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Day Trading Lessons: 10/2/23 - 10/6/23


It was another week filled with big moves on $SPY; ending with a banger of a day on Friday where we saw a $6 move down during pre-market action, followed by an insane $11 move to the upside during trading hours. 

I caught some of the moves this week and I missed others - ultimately ending the week around break even (once again). But as always, I learned a lot and I'm a better trader now than I was a week ago. 

Here is my biggest takeaway/learning lesson from the week:

As a Trader, Being Disciplined 99% of the Time Isn't Good Enough

Over the last couple of months, I've been working hard to become a more disciplined trader. The type of trader that doesn't chase trades or fomo into trades. The type of trader that ignores the "pretty good" trade setups in favor of the A+ setups. The type of trader that doesn't give money back to the market by overtrading or revenge trading. 

I've made huge progress with my discipline, and as a result, my win percentage has increased and I've gone from consistently losing money to consistently breaking even.

But this week I had a massive "ah-ha" moment while reviewing my trading stats/journal.

I realized that my discipline is great 99% of the time. I follow my trade plan, I make good choices, I stay calm... and I stack wins.

It's a beautiful thing. 

But then I have these 5-10 minute windows where my emotions take over and my discipline disappears. I'll make one or two bad decisions and my hard-earned profits will vanish into thin air.

It happened to me I did it on 4 out of the 5 trading days this week and it was the difference between a $700+ week and the breakeven week that I ended up with. 

The most frustrating part of it all is that I know when it's happening. I can feel myself entering that emotional state. I know I should walk away from the computer but I don't. I take the trade and it inevitably goes against me. 

But enough is enough. I'm tired of giving back my profits. I'm tired of being a break-even trader.

99% discipline clearly isn't good enough. To become consistently profitable I need to clean up that last 1%.

I suspect that going from 99% to 100% is much harder than going from 0% to 99%, but I also suspect that even minor improvements will have a massive impact on my bottom line.

Instead of 4 days per week with momentary discipline issues, I'll aim for 2 days next week. From there, I'll shoot for one day per week, then twice per month, then once per month, then never.

Making small, steady improvements is the name of the game. 

That's it for this week. I'll let you know how I do with the discipline issues. 

Have a great week ahead!

- Eric