I have to start the topic again? C'mon, let's get some volunteers in here. Okay, Sunday night showtime, let's roll.

I've been trying visualization. Previously it never seemed to do much for me. But I was visualizing managing the trade. This time around, I'm visualizing managing my emotions. So they don't spike when a bar spikes. The heat of battle can spike your bias.

Okay, let me see if I can add to this without going on and on like I usually do. One thing I go emphasize heavily in mentoring is how first I have a plan for a trade. I have a reason I am getting in, and a move that I expect. The 'premise' for the trade. I ascertain this from many factors, 'context' being a big one. I can't trade if I don't know what I expect to happen, if things go as I anticipate. If a move keeps going that's great, but my stops get tightened at the key 'area of concern' (we don't need to get sidetracked here on why I never use the word 'target' or 'profit target', and why I coined 'area of concern' as soon as I realized I was a trend trader...), and that's what the trade premise is based on.

I also mention in the books and mentoring this idea that once a trade is laid out, I have thought out every possible outcome and what I would do in every circumstance. This approach attempts to take emotion and thinking out of the trade during the heat of battle. Go back and read what I wrote about all this in the books. No matter what happens, I've already thought out what I will do, the action I will take.

Now, price action comes into this, in the sense that how price behaves at an area surely provides information I want to use, and that I weigh into my desisions. But, two things. One is that this is part of what I mean when I say I've thought out every scenario. Price action is part of the various scenarios I think about for a given trade, and then I know what my options are ahead of time.

Two, price action never decides for me what I expect from a trade, what my premise is. It also never decides for me whether or not I'll take a trade off a PTA. That has to be 'pre-decided'. It may help me decide not to take a trade because the action is 'all wrong', or it may help me to decide to take a trade because I needed, for example, a tight entry trigger (technically based and valid) to get the reward/risk, and I got one (or didn't), but that is different. I never go into a PTA saying I'm not sure if I want to trade it, fade it, or stand aside (my famous saying), and depending on price action I'll decide at the last minute. I pretty much never do that.

I know well ahead what side of the market I want to be on, and how things are unfolding into the area. My decision is made. Now I just need all the necessary factors for the trade to line up. It does or doesn't line up, but my decision, my trade premise, that is set already, awaiting all the ducks lining up, or not lining up. Past comments I may have made about waiting to see what develops and then I'll decide were well in advance, and had more to do with how things unfolded from well away from the PTA, and how the related markets developed, and so on. Just some thoughts, I hope they help. This stuff is really critical to my process.

Jim, Did you have any problem in your early trading days emotionally accepting all possible outcomes?
For example, when a trade had a negative outcome, though you had that outcome in your plan, did it effect you in any way? I've heard there are rare individuals that never had a problem with this.

I have thought out every possible outcome and what I would do in every circumstance.

ES just exploding to new highs for the entire 'bulls#%&' market. That's an over 7 point jump in a 'blink'... It might really get running now. We'll see.

The ES is just going nuts! Insane.

Osama dead may be causing the explosion.

Osama Bin Laden Dead...............

Well, I'm the first to acknowledge that it's one thing to know how one wants to act, and another to act that way. It's one factor that separates the true professionals in any field. It has always been somewhat mathematically easy for me to analyze the market aspects, but another to act appropriately for my 'Trading Plan' as far as not letting emotions get involved. In that way, I'm not that rare individual, I'm more the norm as far as emotions. Look up some of my website commentaries regarding 'Mr. Hat' (I'm not sure how to find them, though, as Google goes nuts on the 'Mr. Hat' part in any combination with Kane Trading...).

I think the best approach for me was to clearly define all the outcomes and predecide on the action I would take. That laid out the plan. Then I would be able to clearly see if I was following that or not. If not, I could focus on why I wasn't doing what I needed to do, and work specifically on that. I have to identify a problem before I can work on a solution. It made it more clear for me where my issues were, so I could focus on improving them. One thing I know for sure, at least for me, if I'm not following my plan I need to stop trading until I can get on my plan. It's one thing to not have a plan, not have it clearly defined, or to not have it have an edge, and another thing entirely not to follow the plan.

Originally posted by tx_ches

Jim, Did you have any problem in your early trading days emotionally accepting all possible outcomes?
For example, when a trade had a negative outcome, though you had that outcome in your plan, did it effect you in any way? I've heard there are rare individuals that never had a problem with this.

I have thought out every possible outcome and what I would do in every circumstance.

"Ladies and Gentlemen... we got him."

Originally posted by EricD

Osama Bin Laden Dead...............

At last, though, a market move that has some (limited) rationale. Likely in reality this will increase terrorism and middle east tensions and especially Pakistani relations issues, etc., but at least the market moved on news it remembers at one point would have been considered 'good'.

jarek,

Very impressive work!

Good Trading,

Al Kamego