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It was a brutal trading week filled with poor decision-making, overtrading, revenge trading, and rule breaks. It all started with a bad trading day on Monday and then I got into my own head. I started trying to "make up" Monday's losses, which unsurprisingly, led to even greater losses. The only good news is that I stuck to my risk management rules so the losses weren't crippling - despite a measly 18% win rate on the week.

Weekly Trading Stats:

Total Trades: 17

Winning Trades: 3

Losing Trades: 14

Win Rate: 18%

Weekly P&L: -$384

Weekly ROI: -7.9%

Beginning Balance: $4,837.88

Ending Balance: $4,453.88

Weekly Trading Recap:

This week was filled with mental mistakes. Rather than diving into my individual trades, I want to take a look at my biggest mental blunders from the week and talk about how I plan to fix them moving forward. Hopefully, this will help you avoid some of the same costly mistakes that I've made. 

Mistake #1: Trading on days I shouldn't

This is what started all of the problems. Monday was my daughter's birthday and I should not have been trading. When I was doing my pre-market routine, I wrote a reminder at the top of my trading journal that said, "I will likely be unfocused today. Trade lightly, if at all. Don't get in a hole to start the week". Well, guess what I did? That's right, I traded despite being even more distracted and unfocused than expected. Just a complete breakdown of self-discipline that resulted in three losses and $150 in losses to start the week. 

The Fix: Decide to turn pro. Author James Clear says, "Being a pro is about having the discipline to commit to what is important to you instead of merely saying something is important to you." On Monday, I knew that I shouldn't be trading but I traded anyway because trading is fun and I enjoy the challenge. That was the move of an amateur. Amateurs succumb to their desires rather than doing what is required to be successful. I need to remember that I'm not here to have fun. I'm here to make money and build a better life for myself and my family. Achieving success as a trader will require me to wake up every single day and act like a professional without any exceptions... and that's exactly what I intend to do. 

Mistake #2: Trying to "make up" losses

After getting in a hole on Monday, I started Tuesday off with the goal of "making up" my losses. As a result, I started focusing on my P&L rather than on my trading system, rules, and habits. This led to me overtrading and jumping into trades in which I had zero edge... and if you're trading without edge, you're really just gambling. 

The Fix: I need to hide my P&L when I'm trading and I need to stop setting P&L related goals until I start profiting consistently. Right now, my trading goals need to be related to skill development, habit formation, and trade execution. If I focus on the process, the results will take care of themselves.

Mistake #3: Not being a good loser

When a trade goes against me I have a difficult time letting it go. This has been one of my great struggles since I started trading and it popped up in a big way this week. Over and over again, I would enter a trade, get stopped out at my invalidation point, and then re-enter that same trade (AKA revenge trade). When you really look at it, it's just an ego thing. I don't want to accept that I'm wrong so I keep going back to the same trade in an effort to "prove" that I'm right. This is why I regularly get burned trying to trade against the trend. I'm just too stubborn to admit when I'm wrong and I continue trying to jam a square peg into a round hole. 

The Fix: After each trade, I need to take a few minutes to step away from the charts and emotionally reset. I need to get up from the desk and move around. Whether my last trade was a win or loss, it's important for me to reset after each trade so that I can approach the next trade objectively and with a fresh set of eyes. I also need to remember that trading is a game of probabilities. I can place a great trade with an A+ setup and still lose 4 out of every 10 trades. It's not about being right or wrong, it's about making the right decision and exercising proper risk management.

Learning Lesson of the Week:

If you want to become a consistently profitable trader, developing self-discipline and mastering the mental side of trading is significantly more important than learning trading strategies, tactics, patterns, or setups.

Trading Goals for Next Week:

1) Pre-plan each trade and wait for my A+ setups & entries. Eliminate impulsive trades, scalp trades, over-trading, and revenge trading.

2) Act like a professional without exception.

3) Zero rule breaks.

4) Don't look at P&L throughout the trading day. Just make good decisions and trust the process.

Alright, that's it for this week. I hope you've learned a thing or two that will make you a better trader. 

See ya next week!

- Eric