Choosing a method that tells you ‘when’

As I said in my last blog post, what if you didn’t have to be constantly watching the market like a hawk, absorbed in moment to moment price action? What if there was a piece of trading advice that would help you gain some valuable emotional distance from the market you are trading? One of the biggest issues for struggling traders is over-trading, along with over-trading’s ugly sister, ‘trading imaginary set-ups that aren’t really there’. These phenonena are caused in large part by loss of perspective – which in turn is a result of getting ‘lost’ in price action. I struggled with this issue for years. I tried many different methods from hypnotherapy to setting an alarm clock to ring every half an hour to remind me to ‘come back to focus’. In the end I found that there was a crucial missing element to my methodology – knowing when to enter. I don’t mean ‘when’ as in when price gets to 1256 – I mean when as in at 10:23. Adding an element to your trading methodology that tells you not only at what price to enter the market, but at what time is of enormous benefit to any trader – but especially the struggling trader. Doing so allows you to step back, disengage, and wait for the right moment to enter. It allows you to put your energy into building what I call ‘waiting discipline’, rather than the emotional roller coaster of moment to moment price movement. In real time trading, as you watch each tick unfold, the mind is constantly evaluating what’s happening, and a mental dialogue is taking place. The greatest enemies of the struggling trader’s peace of mind are the 3 regrets ‘coulda, woulda, and shoulda’. Constantly watching the market’s every move is a breeding ground for ‘coulda, woulda, and shoulda’ to sap your confidence and leave you a strung out ‘over-trader’ or a fearful procrastinator who can’t pull the trigger. Having a method that tells you when to enter, as well as at what price, allows you to sit back, let your mind disengage. You can stay aware of what the market is doing – but you don’t have to watch every tick. Heck you can even write a blog post! In the next blog post we’ll look at three ways to add time to your method – multiple time frames, cycles, and harmonics.

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