Read Time: 4 Minutes

Weekly Trading Stats:

Total Trades: 9

Winning Trades: 2

Losing Trades: 7

Win Rate: 22%

Weekly P&L: -$301.80

Weekly ROI: -5.86%

Beginning Balance: $5,147.08

Ending Balance: $4,845.28

Weekly Trading Recap:

It was another challenging trading week for me and I think it's safe to say that I'm officially in a trading slump. I'm forcing bad trades, I'm hesitating on good trades, I'm overtrading, I'm not being patient, and I'm being waaaay too flexible with my trading rules. I'm just completely in my head right now and I need to get back to basics. 

Takeaways & Learning Lessons This Week:

Here are two things that I will be working on improving next week: 

Mentally resetting after each trade:
I've been letting losses get to my head. As soon as a trade goes against me, I start to doubt my ability to read price action. I start to doubt my setups. I start to trade impulsively in an effort to "win back" my losses. To combat this, I will be making a big effort to mentally reset after each trade. I will get up from my computer, get some fresh air, move around a bit, and maybe even meditate for a few minutes before returning to trading. 

Being less flexible with my trading rules:
The reason we have trading rules is because they help us keep our emotions in check. They keep us from making costly mistakes in the heat of the moment.

For the first couple of months that I was trading, I was diligent about following my rules, but then a few weeks ago I had my first big green week as a trader and ever since then I've been a bit more flexible with my rules. This certainly wasn't a conscious decision but I think it's an accurate assessment of what has happened. It's as if I felt like I had "made it" and my rules were no longer needed.

For example, one of my rules is that I have to read through all of my trading rules and trading reminders each morning before the market opens. But lately, I've been quickly scanning those notes rather than really reading them and internalizing them. Another example is my rule that says I must get up and move around for 10 minutes after each trade. This rule is in place to help me calm my emotions, but lately, these breaks have been closer to 3 or 4 minutes.

These small infractions aren't a huge deal by themselves but they act like gateway drugs. Being flexible with a small trading rule is like taking one tiny puff of weed. Pretty harmless by itself but it can lead to bigger rule breaks (or harder drugs). Do that a few times and you start to build a habit. You start to tell your brain that it's OK to break the rules or do the drugs. Then next thing you know, you're pulling stop losses and risking thousands of dollars per trade (or in the gateway drug example, you're breaking into cars to fund your growing meth addiction). What I'm trying to say is that breaking your trading rules is a slippery slope and it's almost always better to adopt a zero-tolerance policy for rule breaks - no matter how small they may seem.

Recap of This Week's Goals:

1. Use proper risk management on every trade. Aiming for $50-$70 of risk per trade. 
   Result: Fail
   
   
2. Zero rule breaks
   Result: Fail
   
   
3. Identify trade opportunities using the SPY chart. Then wait for the options chart and my watchlist charts to confirm the trade opportunity before entering.
   Result:  I actually did a pretty good job of this. My problem had more to do with hesitating and chasing my entries.
   
   
4. Maximum of one losing trade per day after 11:45 am EST. 
   Result: Fail
   
   
5. Maximum of 4 trades per day.
   Result: Fail
   
   
6. 60% win rate on the week.
   Result: Fail
   
   
7. 10% ROI on the week. 
   Result: Fail
   

Trading Goals for Next Week:

I liked my goals this week so I'm mostly sticking with the same ones for next week. The difference is, I'm actually going to focus on achieving them. 

1. Use proper risk management on every trade. Aiming for $50-$70 of risk per trade. 
2. ZERO rule breaks or flexibility with my rules. 
3. Identify trade opportunities using the SPY chart. Then wait for the options chart and my watchlist charts to confirm the trade opportunity before entering.
4. Maximum of 4 trades per day.
5. Maximum of 2 losing trades per day.
6. 60% win rate on the week.
7. 10% ROI on the week. 
   
   

That's it for this week. I look forward to building back my confidence and returning to the land of green 💰💰💰

- Eric