Mike,
I had to send this email out right away after you posted your session on how you lost on $FB. For me, this was the single most valuable 15 minutes that I have spent on trading education. Why? For me, getting bigger, pressing, and holding are the biggest obstacles for me to get to the next level.
As background, I have been consistently profitable for five months, after being consistently unprofitable the prior three months. Before that, I spent about six months trying to find my niche and was taking 1-3 day positions. While I was profitable, I didn’t feel like that style was working for me, so I switched to a shorter-term horizon.
What crystallized in my head while I was watching the meeting was that while I am emotionally wired to accept a loss when I open a trade, and hold a trade that is working cleanly, I am currently not wired to accept having a winning trade and seeing it go into the red. Scratch…ok…but for some reason I have felt that losing money in a winning trade was something to avoid. Therefore, quite naturally, it is extremely difficult for me to add to positions as I would generally be risking unrealized P&L++. While I can add as the trade is sitting near my entry, I would not have been able to make those trades you made.
But finally being able to see how a world-class trader enters, presses, then gives it back and then some and is able to articulate the thought process was really an “ah ha” moment. If I had done what you did, without seeing this, I would have walked away thinking…”stupid, stupid, stupid”, and perhaps gone on tilt and perhaps held a piece through the brutal move. Who knows?
I’m not suggesting you do a ton of these types of sessions, as this is particular to where I am in the development of my evolution, but perhaps going through a few more of these may be helpful as a small session in the DNA program, which I am a part of.
Anyway, great stuff!
For those interested in watching this training session of “the single most valuable 15 minutes that (the student above) (has) spent on trading education” here is a link. I discuss:
Then I get tired and want some lunch :).
Related blog posts:
A Bad Day
Turning Anger Into Trading Performance
You can be better tomorrow than you are today!
Mike Bellafiore
No relevant positions
2 Comments on “The Single Most Valuable 15 Minutes of Trading Education (Video)”
Interesting trade description Mike, thanks for sharing it. I guess it is offered as an example of the importance of fundamentals.
I wonder though if your premise had been long from the beginning, would the reversal, move up and consolidation around mid 48.30-40’s (where your short began to fail) have been a potential buy set up?
Maybe, from your ominous caution and wider market comments, absent the wider political context?
Yes Andrew that would then have been a buy. There are different ways to view the markets. Excellent example right there of how. Both my trade and that long would have been examples of good risk/reward trades though I would argue the better long would have been above the top of the opening range.