Hey everyone! Lee Trang with stock straight Tim Bowen Today, we'll be talking about bouncing back from a trading slump and strategies to regain your momentum. I Mean listen. I was talking about this on a webinar the other day. Um, you know a lot of people with trading and and really anything I think people look for kind of the easy path.

I mean and there's nothing wrong with that. You got to understand that no matter what you're embarking on like like I use the analogy of like learning a language or you know, losing weight is corny. As it is, losing weight is quite frequently very anatolous to trading. Like you can make all the right decisions, do all the right things, and then all of a sudden you're losing a pound here or there, and then for a week.

Just like nothing happens, even though you're doing all the right things. And trading can be a lot like that. Like sometimes. I Remember a couple weeks ago dipping rips were just off the chain.

Like every day, three to four bread and butter dipping rips and then all of a sudden for about an entire week there were none and people were like panicking and sending me messages. Is it over? And I'm like dipping reps have been working for about eight years. It's just a slow week. Okay, so you got to understand that it's never going to be that linear path.

You know your your P L, lower left to upper right. it's going to be a zigzag line all over the place. and I just like having the real realistic expectations of that. I Think a lot of people come into trading.

They see people with amazing results. They see the yachts and the Lambos and all this stuff. and again they think the guy with the lambo went from a thousand to a million and it was just a gradual linear path. It's not that way slumps are going to happen.

so because of that we we need to know how to deal with them. Okay, we need to know how to manage those slumps and not you know destroy your your account in the process. So the first step is recognizing that you're in a slump. Now that based on corny but what? I see so many Traders missing is real Data Tracking Like they'll mentally track track the data and they'll be like oh you know I lost a couple hundred bucks yesterday and I made a couple hundred bucks today but they're not really detailing specifically what set up their trading, what time of day they're trading, what position size they're trading.

the more granule you can get in your data, the more you can isolate things that again, maybe you're still trading dip and rips because they were had a week ago and they're cold now and you're like oh okay, this isn't working, that isn't working. The only way you can do that is by categorizing your setups, tracking your setups, and again, time of day, position, size, and catalyst. So important to keep a track of because a lot of the times mornings are really hot, afternoons are hot. You have to understand that.

and I'm telling you I know I've been there everyone says I could do it upstairs I can remember you can. Okay, you probably not. Probably you will not be able to do that because of the fact there's just too much information. Now you've tracked your data.

you're doing a good job of that. You've isolated something. Listen, this is you know, maybe not the biggest mistake, but this is top three mistake p People realize they're in. Islam They know their trading isn't going well.

They're frustrated and aggravated. What's the first thing they start doing again? I've made all these mistakes I Know it okay. They start doing more. They start trading more.

They start trading more setups. They start trading bigger size. They start trading more times a day. Listen I Am telling you if you're in a slump, the very first thing you do is less.

Okay. You go back to the drawing board. You scale back your size. If you were trading a thousand shares, now you're trading a hundred.

Maybe you're paper trading. Okay, listen, paper trading has its pros and cons. The one nice thing about paper trading is you can't lose money. Okay, so if you're struggling and you're losing money every day, the great thing about paper trading is it's impossible to lose money now.

A lot of people don't like that. I Kind of agree. I Prefer Like the really small position size. Like go back to 10 shares.

go back to literally one share till you get your swag your back. Okay, but that is so important. do less. Okay, don't do more.

Start there. Stem the bleeding. Okay, now you're making 10 15 with one chair or ten shares. Then start adding the size back, then start trading more setups.

then start trading more stocks. Okay, but not before you stem the bleeding. Next thing again is kind of going back to what I said already. Uh, you'll analyze those trades from the past.

What worked in the past? What did you do in slumps in the past? That's where the journal comes in hand. I'm such a big fan of journaling. We have one at stocks to trade that we give you for free. Or I mean it's not complicated.

like when I say tracking your trades, that's your spreadsheets, that's your profit. Lee your Trader view Etc When I talk about Journal That's more emotion and and things that are happening in your life. listen I Know it might sound woo-woo I'm not going to bust out any crystals or Patchouli oil we're not going to sing Kumbaya But the simple fact is that your personal life will enter your trading if you got in a fight with your wife or your husband today or or the kids are screaming in the Next Room it Will affect your trading. So if you are journaling and you're recognizing that man, you know things are bad.

In my life, life happens okay. you know my parents aren't doing well, you know the boss is on my back, and now all of a sudden my trading isn't going well. You can only recognize those things if you're honest with yourself and journal and review those journals at the end of the week next thing again. Kind of already mentioned this, but the biggest point is dialing back your size and focusing on your risk management.

