Well I have finished reading Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas and HOLY SHIT. It has seriously influenced the way I view trading. I've noticed a lot of the things he talks about in his book before reading it, but hearing someone else say it solidifies it and my perspective is greatly changed from this book.

Basically he talks about how when you're trading you have to realize that anything can happen in a trade and that your goal is not to be right. Your goal as a trader is to develop a thesis based on your edge (a pattern/setup you know) and to take the trade without hesitation at the correct entry point.

As long as you have good risk/reward and stick to your risk, you will become profitable. He goes far more in depth than I can elaborate in a blog post, but the man knows his shit. 

 

I decided to trade a couple of setups from two weeks ago on ThinkorSwim's "OnDemand" feature. I've never traded these stocks, but I have been tracking them and I traded them without looking at the end result. Using the techniques and lessons Mark talks about, I made $516 on $NLS and I just made $349 on $HOS.

I scaled in, which allowed me to trade bigger size using the same $20 risk I always trade with. Basically, I can't wait for the next trading week.