{"id":1121,"date":"2009-06-17T17:13:21","date_gmt":"2009-06-17T22:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?p=1121"},"modified":"2013-03-19T12:43:10","modified_gmt":"2013-03-19T16:43:10","slug":"unnecessary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/unnecessary","title":{"rendered":"Unnecessary"},"content":{"rendered":"

I made an unforced error on the Open today. I did something I never do. I broke a trading rule that I never break. And I pride myself on my discipline.<\/p>\n

I’m not concerned that I will ever repeat this error. I doubt that I will. I’m the most disciplined trader that I know. I just don’t make many mistakes. I don’t say this boastfully, this is just objectively my great strength.<\/p>\n

And I don’t have much to take away from my trading day today. There wasn’t anything that the market taught me. I know I can’t do what I did. I know why I did it. I had known all of this before the open. I can’t say that I learned a valuable lesson from the market today. I just payed a heavy tariff.<\/p>\n

I don’t feel ashamed. I am not embarrassed. I don’t particularly care about the monetary loss. I would sum the whole thing up as just unnecessary.<\/p>\n

But maybe I can write a blog post to help some traders. This post is for the traders who do so much more than just trade. \u00a0Those of you who have other jobs, have family issues to deal with, run other businesses, etc. You know, those of you who have other stuff on your mind outside of trading.<\/p>\n

There needs to be a way for you, everyday, no matter how important your other responsibilities, to clear you mind and just focus on trading. I know some have family obligations which I respect. I know that sometimes life brings challenges that make it difficult to focus. But if you cannot focus than skip that trading day. Todd Harrison back in the day used to write, “The markets are not going anywhere.” This is great advice for a day when you’re not focused.<\/p>\n

Phil Mickelson will play the US Open this week with his wife ready to battle cancer. For those who follow my blog you know that Phil is my favorite athlete. I am not sure he is going to be able to completely focus on playing this week. I will be rooting for him, but I just don’t know. Many of us struggle with outside thoughts during our trading. This is just human nature. But what we can do as traders is recognize that we are distracted. We can observe our mindset before the open. \u00a0We can choose to skip a trading day.<\/p>\n

I am writing and looking at my P&L. I have purposely refused to take it down. I want to be reminded of my mistake. I deserve to relive the rip which my P&L blares at me. For me this is positive punishment.<\/p>\n

When you sit down at your trading station it must be just you and the market. If your mind is wandering please get up and walk away. You cannot compete in the marketplace without total focus.<\/p>\n

I am a veteran trader. My consistency as a trader is undeniable. And I was not focused today. My result was inevitable. Don’t make this mistake. Walk away. That negative number staring at me on the top of my trading platform says nothing about my ability as a trader. It does tell me exactly how much the market can extract if I am not focused. The whole thing was just unnecessary.<\/p>\n

Follow us on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I made an unforced error on the Open today. I did something I never do. I broke a trading rule that I never break. And I pride myself on my discipline. I’m not concerned that I will ever repeat this error. I doubt that I will. I’m the most disciplined trader that I know. I just don’t make many mistakes. … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[30,18,301],"class_list":["post-1121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mike-bellafiore-bellas-blogs","tag-prop-trading","tag-smb-capital","tag-trading-blog","no-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\nUnnecessary | SMB Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/unnecessary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unnecessary | SMB Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I made an unforced error on the Open today. 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