For those who have read Mark Douglas's book called Trading without Fear, you will know how he emphasises the need to execute a trade, without hesitation or fear, when the criteria of a strategy are met.
Below is an extract from the book:
What is trading without fear?
"Fundamentally at the heart of it, learning to trade without fear, hesitation or internal conflict is a function of believing that you don’t have to know what’s going to happen next on a trade-by-trade basis to win or make consistent money.
Thinking, assuming or believing you know what will happen next creates an unrealistic expectation of a specific outcome.
The expectation that a trade will make you money is what will mess you up. You need to enter into trades without expecting a win or a loss, but consistently entering without fear will lead to consistent profits in a profitable strategy.
Trading without fear is a learned mental skill, such as; learning the ability not to choke, and being able to take off a trade when you know it’s not working."
Today, I fell foul to this philosophy which I know well. I was in the market with 2 trades. I then spotted a 3rd trade on the match below that met my entry criteria. The trouble was I was in the middle of hoovering up the house and I had set down the vacuum cleaner without turning it off. The noise from my Henry hoover was particularly distracting and I basically stared at this match for around 90 seconds (plenty of time to place my trade). With my Henry blasting away, I conjured up reasons not to enter the trade including what I made myself believe was poor liquidity (At £40 stakes, I am just a tiny entrant into the market and the liquidity wasn't an issue at all)
GOAL goes in 5 seconds later: Around 95 seconds after I spotted this great opportunity and hesitated to enter, BOOM the goal goes in. Just to bring this to life , I would have made £300 on this trade alone. To make things even more painful, the other 2 trades I was involved in went on to lose! You couldn't make it up
LIMIT DISTRACTIONS: Now if you read my blog post yesterday, you will see a I had another big win. Only difference was I was fully focussed on my trading and in the zone. I didn't hesitate for one second - I saw the opportunity, it met my criteria and went for it. Well knowing I had zero control of the outcomes of that match.
How did the day end? Karibu Sana from Kenya premier league:
So how did this impact me? Not taking that trade impacted my mindset big time. I would say I needed around 25 minutes to clear my head but it hit me for around 2 hours. BUT, remember this journey never ends. The mindset to execute flawlessly and trade in the zone takes years to master and is a never-ending journey
Anyway, I carried on with my trading day, a few more wins and losses as usual. The trade below from the Kenyan premier league saw me over the line with +1.9 pts profit for the day. This is absolutely wonderful as I know there will be bad days to come. But I am only human and even as I write this up, I am still reeling from the fact that I left a potential 7.5pt profits on the table
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