Thoughts turn to 2023. How to take my trading to the next level?

One per cent improvements.

‘The trend is my friend’ is the most used term in trading. Yet I often ignored it and found myself constantly fighting a strong trend. A much-improved feel for order and market flow is my primary goal for 2023.

Only trading a recognised setup was my best upgrade for 2022. But I have room for improvement, together with reading the structure and expected projection.

Loss management is now one of my strengths. However, I need to implement the two-pause three-out rule more carefully. That is two losses in a sequence, and I pause my trading and reaccess my read. I take a break at three losses and can only retry on a significant structural change. I acknowledge that a vital part of any edge is the ability to sit on the sidelines and wait for more favourable market conditions.

I need to be more aware when traders on the other side of the market are getting it wrong. Because at that point, it moves the market. See the pain, not the price. And avoid bad trades. I don’t want to be the one that’s trapped.

Until I’ve got it right, a decision made quickly—with permission to correct and amend that—is often superior to hesitation. But always with an eye on the correct process. As Tom Dante said, I’m meant to trade like the casino, not as the expletive sat in one!

My job is to identify favourable expectancy bets, then enter and manage whatever follows, win or lose. And to replicate it as many times as I can.

Context – setup – execution – manage – learn – repeat.