The only thing you can fix in a trade

When I first started trading,

I tried to fix everything.

• Entry conditions
• Profit target pips
• Stop loss pips
• Time of day
• Lot size

“If I fix it, it will be stable.”

I believed that.

But reality was the opposite.

The market is not fixed on anything

• Price range differs each time
• The time it grows differs
• The appearance of wicks varies
• How reversals occur varies

Yet

I tried to make the outcomes the same shape.

This is the reason I had always been out of sync.

Things that break when fixed

• If you fix the profit target
  → The market grows quickly and ends early
• If you fix the stop loss
  → You get cut by noise
• If you fix the time
  → You ignore the market

In the end,

the more you fixed, the more judgments increased.

“Maybe this time is an exception.”

“I want to prolong just here.”

“I want to endure a little longer.”

All the rules that were fixed were

destroyed by me.

So, what should I fix?

Here, finally, the answer emerged.

What I should have fixed was

not numbers or rules.

What was good to fix was only this.

“The way it ends.”

• If it collapses, it ends
• If it hasn’t collapsed, it continues
• Judge by the closing price
• Ignore the wicks

I fixed only this.

Reason for not fixing profit

The market decides profit.

It isn’t for me to decide.

But

I can fix the conditions that do not break.

• How far to endure
• Where it ends
• From where onward not to touch

The moment I fixed this,

trading became a different thing.

Reason why judgments disappeared

It’s a strange story, though.

• I didn’t fix the profit target
• But profits extended
• I didn’t delay the stop loss
• But I no longer got unnecessarily stopped out

There is only one reason.

Because judgments could no longer intrude.

The conclusion I reached

In trading

The only thing you can fix —

is the structure that cannot be influenced by judgment.

Anything else can change in response to the market.

Preview for next episode (Episode 24)

Next, I will put this into words.

“Profit targets are not a skill.”

“It’s about designing how it ends.”

From here,

I will deepen the discussion on settlements all at once.