T-Model Trader Blog Post 16 - Short Circuited

Hello Traders.

T-Model Trader is back with his 16th blog post for Decisive Trading. 

James Orr

DT Blog 16

Short circuited                           

I was about to write… “What an interesting few weeks it has been regarding trading”, when it occurred to me that I can recall writing…. “What an interesting time it has been lately regarding trading” just about every time I sit to write one of these blogs.

Maybe it is time to get the thesaurus out for new words that expand upon “interesting”. Or maybe trading is just one of those things that continually throw up new and interesting experiences.

Anyway…..it has been an interesting time since the last blog.

I was planning on continuing with some thoughts in and around the interview with James. However, as I had this “interesting” experience of late, I thought to share this and will get back to the Q&A next time.

For the sake of explanation, let’s call one aspect the “conceptual realm” and the other the “practical realm”. I am sure that you will all have had these experiences where a mental concept, which is easily understood, eventually finds itself demonstrating in the physical. What was the conceptual mental understanding eventually shows up in reality and the words “Oh that is what it meant”, seems to find expression.

Whilst mentally pondering the concept it all seems clear and easy with many a thought of….Oh yes I will know when it happens….I am aware of it…..and so on. And then lo and behold, like all those parental warnings that fluttered out the window as one day you just have to stick your finger in the fire to truly make sure that it does indeed burn.

So…..in this last month and a bit, I discovered what “over trading” actually and really truly is.

From a conceptual perspective it is pretty damn easy to put those two words into a form of meaning. From a physical perspective thou, I had a disconnect to that concept until I actually fell into a state of over trading in the real time real world reality. Maybe it is just me, but it does seem that we humans need to truly “do” some things in order to truly “get” it.

I had mentioned my development of the daytime ASX trading in past blogs. This I had been doing, which meant that I had a morning start on this market and then a late afternoon start with the Ftse. For a month or so, this was fine and I enjoyed the split trading sessions. Then slowly a sense of fatigue started to build up without me being aware of it happening at the time.

About 4 weeks ago, I began to do my morning ASX set up and felt a sense of lethargy regarding doing so. I could feel that my efforts regarding market analysis were lacking, but continued on regardless. Then the next day came along and I felt the same. Several more days followed as such.

When I sat the following week, I could feel my whole being wanting to rebel against doing this, but yet again I hadn’t realized at the time what was happening. Then that feeling seemed to show up as well in the Ftse session later in the day.

Normally I really enjoy setting up the zones for the day’s trading and getting ready for market open time. This was different as there was a sluggishness to my approach and a sense of feeling bothered by the whole thing.

Then poor trade selection started to creep in. Impatience started to return again. And then the losses started to mount in proportion to overall trade successes. Mmm…something is happening here.

Finally, the bubble popped when I looked at the charts and just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to set up the zones and didn’t want to even think about the trading day ahead. It wasn’t that I decided to have a break, but more so that I was at a point of being forced to do so, simply because my entire being was rebelling against the process.

It probably took another painful week to realize that I had been in a state of trading saturation. The conceptual “over trading” had become actualized. I was cooked…..totally!

Over the last few weeks I have lessened my chart time considerably. I have changed my approach and mainly just trade the Ftse in the evening. Although I keep an eye on the ASX, any trading of this market is now on higher/longer time frames, so my screen time is drastically reduced. I now feel that I have regained my enjoyment again and that sense of “space” that I mentioned in the last blog has returned.

What I find interesting about all this is understanding that fine line between the notion of a “concept” of something and the often large wide gulf that stands separated in the world of practical realities.

I keep thinking about the concept of over training in regards to athletes and sports as there comes a point of diminishing returns. That is what happened, as the more I engaged in the process, I was inadvertently pushing it all away.

Having had this experience of late has added yet another layer of insight to my trading development. I feel I understand how important it is to have that sense of equanimity regarding the whole trading process, as it is so easy to fall into that belief that more is better.

Again, it is interesting to note, that within me is this compulsion that says I must always be looking at a chart if it is that I truly want to succeed as a trader. It is thou, the insight of these last few months that I have come to see how I make trading way harder and more complex than it has to be.

It is this last concept that I want to expand upon in the next blog as it was something that James stated in the Q&A that got me thinking deeply about this aspect of my trading psychology.

Till next time….

T-model.