Trade Planning: Learning Through Consistency and DisciplineIm going to do a series of posts that are all about trade planning and learning about consistency and discipline through a practice. In this exercise, I will be consistently planning, executing what I planned, and documenting 30 trades.
A trade plan consists of a method, trade management, position sizing, documentation and review. A trade plan should state ahead of time, exactly where to enter, where to place stop, how the trade is managed, where to exit, and position sizing. This kind of accountability and responsibility offers a contrast to the our normal ineffective emotional impulses that we usually make our trade decisions from so that we can make a choice. I will talk more about each part of the trading plan future posts.
This exercise is not about the method, a setup, picking the right stocks, being right, winning, loosing, or predicting markets. It doesn't matter if all the trades are losses. The purpose is to learn about consistency and discipline through your own personal insight.
Its through discipline and consistency that we begin to re-wire old ineffective habits and develop an effective mindset for trading markets. Doing something consistently also offers a bassline to compare and truly learn.
There is often resistance to this kind of responsibility. If you want to take up the guidelines of the practice, just step into it as much as your ready for and make it your own. This is not meant for you to follow my trades or worry about my method or setup. Its not important and besides, my setups lose most of the time anyways. Use your own method, there are plenty out there and work on making it as simple and objective as possible. I also suggest you start out sim trading this or using very small size.