By Cliff Clark and Josh LaFountain
Guys I wrote up the discussion we had on the questions Josh brought up for the folks in the trading room.

Josh brought up the following question in the trading room recently and I thought I would take my crack at answering it.

The long version of the question:
I made a comment in the chat room recently that I thought would make for a good topic. I noted that I’ve been more successful lately during the slower/low volume holidays which at first seemed counter intuitive. That observation made me go through my trade tracking spreadsheet and see that my R value was much higher these days because I took less trades and my entry times weren’t as close to the open. This brings up the importance of mindset.

I was going into these “slow” days with the mindset of patience and being selective. It then dawned on me that maybe my usual/default mindset is too aggressive. I sure didn’t “feel” like I was being aggressive. But how was I supposed to know? I was going into the day with the mindset of a football player ready to take the field. I had done my premarket routine, put together a well thought out gap list, favs list, etc and I was ready to take on the market! I’m watching my thumbnails like a hawk, I’m checking the SPY and the QQQs, and I’m quick to the draw when if I see a quality pattern!

I think this mindset led to me growing into an aggressive trader as I gained experience as my time frames trended toward more 1’ setups within the first 5 minutes. After reviewing old trade screen shots I realized I was taking too many 1’ entries on Non-Level 1 gaps. On the “slow” days there were less trades overall and more 2’ and 5’ timeframes later in the morning. This led me to realize that my default “style” was something that may work against me and is an area I need to improve on.

So it begs the questions: Do you know your default “style”? If so, how do you know? Is it working in your favor or against you? Have you experimented with it?

My Response:
With regard to your discovery, it's very astute. Something it takes many people years to discover if at all. You can now build a plan around your "default style" which I think of as personality type. I'm similar to you in that I am aggressive by nature. Those one minute highs and lows are always very tempting to me but as you found out they can rarely be played. They have to have the proper gap and setup. Writing a plan around your personality type isn't the end of the story however. We need to also develop the patience to follow that plan. That's the part that will make or break most traders.
So to answer your questions:

Do you know your default “style”? Yes

If so, how do you know? I think your default style shows up in your trading before you develop your plan or once you have developed your plan how you break your plan. Most people when they develop their first plan don't factor in their personality type. This is soon exposed once they start trading and breaking their plan. The breaking of the plan however should indicate how the plan needs to be changed so it can be followed. Hopefully they realize at some point that their plan needs to be compatible with their personality.

Is it working in your favor or against you? In my case it now works in my favor but it took a couple of years to get there.

Have you experimented with it? In the beginning yes. I changed my management many times the first couple of years before finally settling on a management I could follow.

You also mentioned taking too many 1 minute entries. I find this to be a problem with virtually every new trader. They get stuck on that 1 minute chart. In my mind it's not something that should even be looked at. It provides a lot of noise and is probably the number one reason trader's get shaken out of trades they took from higher time frames. I recommend new traders to not even have a one minute chart on their platform until they have the discipline to know when and how to use it.