Goals, expectations, pacing

 I have been very caught up in goals, expectations and pacing toward higher and higher p&l. 

That is arrogance. I should not be pressing so hard for numbers. I should be taking the best trades, the best way, and not getting emotional over "high score" all the time. 

Stay cool. Take my trades. Get my money. Peace.

Disappointingly small gains bc crap

 Market pullback day today. Not a lot of compelling setups. My best pick, and my best gainer was UAL out of the open. After that, I should have walked away, but instead I hacked it down and up on crappy picks, to land up 2% on day. That is a "disappointing green day" for me (greed!!). 

-->Rather than being disappointed that I didn't make "enough", I should be disappointed that I didn't trade well. However, I did learn a good lesson:

LESSON: That feeling that trades aren't giving 20%... that I need to take off pltgt at 10% first. That is the feeling of chasing. If I buy too high, I need to sell too soon to make sure to lock it. If I have a better entry, less chasing, the same exit is better profit. This seems obvious, but the lesson is the smack in the face that I've been chasing too much and trying to redeem it with smaller p/l targets...and moreso, losses.

LESSON #2 (repeatedly learned 🔨): Stop hacking at crappy picks.

UAL gap above some sort of consolidation. I waited for pb and got the move. Good one. The rest were crap. QS was a good setup yesterday. Lost on it yesterday too bc spread and crappy action.

so far, NO good

Up is down and down is up. I think that means profit taking, and not enough momentum for strong followthroughs.

 Lost a lot fast this morning. 

Currently, the trade that could redeem me is still open, QS puts. I've grown 8 gray hairs just waiting out this sideways movement. Bracket orders set. To be continued...

QS also ate me up, to conclude a big down day. 

Too aggressive on a up is down and down is up kind of day. Got chopped.

Tomorrow, half account and half size positions.