Not much going on

I'm not of a writer I admit; I think that much is self-evident from the title. Still waiting for a setup to develop -- massive point and figure columns across the 4 pairs due to some wild intraday swings last night (including a complete reversal in Gold for the mid-NY session after I went to bed).

About 3:40pm on Tuesday and all appears to be quiet on the front. Cable appear to be shaping into a P&F flag with a potential to breakout either way, but that's about it.  I hesitate on Cable because it's really gone funky buggers over the last 6 to 12 months, characterised by erratic price action throughout the London open.  I don't know if its a liquidity-based issue or what, but this year I feel the pendulum has swung back in favour of Fibre.

My trading results are like a rocking horse in recent periods, lots of sideways movement but not dramatically going up and staying there.  Lots of little profits offset by a small handful of big losses (avoidable errors that happen when I've mentally cracked / lost the plot).  Yes losses are normal, but what is psychologically demanding is when you start stacking up 3,4,5+ consecutive losses. And its easy to make mistakes when you're sleep deprived, or in a funky mood, or whatever else.  Not that that is an excuse!

One thing I know now is that trading is less about making big money quickly, than it is about not losing big money quickly.  Its about survival -- you can't trade if you bug out.

Another is that you can't think about trading success by whether you win or lose on your trades; it's whether you've stuck to and executed your trading plan that is the true measure of success.

Counter intuitive stuff, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I used to think any normal person can do this....Yes it's true any one can start this, but looking objectively at where I am now, I am well aware that my developed lifestyle is no longer normal.... for example, no normal person would subject themselves to this self flagellating regime of sleep deprivation, studying charts non stop, information overload from global news, etc etc etc. much less subject themselves to a risk of financial ruin at any given moment, and yet still look forward to doing it all over on a daily basis.

Some would call that masochistic.

Case in point: No normal person looks forward to the smell of a Monday morning because it means the start of a new trading week!!

In other news, Pivotfarm.com reports the majority of retailers are long USD/JPY, and to a lesser extent, long Yuppy -- their advice is to trade against the retail herd.