Perfect execution day

Tuesday, December 13

Total gross profits:  $225.00  +4.50 ES points
Total trades:  3  [0 scratch]
Accuracy:  100.0%
Execution score:  100% 
Opportunity cost: $0  +0 ES points

The FOMC minutes news release seemed to stall the markets after the lunch hour began, and 30-45 minutes after the release is when the markets really started to move. All my trades were in the morning.

Perfect Execution
I only had 3 trades today, but achieved a 100% execution score of those trade. I couldn't have done any better to follow my trading plan, so this is a nice successful day based on that metric.

But...
However, there were several trades I missed either because they didn't quite fit my trading plan; I wasn't around; or I simply froze.

For example, Renato's final alert of the day at 15:33 was to buy as low as 1213.00. And the low of the day ended up being 1212.50 about 3 minutes later.   At the time of the call, it felt like the ES was a runaway freight train headed to 1000.00.

I froze
I froze, and couldn't pull the trigger.  Not usually a problem, so it's a mental challenge I need to work on. Time and time again, Renato uses the Diamond Setups method to give timely and gutsy alerts that end up catching big turning points. It's very impressive to see.  So why is it so hard to just execute the alerts?

Coulda shoulda woulda - missed trades
I'm made it a point not to include missed trades in my opportunity costs or execution score, because in the big scheme of things, I will always miss trades.  But today was a day that I can't help but think of them.

I guestimate at least +4 to +6 points that I left on the table.  Maybe it was the higher level of conviction I had with these missed that made me dwell about them more?

On track / plans for next month
But from the big picture perspective, I believe I'm slowly but surely headed in the right direction, especially based on my goal of maintaining discipline to strictly follow my trading plan.

If I close out this month and score well to maintain my discipline to follow my "highly focused" (i.e. restrictive) trading plan, then I will consider loosing up my plan ever so slightly to include other setups starting in January. 

Now the tough part is to maintain focus and consistency to stick with the plan.