Stuck

9:15 am:

discontinuing 2 models led to me not being long the NQ tues/wed...left 7.5% on the table...

cognitively ok with it as the models were no longer robust...

emotionally, the ride has a been a bit rougher...mostly felt sad last night and questioned my ability to succeed as a trader...

slept ok, but felt stuck in 'trader insecurity' mode this am...did some reading from ari kiev's 'trading to win' book...this has helped me refocus on the day in front of me, instead of how trading will be for me 5 years down the road...

http://www.amazon.com/Trading-Win-Psychology-Mastering-Markets/dp/0471248428/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247753529&sr=8-1

10:03 am:

2 discretionary daytrades for my vcm account...first one generated 1 R of profit, the second was a scratch...cant say anything i did was a good example of a strategy that can be repeated...both trades had some anxiety as a motivating force to open them...i am feeling the need to 'do something' to get my confidence back...

i think the best thing to do right now is to stop daytrading and put my research hat on...i am rebuilding the Narrow Bar models using 'true range' instead of 'range'...this is the initial filter...the old narrow bar models used 'range'...'range' does not factor in opening gaps, 'true range' does...

i also have some ideas that i want to model to help increase my confidence in some daytrading setups, stops and targets...

a systemic trading model is due to generate a short at today's close, so mentally i am gearing up for that...

stressin, but doing what i can to get some cognitive work done and cross some things off my list...

12:20 pm:

modeling secondary filters on the narrow bar concept...making progress through the permutations...identifying some candidates for the next round of testing (walk forward on unseen data)...

feeling a little looser, a little less 'stuck'...

airport run...

5:15 pm:

finished modeling the primary and the secondary filters for the narrow bar SPY...2 models out of a total of 45 possible models, made it through the walk forward test successfully...these two models are in line to replace the current narrow bar SPY models...

will work on the narrow bar NDX testing tomorrow...

will work on a coding up a model that i discussed on the phone today with a good trading friend...

also want to code up some vcm concepts to help increase my confidence in some vcm setups that i like...

two systemic models generated entry signals at today's close: one is now short the NQ, the other is now long the EMD...more on these models tomorrow...

feeling less stuck this afternoon...it feels good to be getting some research done....