Busy day at work, not much happening in the markets

I had a long day doing the day job. Two of my colleagues were out.. one is on holiday for the week, the other went to pick up a drugs prescription but got ill on the way and didnt come in. On top of that, a colleague from Bangladesh turned up and I was chaperoning.

Anyway, not much happened with the EUR/GBP short.. it went as far as 10 points down at one stage (WOW!) but currently it's still flat.

I opened another trade when I got home.. USD/JPY long. The MAs are aligned towards the upside in most timeframes and MACD indicates a long.. so far, a few points up but as far as I'm concerned, nothing has happened.

Not a terribly exciting day with the markets but at least I've not lost anything today, points for today currently stand at around +5.. both are still open!
I usually also like to play the binaries 30 mins before close for both FTSE and DOW closing times.. however, didn't get a chance with the FTSE closing (due to work.. as above) and no opportunities presented themselves on the DOW closing. OH WELL!

Anyway, I was thinking of the emotions that one needs to control to become a successful trader.. I am by no means a successful trader (YET!) but I have felt all the emotions and I have found that I have become a better trader the better I control my emotions. Consider the below scenarios.. if you can seriously say that you wont feel 'emotional' after each one then you're well on your way...

• You have just put on a long bet on the DOW with a tight stop.. you're sure it's going to go up. Within 5 mins of doing so, it plummets 20 points and you get stopped out. Suddenly, it shoots up 150 points.. at £5 a point you would have made a cool £750 but alas, the whipsaw saw you lose £100. You got the right side of the trade but got stopped out...
• Ok, after the market shoots up 150 points you put in your bet, another long. It goes up 10 points.. you're £50 up but then the rally abruptly stops... it then falls 50 points. You're now currently down £200 (net loss is 40 points). What's going on? The market went up and you're nursing a cumulative total for the day of -£300.

Who can seriously say that they wont get pissed if the above happened? Similar situations have happened to me many times.. I don't get annoyed any more, I used to get annoyed for ages and I didn't want to take it out on anyone so I'd just be a miserable sod. Anyway, these days, if I miss the initial rally.. I'd see if there's a pullback and go long. I wont chase a moving market.. more often than not, you get burnt. It is rewarding if you can catch a biggie but more than likely, you'll end up with a big hole in your pocket. Looking for low risk trades.. they may not earn you big bucks each time but at least it's consistent returns.

Trading is also a game of losing.. losing is inevitable, no one likes to lose.. least of all me but you'll have to accept that you will lose probably as much as you win on positions. The trick is to ensure that your winnings eclipse the losses. I never used to understand that, I thought the best traders would win 90% of their trades... I'm sure there are people who can do so but the extra effort required to do so it just too much. I want a painfree approach to trading (if that's possible) so I tend to only look at the market a few times a day.. keep it stress free.

Ok, thanks for reading if there's anyone out there. Oh, I saw that I have at least one reader, Roman.. thanks, it's good to know that there are people out there like me, following the same pursuits!

Good night!