This post is going to be an awkward post because rather than discussing what I’m doing right I’m going to focus on what I’m doing wrong so I can get some help and maybe help other New or Intermediate APEX traders along the way.
Since I started trading the APEX System I have not lost a single trade until today. I was about to recoup about 80% of those losses so not a bad day at all. I will try to share the trades that I lost on so I can get some clarification but I wanted to post the reasons for me losing in the sanity section.
It’s a bit difficult to post this because it may be quite embarrassing but I don’t mind it at all if it can help develop me into an Elite trader. So here it goes.
- Taking Profits To Early
a. Taking profits because I have hit profit target b. Price has hit or is coming near a deviation c. Looking at P & L d. Not willing to let the market hit the MVP line to take me out pf the trade.
Conclusion:
Conclusion A: My habit of taking profits to early comes from a way of thinking that is killer. I hate to lose what I have already gained in profits. For example lets say I’m up on a short and the market pulls back before it continues I will take my profits rather than let the trade hit the MVP Line to give me a signal to take profit.
I feel that the MVP line is to far from price at times and it may eat into my profits. Fear of losing and greed are the root cause but that just a scenario that I thought I should share.
Conclusion B: For the past few weeks as I have been observing APEX I noticed that price respected deviations pretty well. So I assumed that every time price came to a deviation level that the move may be over and I should take profits. So after that happend a 2-4 times in actual trading I registered it as gospel.
But yesterday there were some moves in the TF that had a stayed in could have netted me well but I pulled out at deviation levels rather than trailing with the MVP. So if anyone can help me there please do so. And as far as P&L I have no changed it to points rather than dollar amount.
- Entering Trades To Late
a. Darrell cleared this up yesterday so I should be pretty good “http://apexinvesting.net/forum/elite-mvp-trade-review-229/how-bar-ahead-elite-entries-1790.html#.U73Y1PldV8E”
b. Entering late was a result of not being fast enough to set the limit orders & waiting for the E Bar to close before I placed the order. c. I would enter the trades 2-3 ticks after the E Bar Closed
- Setting Up Stop Losses To Late
a. Instead of setting up the stop loss immediately when the trade is filled I would set up the stop loss if I only saw the trade going against me. b. Granted I still won those trades but I don’t acknowledge it as a true win unless I follow the rules. I’m real big on following the rules and that is where most of my focus is on. I know I follow them to the “T” and not partially I will have even better results.
- Making Rookie Mistakes
a. On a Profit Popper on the TF today I entered short when the trade was supposed to be long. The trade ended up doing short but I closed the trade as soon as I realized I made a mistake.
- Trading Sleep Deprived
a. I personally believe trading off of 3 hrs of sleep was a very stupid choice. If I plan on trading the next day I need to be disciplined enough to go to bed on time. It takes not PhD Psychologist to realize that sleep deprivation can inhibit frontal lobe performance. Trading is 99% mental. The other 1% is used on clicking a mouse.
b. I also believe that the rookie mistake was a symptom of the sleep deprivation.
- Entering Trades While Still Unsure Of Rules
a. As I was trading Profit Poppers I knew the entry rules but I did not have specific rules for the stop loss. And when I realized I did not know where to place my stop loss, fight or flight took over and I found myself panicking. I ended up losing the trade because I thought it had hit my stop loss and it didn’t. Trade turned out to be profitable!
I’m sure there are a few things that I left out but I decided to share this so that some of you out there can analyze yourself and see where you may be messing up. One thing for sure that if you are losing a lot more than you are winning its not the APEX system. It’s most likely you. Now I’m not saying that APEX does not send out losing trades. It does! But most of the time the losses are the cause of something we are doing wrong.
Hope that helped you guys!
P.S.
Spend some quiet time thinking about what you may be doing wrong rather than thinking the system is giving bad signals. Self analysis can go a long way and really give you a clearer view of what you may need to work on.