A lesson not learnt in blood isn’t worth learning?

The image sums up my trading effort today perfectly…

With lots on at work I only managed just under 2 hours of the markets. I was in fine form, realising this I increased stakes – foolishly.

Shortly after I got caught on the wrong side of a trend… instead of easing my stake out and being patient I showed my hand and got smashed for £50. It really wound me up as I was back to just £5 profit on the day.

Moral of the story: don’t show your position!

Positives…

On a positive note you’ll know I’ve been testing various ways to change my own personal behaviour while trading, avoiding chasing or behaving irrationally etc.

This was probably one of the first real tests of charachter. In previous situations like this I would have been tempted to over-stake and risk making it worse – that’s gambling more or less. On this occasion things worked out pretty well.

The fact I had to go out after made it that little more painful, as I knew I didn’t have the opportunity of another 10 or 20 races to claw that lost money back. Just by ‘doing the right thing’ leaves me really chuffed with myself. It’s another step in the right direction on my quest to ‘resist doing stupid things‘ i.e. having a lay or over-staking.

“This time next year Rodney! haha”

Going forward…

Getting a grip of the in-play bug and over-staking seems to be the right thing here. It’s really hard as I guess just like anyone else I want to make money here and now. But taking the longer term view of – ‘if I can get a grip of acting impulsively’ should put me in a better position to make a healthy income from this.

The next few months look to be more exciting with the Cheltenham festival and hopefully the opportunity to get away from work that bit earlier. Work really doe’s tend to get on my nerves at the moment as I’m not happy there and constantly clock-watching thinking about all the trading opportunities I’m missing.

The good thing being I have time at work where I can get away with sitting down and reading for a few hours each day, looking at the markets on my phone and trying to learn a little more about what the hell is going on! It can be hard to be certain at times as looking on my phone for prices that have moved is pretty tricky – it’s not the same as being able to use the software at home and im sure there are bit’s of information I’m missing.

I’m flicking through Trading in the Zone at the moment by Mark Douglas. Every time I do I seem to see something different I didn’t catch on a first read, it’s a really good book and I’d recommend it to anyone that is mildly interested!

Anyway, until next time!! Keep it green people.

Related Article: Changing My Behaviour – No Excuses!