Year 5

… But can you stop pressing buttons?

Journey Recap (Year 5):

June 2025— September 2025: Continued the May momentum and pulled some green months. Might sound repetitive, but implemented a grading system not only for daily charts but also for the intraday price action to help me with stock selection. I was able to reduce “no pattern” trades to 9% of all trades (huge win for me).

October 2025 — December 2025: The market changed, and I didn’t know how to adapt and take a step back. Kept pushing and taking waaaaay too many small cuts.

January 2026: Best month so far, with some trades that were executed like a professional (compared to other trades).

February 2026 — May 2026: Implemented some trackers focused on executions. All over the place because, again, I’m pushing when there are days with no setup for me.

All Trades:

Filtered playbook trades ONLY (same period):

There is some improvement compared to last year, sure. I (finally) finished the year green, sure. But also, just like last year, there are many (fewer compared to YoY, I guess) “just in case” trades and chases. Not forcing when the market is neutral or cold is very difficult for me. Even though I know intellectually that the way I like to trade requires liquidity and isn’t a frequent price action pattern.

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Here are 5 thoughts/lessons I learned(ing) so far:

1. Cold/Neutral markets adaptation: When the market is hot, there is more room for mistakes. An old habit can slide in at the open, but then another opportunity will show up, work, and save the day. In cold/neutral markets, though, the hot-cold cycle runs faster and/or there are many days where there aren’t opportunities. Learning to be ok with it is taking me some time. Being an observer and participating ONLY when clear opportunities show up, without letting the market pull me in (tempt me) with its irrational/fast/aggressive moves, has made me question my free will at times lol (like do I even have any?).
2. First decision of the day: Not recognizing market cycles makes me overtrade because once I break discipline and trade crap on my first trade (where I obviously lose), I open the door to the “just in case” madness. When the market is hot, I might make a mistake, but the next one will probably work, and I’m done for the day. When the market is cold or neutral, and I take a playbook trade that doesn’t work, I stop. I CAN be disciplined. I guess consistency is the problem. Not doing anything for days eventually makes me break my rules.
3. Daily chart + intraday chart: I caught myself pushing some trades because I thought the daily chart “had room” to run, or looked “clean”. That might be the case, but if the intraday is telling me it can’t hold a key level, then I need to stop trying.
4. Third time is not the charm: My biggest losses this year came from trying TOO many times a stock. On the bright side, I kept the individual losses small, but there were times when I tried 3+ times. Reviewing my personal data, the max tries I can give myself is 2. By the 3rd, my win rate decreases dramatically; I’m clearly wrong, but there I go… pushing my will into the market.
5. Channeling my inner praying mantis: This probably sounds cheesy lol, but praying mantises are completely still, patient, and then move with total precision when the moment is right. I know I’m only human and can’t trade to perfection every day (did I mention I’m a perfectionist and sometimes tend to overthink? — what am I doing in this career, I don’t know). At this point, I know there are many concepts to learn about the market, but what I know works. The patience and self-control are what are setting me back.

My fifth year, in one word, has been about becoming. Not saying this as an excuse, but coming from tech (where I was trained to be rewarded for being right) plus the type of person I am (always trying to do my best and as perfectly as I possibly can), made this journey challenging. Flowing with the market, accepting being wrong, adapting, waiting, trusting myself, among other things, didn’t always come naturally to me. I’m not trying to be a different person, but working on upgrading my old thinking model lol. The girl who opens the computer and tries to catch every move is still in there. She’s just learning when to sit on her hands and be ok with it.

Let’s see what the sixth year brings! :)