oh patience...

 Patience is a virtue. Maybe I was bored this morning because I woke up earlier than usual and was anxious to get started. Maybe it's because it's Monday that I want to get right into things and make some money. I definitely wasn't taking my past statistics into account that I do better after the open. And looking back on both of my trades today, they both would have been better if I had waited a little longer. They both "worked" but not as well as I would have liked but that's not the point. The point is, that if you have something that works, why change what you're doing? ok, so since we've let it out that I didn't trade at the right time let's analyze why I think it is that I do better when I wait until after the opening (30minutes to an hour possibly). I think the reason is that I tend to trade against the trend for reversals.  Usually by the opening we'll know a few things - how much this stock really wants to move (1,2, THREE atr? - I'm looking at volume off of the opening), there might be a defined range setting up, has it gravitated towards any support/resistance levels, is it a trend day in the market (I'm looking at the TICK and maybe ADD and any trendy technical setups). If I am patient I am more likely to receive those triggers that I want to see in order to take a trade and if I'm not waiting, I'm not trading properly but more or less gambling with few odds in my favor - that is not what this is all about. By being patient I'm showing that I trust that the market will give me a setup and signal that I like.  This lasts point is something that Tom Hougaard talks about at some point in his book - that you have to trust that the market will provide. This patience keeps me from overtrading. I know that I will get a signal at some point in the day. I have plenty of setups, I just need to be thinking about them and creating and updating good if/then statements based on the market action any information that is flowing to me. Gotta be a bit more patient. Cheers!