Journal for 2011

Journaling is one of those things that every trader must do, but the majority of us do not do. So for 2011 I have made it my goal to take pictures of every trade, before and after, and write something about the trade. What I learned, how/why the trade paid or failed, how I may have failed or succeeded, etc.

I am already seeing patterns in my trade and how I trade them. My flaws are sticking out like a sore thumb and its funny to see what I write about myself and how I can improve, then make the same mistake on the very next trade. Only to write the same thing I wrote for the previous trade.

"Do not move your stop. Take profits if you feel antsy or your patience is waning"

I need the teacher that will force me to write that sentence 50 times on the chalk board. I have written that above sentence about 3 times already this year, and I've only been in 7-8 trades so far.

"Your stop is where your trade fails." (Like we never heard that before)
"Only move your stop when you are up 2:1+ RR" (Can you tell I have an issue with my SL?)

That's just a few bullet points from what I have had to write in my journal so far. So why should you care about my journal our what I'm writing? It would be nice to publish my journal at the end of this year. Self publish, book publisher, I don't care. I think the journey in itself will be an eye opening experience for myself and maybe others.

We all tend to have the same issue's from time to time when it comes to trading, how each of us deal with them can be beneficial to others. I talk with @tradercisco, @50pips and @kosentrade all the time about trading and the emotions that come with it. I'm sure you have seen the "Get @piptee some midol" tweets from time to time. I don't like to fail and tend to beat myself up when I fail the trade. A trade failing I can handle because that is something we have no control over, but when I fail the trade by moving BE to soon, not taking profits etc, I get emotional at myself.

I will keep you all up to date on the progress of my journal, maybe even put some of it out there for you all to see. I would really like you all to stay on top of me also, don't let me fail you.

PipTee