This weekend we asked our traders to craft a list of goals for 2011. This is an exercise every serious trader (person?) should complete. When you create a picture for where you want to be by the end of the year it helps organize all that needs to be done to get there. Create process and results goals.
Here is an example of a nice job of goal setting from one of our very new traders:
2011 GOALS
P&L Goals
- End the month of January gross and net positive, and meet all criteria for a junior trader
- Be net positive all 12 months this year
- Improve my net P&L and ticket average each month
- Have my first $1,000 day in the month of January
- Have a $5,000 day this year
- Have the top TA/gross profit in my class at least 3 months this year
- Gross a minimum of $75K this year
- Gross $25K for the first 6 months of the year
- Gross $50K for the last 6 months of the year
Other Goals
- Gradually increase my risk per trade as my results improve and my size increases
- Begin by risking $40-60 per trade, but get to the point where I am risking more in order to make more
- Come up with more “Big Ideas” for trades to hold that can potentially make my week/month
- Be involved in SMB super chops and recognize when to use my max size
- Go through charts each night for 30-45 minutes so that I already know my technical setups before coming into the office
- Be more aggressive
- Get better at trading the open
- Be fully prepared to trade every single day
Mike Bellafiore
Author, One Good Trade
6 Comments on “Goals for 2011”
Very nice list but I think for junior trader too many emphasis is on “money goals”. Thinking in money terms can easily distract trader, especially if he does not reach “Have my first $1,000 day in the month of January” target.
As one grows as trader those goals can start making sense but even then they can cause harm.
Those seem like realistic goals… I wish you well in 2011.
I agree with Igor . Based on my experience that caused me a lot of financial damage. I started to focus more on weekly targets and goals like: I want to have my best day to be 10 times bigger then worst week. That focus allows me to keep my losses short and let profits ride.
good goals list for day traders like me…
I agree with Igor’s comments – the goals don’t seem to focused on actually maintaining discipline but rather on hitting certain monetary goals. If the traders make 2 or 3 “wrong” calls they are going to then start chasing X per day rather than a return of Y. In my humble opinion…
Among beginning traders, many set goals without having any basis to reality. You can go to the gym and have a goal to get a 400 pound bench press but until you hit the weights and see where you are at then it doesn’t mean much. a more realistic approach is to hit the weights first and see what you can do.. then develop a plan to get better. The risk per trade looks very low too..