Thread by @OpenOutcrier

Here were my 2020 Trading Resolutions (last year) and a rundown on how I did following them:

1) Avoid FOMO & Follow Stops
2) Hide P&L
3) Gameplan the open
4) Define swing trades
5) Introduce a new feature for openoutcrier.com

1) Avoid FOMO - Failing grade, I can't do it.

For me this is $TSLA or the SPAC craze or the EV/Battery/Charging runs.

A stock or a sector gets on fire.

It feels like everyone and their idiot cousin is getting rich on these stocks and I'm the only moron sitting on the sidelines missing out on all the fun.

I can take small wins on news or volume, but can't get my stupid brain out of the way to ride the larger trend. I need to detach my rational real-world brain from my trader brain. Volume and price matter not what I think a stock is worth.

I've started to use FOMO Size, 1/20th the size of a normal position. Because I can't avoid trading these names, I can atleast minimize the damage of trading a coin flip.

Truth be told I'm better off avoiding these completely, its a waste of mental capital I could be using to prep for A+ set-ups, but since I know my demons I might as well live with the best version of them.

My biggest problem on FOMO trades is I'm usually right on the overall direction, I just butcher the timing.

This is MADDENING to me.

I've toyed with the idea of even smaller size and wider stops.

1b) Follow Stops - C-minus.

I always set a mental stop based on what either the stock or option is doing (or a combination of the two).

When I'm trading my best, I cut losers crazy fast and move on. Preserves real and mental capital.

When I'm either too cocky or too lazy, I skip my stop, lose the bid to sell into and usually end up puking a position in frustration.

Some of this can be attributed to trading larger size (which I'll talk about later).

But most of it is just hubris (how can I be wrong?) or laziness (I'll just wait a little bit longer).

When I'm at my worst, I double down/cost average at the first level that really should be my stop, and exit.

My system is very aggressive and I usually know if I'm correct, right away. So when its not there, don't make it worse.

We create trading rules to save us from ourselves, use them.

2) Hide P&L

2020 Grade: A+

I absolutely love this idea and what it has done for me mentally. I'm not looking at how much money I'm up or down, or where my break-even is. I'm just looking at the trade, reading the tape and making decisions based on that input.

I'm also not seeing how my day is going, so it keeps me hungry looking for the next trade. Then at the end of the day its a fun little game of guess the P&L.

I might even expand on it this year and hide my entry prices.

3) Game-plan the open

2020 Grade B.

The first five minutes of trading is a free-for-all in the markets. Stocks and options whip around more than at any moment in the whole day. Without a plan it's easy to get caught chasing any number of false moves.

Have an idea of what you are looking for or to do on the open, or avoid it.

For all of the premarket posts we make, I try and whittle that information down to 1-3 trade ideas for the open or day, and then file the rest away as in the past.

One of the most consistent trades on the open for me was news in a story/hot stock.

For example: $BYND deal with a restaurant or $ROKU HBO deal, EV Delivery numbers or orders.

Basically trying to find that one piece of news the market will chase when it opens.

4) Define Swing Trades

2020 Grade: Incomplete

There was so much going on and so much to do this year, on a daily basis I never really expanded or sought expanding into more swing trading. Its still something I'd like to tackle, but not a pressing agenda item at this point.

5) Introduce a new feature for openoutcrier.com

2020 Grade: Technically a fail

BUT we're testing squawk now, so hopefully soon. We also broke a bunch of stuff along the way, so yay us.

I think of resolutions as aspirations. Things you want to improve on or eliminate to grow and expand as a trader.

In 2020, I didn't grow in the ways I thought I should or needed to but that doesn't mean I didn't grow at all.

I introduced some new tricks to the bag, focused more on what I was good at, and I eliminated mistakes (this was huge).

And there's still so much more to improve on.

SIZING UP: At some point in your trading career, no matter where you start, the next natural progression is to increase your size. There are some steps that should occur before you do this however.

First, learn to trade.

What I mean is find your product (stocks/options/futures), find your style, and your time-frame and then develop a system that's repeatable. Once you think you've tweaked these parameters enough, then you can start to increase your size.

Second, be profitable

If you are losing money or just treading water in your trading career, bigger size fix nothing but send you back to flipping burgers sooner.

If you put a trade on with bigger size and it FEELS different, you're heart is racing faster, you're eyes keep looking at your P&L, things like this, then you have too big a position on and you're not ready yet.

If you are trading it differently than the smaller size, ie. cutting winners early or riding trades into the ground, you're not ready yet.

A normal sized position traded well, can often be just as, if not more profitable than a monster position you can't manage coherently.

The Market is a big place so being a large player in most markets (ie trading a large percentage of volume) is hard but not impossible.

In certain options strikes or low floats you may find yourself feeling like the only player in there, either pushing markets around, or chasing fills for volume.

In these situations, trades can be hard to put on, or take off and scaling in and out and certain shadow games come into play.

Try to never let them know your full size, til necessary, take what you need when you can, or exercise extreme levels of patience.

2021 Trading Resolutions

1) Do Less
2) Hide Entry Prices (along with P&L)
3) Launch Squawk for OOC
4) Say 'Yes' more often

That's it (I said "do less" and I meant it!)

(end)

Compile or unroll @threader_app