The Trading Year in Review - But it's just August!





Oscillating between trading strategies since the start of the year had taken a toll on my mental well being and it has been a journey of mental language. The journey has been about throwing together technical indicators that may or may not be put together in the same view, and seeing the interoperability of those technical indicators. 

Taking off the horse blinds of just using MACD all these years led me to unfamiliar places. Uncomfortable places. But I would not call it getting out of the comfort zone, since the time since 2016 has been a time of extreme discomfort. 

Sticking to MACD as the only indicator along with Williams %R had been stifling, and had taken away a lot of time that could have been spent doing constructive things. It also resulted in conditioning the psyche to not look for better alternatives since the trading system involving these two indicators looked so perfect in retrospect. Losses that were a regular feature were side swept since losses were just considered to be something that would eventually go away if the trade execution was done properly. 

I am so glad that the journey out of MACD which I had ironically called "PHENOM" took a good amount of time, and opened up avenues to learn new indicators, be coach-able and see trading in a completely new light. 

I am not an active blogger, and thought twice before making this the topic of my new blog post. Can I not think of a better topic to write on? The answer that came back to me, was that there are many better topics, but if this has had such a big impact, I might as well write about it.

I ordered the book, Trading Sardines, the autobiography by the legendary trader Linda Rashke in 2020, during the pandemic and read it cover to cover within a few days of receiving it. It was a very good read, but I decided to take the book off the shelf again, and give it another read to gather another context. During my second read I noticed myself looking out for parts that mentioned trading strategies and shifting from one strategy to the other. 

Etienne Crete's youtube channel was also a good resource I found to take a deep dive into the conscience of traders operating at various levels of profitability. This bolstered my resolution of being more coach-able, and I discovered that almost all traders are on a constant quest to uncover new trading systems & its rare for a trader to stick to just one trading template forever. The markets are changing. Aren't they? 

At the moment, my trading template does not even remotely resemble "Phenom", and is more aligned to reality than it has ever been. Absolute alignment to reality is always going to be an ongoing quest, but I currently find myself in a realm of comfort that was absolutely unknown to me before. 

Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Panchayat Season 4: A Disappointing Departure from Its Roots

Image
As one of the millions of ardent fans eagerly awaiting its arrival, I settled in yesterday to watch the fourth season of "Panchayat." The show initially unfolded in the familiar, comforting rhythm that viewers have come to love over the years. However, this sense of familiarity quickly faded, giving way to something surprisingly uninteresting. The primary issue lies in the storyline, which seemed to veer almost exclusively towards the upcoming panchayat election. This singular focus, while central to the village's narrative, unfortunately overshadowed everything else. What made "Panchayat" so captivating in its previous seasons was the charming interplay of its characters and their distinct individualities. In season four, it felt as though all the characters, in service of this election-centric plot, lost their spark. Their curated complexities and inherent cheekiness, once a highlight of the show, seemed to have vanished. It was genuinely disappoin...
Read more

A Day to Remember: Friends, F1, and Fantastic Food!

Image
It had been a year since my last get-together with my two friends, and we were all buzzing with anticipation for this meetup. The occasion felt even more special because Sahil, one of our trio, will soon be leaving Bangalore. This was likely our last chance to meet for a while, making every moment count. Racing into Cinema at Shankar Nag Theatre Our first stop was the legendary Shankar Nag theatre on MG Road, Bangalore. Having lived in Bangalore for 19 years, I've visited this iconic movie hall a few times, and it never disappoints. We were there to watch the much-talked-about F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, was a promising high-octane action movie and was a glimpse into the world of Formula 1 racing. The movie was indeed a great watch. While there were a few moments in the middle that felt like a stretch, perhaps to force a subplot, the ending was both powerful and inspirational.  It's amazing how often movies hold up a mirror to life's realities, offering us mome...
Read more

Reclaiming My Focus: A Journey Away From Mindless Scrolling

Image
Today marks a significant shift in my life. I've committed to a new path: stepping away from social media's endless scroll. Specifically, I'm aiming to completely stop accessing platforms like Instagram and YouTube for casual browsing. It's been an eye-opener to realize just how ingrained this habit has become – almost automatically, my fingers would open these apps, leading me down a rabbit hole of random content for what felt like an endless amount of time. There was no real stop point, no trigger to pull me away. This realization prompted me to dig deeper. I turned to AI apps, curious about the potential links between social media scrolling, anxiety, and other detrimental factors. The results were, frankly, jaw-dropping. My intuition was correct. This pervasive scrolling was already rewiring my brain and having a multitude of negative effects, which in turn were harming my performance in my business. The Unseen Impacts of Prolonged Social Media Scrolling ...
Read more