I received an end-of-the-year review from a trainee and his list of goals for 2012. It’s a great exercise for every trader and one that is supervised by our floor manager for our trainees. While reading one this norning I stumbled upon an important trading point that we have discussed some, many misunderstand, and might be able to improve your trading P&L.

So this young trader assembled a list of his three best trades and his goals. There was something missing. I rejoined:

I would add:
1) Find more plays that make the most sense to you like the three trades here
2) Find more plays that you can make money on and expand your playbook
This is different than number one, as this consists of your best plays that you want to be very BIG,
and number two is just you expanding your playbook to be able to make money in more plays.
What this does is that it gets you to increase your opportunities to find a trade that makes the most sense to you.
So you might not be in a great trade at the start, but if you expand your playbook and then SEE something from this expanded ability to make money in more trades then this will help your P&L.

For the blog record I am not advocating overtrading. This expanded playbook should be with trades with which the trader can consistently profit. But as an intraday trader often you only SEE an A+ set up if you are in it with a lesser trade. When you develop advanced trading skills you will start to feel an A+ set up about to appear. You acknowledge the trade is not yet present. But “if this” and “if that” apply, then it very well be an A+ setup. By having a larger playbook and being in more trades you give yourself more opportunities to find these A+ set ups. Being in this trade as it is developing can be the way for you to be BIG when the A+ trade does appear, and SEE it when perhaps others cannot by just mining their charts and filters.

Happy New Year!
Keep working on your trading game.

Bella
One Good Trade