Thursday, March 25, 2010

03/25 Daily Summary







“Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth”
-- Mike Tyson
He is right!! Today I got a black eye and a few jabs in the lips, ribs, etc. I saw the marked opened with a gap open, then checked FinViz and saw there wasn’t much “green on the map”, so thought to myself, well, it doesn’t look like will move much from here. Then in the back of my mind I thought: would hate to be buying right now.. Sure enough, we moved just above 1 st. Deviation from Yesterday, triggered ALL my contingent orders and reverted 100% and more of the move.. BANG! BONG, OUCH!!
Here is how I honestly cope with my adversity:

Step 1) MUT*ERF#CKER!!! YOU S*N OF A BITC#!! (I vent my feelings out loud for a while)

Step 2) Got to a long walk with the dog, climbed over a hill next to our house, to the edge, watching the ocean from the edge gives you perspective.. What you gonna do? Jump? Heck no (I step back from the situation mentally and get myself calm and collected)

Step 3) I now think of what is this teaching me: manage those contingent orders not to fully stop EVER again, have them in at least 3 layers of slowing delta down. (I take ownership of the situation, try to extract some learning from it)

Step 4) Ok, trade by trade, what can I do? Is it worth hanging around? Figure it out and get on with life (I go into problem solving mode and figure out how can I manage the positions)

Here is a few links for your own reference:
http://traderfeed.blogspot.com/2007/08/assessing-your-coping-style-as-trader.html
http://traderfeed.blogspot.com/2007/10/emotional-resilience-in-trading-three.html
http://traderfeed.blogspot.com/2010/03/getting-punched-in-mouth-as-trader.html

2 comments:

Chad said...

Gustavo,

It's trading days like the one you experienced that are so damn frustrating and discouraging. I know it all too well. Yet, we seem to learn the most on these days (although learning shouldn't be such a pain in the arse!). Get back on the horse, lick your wounds, and visit that beautiful location from time to time to get that much needed perspective. :-)

And thank you for sharing your good and bad days. We all can learn from this, and another chapter for your ebook! :-)

Have a great weekend my friend!

Chad

Gustavo's Trades said...

Hey Chad, thanks for your cheering up. Some days are harder than others, that's for sure.. Well, things are calming down and it good to vent once and a while :)

One of the keys to stand stormy cycles is to have a balance between work-trade-life.. So I spent some time without only focusing on the trade aspects of my life, and that helps for sure!

Take care!
Gustavo