to do it again.
Try it. It is not easy, especially after bad days….it takes time, energy and consistency – just like trading. I keep mine on a word doc so I can easily access it ( plus my hand writing is terrible). Hope this tip helps and wishing you good trading!
PS: About low volatility and volume, its a cycle and times of much higher volume and volatility are proably very near…. Continue reading “Keeping a Futures Trading Journal, Economic Reports & Levels 8.28.2014”