Whats gappin' traders,

My last trade was last day of February and it genuinely feels like several months have passed since. I have found this to be very strange. Each time I run down my small account, the saving to refund part has always felt like an age. 

Anyways, I have run down about 3 small accounts since March 2020 (technically I have pulled 4k from the markets which is giving me enough evidence to suggest I can do this over the long run). Obviously trading commissions and broker platform fees have eaten up any account profits and have left the well dry :(

But that's ok... you don't become an expert at any difficult craft in year one or year 2.

So I'm thinking 'Phase 1' of my journey has pretty much ran its course. What I mean is, I now feel ready to go back in to the market with a larger sum of capital. Enough of that small account and commissions eating me alive. I'm aiming for a re-start with about 5k. (a big small account, lol). If I can apply what I discuss below, I should start seeing my account head towards milestone 1 = 25k

Looking back at my trading journey so far, I think the main problems I had were:

Problem 1) overtrading.. not having defineable setups and not sticking to these setups. Being overly eager to place a trade. I think in 2020 and 2021 this is forgivable, seen as I was a newbie and there was so much volatility. So many setups 'look' good but so many times I was longing in areas when it would have been better to short, and vica versa.  It's just a lack of perspective and that can only be improved with time in the markets.

Solution: Focus on defineable setups, preferably patterns that fit the Sykes Pennystocking Framework. Be ok with missing trades. Try to be prepared every day and wait for my setups to appear.  I had tried to really focus in on the OTC market in November but OTC land was deserted!!!  I had little option to look at Listed. I just took it as an opportunity to track the Listed gappers, because there's always something moving there.

But I feel like OTCs still provide opportunity, so I want to re-focus there until I have gained expertise. If it is very quiet, well, it will teach me patience. On occasion I will trade listed, in particular if we see a sector run e.g. the oil run recently where we had a few tickers providing awesome range and displaying the pennystock framework patterns. 

Problem 2) Risk management ... too many times (and all it takes is a couple of times to ruin weeks of good work) I have been overly convinced that a certain ticker was going to go in a certain direction, causing me to hold for 20%+ losses. This is unacceptable to me going forward. Be guided by the price action, not the story. An exciting story or potential in your mind can end up being your biggest defeats. As they say, 'It's ok to be wrong, it's not ok to stay wrong'. When you make a mistake, cut the damage quickly and give yourself a chance to trade another day.

Solution: I will be placing a strong emphasis on % loss going forward and will be doing all I can to not let any one trade take me -5%. 

Problem 3) Emotional trading e.g revenge trading has been another problem of mine where I take several small losses trying to recoup earlier losses and end the trading day exhausted, only to look back and realise I've been playing the choppiest ticker ever and should have recognised the signs!

Solution: 

- Try to be the 'Observer' of your emotions and don't allow the frustration of losses affect your trading/impulses

- Sykes, in one of his videos said when he takes a trade on a ticker and has to take a frustrating loss, it makes him very reluctant and unlikely to try the same ticker again, because your judgement can be impaired by the initial loss. 

- Another saying floating around is: 'It's ok to be emotional; it's not ok to let emotions change your management of risk'. 

As a trader buddy said, 'Who knew it would all come down to risk management'.

The ultimate battle in trading. You versus You!

 

STUDYING

Where I'm at with my studying:

a)I tracked 3 months worth of gappers and still haven't finalised the data, (and running out of excuses) so plan to knock this on the head this month.

b)I'm familiarising myself with my setup tracker and setup definition improvements. Every trade I make has to fit a particular setup I have chosen to track.

c)I'm saving charts each month to keep track of whats moving.

d)I will be reviewing all the sectors and making sure I have a comprehensive list of tickers in each sector and be familiar with any former runs the ticker/sector has made.

e) following any trading recaps I find good, at moment am watching Tim Grittani's Youtube videos which are a massive benefit. He has a great mindset and is very methodical in his trading approach.

d) Eliminate distractions: This is my last season of summer soccer. I'm strongly considering quitting after this summer! Too much of a distraction, and contact sports where anything can happen is not worth the risk at this point, aged 36.

I am unfollowing certain political feeds on Youtube. I won't be watching anything political. If I care so much about politics, then I should enter politics, and I don't want to do that so I will vote when the time comes but I won't waste time arguing politics anymore. Everyone has their own perspective anyway. A 6 is a 9 is a 6, depending on what side of the table we sit on. 

Main focus is my job- I am a sales manager in a good company and this is my main focus (just in case my boss is reading :) ). But yeah, I enjoy bringing business for my boss and am motivated to make commissions on sales so I am very grateful to have found this job.

In my free time I will relax and study. I have put in 3 years of intensive study so now that I know what I'm looking for, its ok for me to spend just a couple hours in the evening watching the market and keeping tabs. Not ideal, but ok. I also study at the weekends.

Concluding thoughts

There it is folks, I hope if you read this you will save it and maybe print it off, because this is useful info. Give it a thumbs up and follow my channel 'Cormac Trades Stocks'. Hit subscribe.  I hope to build up my subscriber base and monetize my Youtube channel. I will continue to put out as good content I can. I know some of my Youtube videos are sloppy so another goal is to improve the quality and presentation. But I do appreciate your thumbs :D and when you watch my videos it encourages me to keep going :)