During a weekly review one of our developing traders wrote:
Summary:
- It was an ok week P&L wise but it should have been a much better week given the opportunities we had in the macro plays. With the SPY breaking key support level, there were many ETFs that were In Play e.g. GLD, GDX, FAS, IYR and the TLT. I wasn’t properly prepared to look at all the ETFs and going over the charts today I saw how clean they were.
- There were days when I didn’t see opportunities for hours then some great setup shows up. I traded these but was not quick enough to turn on my aggression to make the most out of the opportunity.
My response was:
Here is your solution. Mentally rehearse potential buys and sales and shorts and covers with your positions before the open. This will help you in real-time.
The new trader responded:
Thank you Bella. I’ve been neglecting my visualization exercise recently. I’ll bring back the routine.
@mikebellafiore
If I told you your favorite athlete didn’t warm up before a big game, what would you think? You would think that athlete was not taking the game seriously and wasn’t properly prepared. The same is true with trading. You need to warm up.
A great way to warm up is to just mentally rehearse great shorts and longs for the stocks you are trading. Warm up your trading brain, which will be playing for the next 6 1/2 hours. You will trade better in real-time.
Related blog posts:
Triggering Elite Performance
Steps to Mastery
You can be better tomorrow than you are today!
Mike Bellafiore
No relevant positions