Okay, if you're more detailed or I'm sorry more quick to stop out. more quick, just take gains. It's going to minimize your profits. Okay, taking quick gains, taking quick gains.

but what that does is it creates good momentum. Okay, now you're all of a sudden. Maybe you're taking 10 gains, which we typically look for much bigger in day trading, but it starts building your confidence. Okay, 100 bucks, 100 bucks, 100 bucks.

Not going to change your life making 100 trades, but it gets your constant confidence back and set you towards that path. And then that said, ways into you know, rebuilding your confidence. I Think the best way to maximize your confidence is to make good decisions, to have good discipline. And the more you can stick to the plan, the more you can force discipline, the more likely you are to get rewarded over time.

Something you'll hear me say is good decision making rewards you over time in trading, taking small stops, especially during a during a slump. No one likes getting stopped, especially getting stopped out during a slump, but by making good decisions, it will pay off in time. won't pay off today, probably won't pay off next week, but it will pay off in time. Next thing I'm a big fan of is is have a support network like every day, uh or not every day.

but every year. Well, until Covid. But we're back. Um, you know we've done the Tim Sykes Trader Investor Summit for over a decade I've been a part of many, many of those and again we did one last year.

We're doing one this year in 2023 But the reason I bring that up is the conference is amazing. It's great to learn from traders that have done it that have been where you've been. But I tell you a lot of the times I'm I A Lot of times I kind of open up the conferences because I get up early so they wrote me into it. but uh, one of the very first things I will say at the beginning of every one of those conferences.

look to your left, look to your right. You'll introduce yourself. You know, talk about your stories. Uh, when when the breakout sessions happen? When when the coffee and donuts come? Introduce yourself, Meet people I There's people that I met at trading conferences that I talk to daily I Met him a decade ago over maybe probably 15 years ago.

Hell I Met I Met Mark Crook Um, probably in 2009 or 2010 at a Tim Sykes conference I Met uh Tim Lento I Met Michael good at the very first Tim Sykes Training conference I mean these are trading friends and people that I can you know bounce ideas off or talk about trading 15 years later? take advantage of it and build that Network whether it be through Twitter you know social media as much as I like to pick on it build, you know finding like-minded people is a good Advantage But go to in-person conferences now that we're finally back from covid, take advantage of that. So in summary, everyone one of the biggest things and and actually it's it's It's funny that when I wrote up these bullets today, um, literally yesterday morning would have been uh July 19th on pre-market prep. That's that morning session where I go live every day um I I was I'm traveling okay I'm shooting this video in my hotel Wi-Fi stunk on on pre-market prep. Live stream kept cutting out.

It was jerky. You know it was just. Again, it is what it is. but I had you know just a couple people there's there's actually typically like 700 people on these live streams.

Usually very positive, but there were a couple people. Just like ranty about the fact that the Wi-Fi was cutting it out and I'm like and and I made it kind of a teaching moment. That's what I do as a mentor. but I'm like listen I get it.

I'm like I can't control the Wi-Fi I'm on the road I don't I don't own the hotel I can't do anything about this but like ranting about it when we're trying I Was trying to go over the best trade opportunities of the day. accomplishes nothing you know. all it does is put you in a bad mood for the rest of the day. and the point I'm making is I'm not saying be a Pollyanna Okay, I'm not saying wear rose-colored glasses but you got to understand that this is a marathon, not a Sprint.

You've heard that a million times. you got to understand that trading is very front load did okay. It's actually something that I love. It's very front loaded that first six months that first year you're going to learn massive amounts, but a lot of the failure you're going to experience is going to be front weighted in that first six months or a year.

And if you maintain a positive mindset and you understand that trading slumps are part of this, you understand that I'm learning and groaning and growing every day. Hopefully my account is slowly getting better that as I get through that Crucible of that first six months or a year, then you can start going parabolic. But if you're constantly down on yourself, you're constantly ticked off, constantly throwing your laptop I've punched monitors before I've thrown things I've smashed stuff but if you're constantly doing that, listen, you're just. you're setting yourself up for failure.

so don't be a Pollyanna but maintain a positive focus. And that being said, as I mentioned, with Pre-market Prep, one of the best ways to do that is, you know. I I Kind of pride myself in being you know, a mentor and a coach. and Pre-market Prep is live every single day.

We talk about the best setups of the day, the best chart setups of the day, and we talk about the emotional side of things. like we talk about losing streaks, We talk about things you're struggling with every single day. Live 8 30 Eastern So click that link. would love to see you there and we'll see on the next video.

Thank you.