Diary of a stubborn trader: scalping EUR/USD without indicators

I open this journal to record my scalping operation in EUR/USD without using indicators. Only PA, liquidity levels and strict risk management. I want to see how much I can progress being disciplined and without looking for miracles.

First day: 9 operations, 6 winners, 3 losers. +1.7R net. The most difficult: not to enter because of anxiety. The best: I respected all exits by stop without touching anything.

Second day: 5 trades, 3 winners, 2 losers. +0.9R. I left early in an operation going for 2R. I sabotaged myself out of fear that I would back off. I have to work that out.

Third day: 7 trades, 4 winners, 3 losers. -0.3R. Two impulsive trades without clear entry. I’m beginning to see that the problem is not strategy, it’s me and my lack of patience.

Does anyone else feel that the real enemy is not the market but your own finger on the mouse? Sometimes I feel that the best tool would be an alarm that prevents me from operating.

Fourth day: I operated like an idiot. I entered without confirmation, without context, just for "looked like I was going up." Result: -2.2R. This diary begins to seem more confessional than technical analysis.

Fifth day: I decided to take only two tickets. They were good, both winners, +2.5R. Less is more, at least for me. I understand that operating less gives me more clarity.

Sixth day: I didn’t operate. I saw opportunities but I felt anxious, so I preferred to look at the market without entering. I think it’s also part of the process to learn when not to operate.

Seventh day: 3 trades, 1 winner, 2 losers. -1.1R. In the last inning I adjusted the stop for fear and ended up being swept away before going for it. I learned nothing today, I just confirmed my mistakes.

I'm beginning to suspect that if I sold signals and didn't operate, I'd be a millionaire, because I always see the move right after I left.

Eighth day: 6 operations, 5 winners, 1 loser. +3.6R. I only took tickets with clear structure, without forcing anything. I felt like a trader for the first time in a long time.

Someone reading this is going to think I'm bipolar, one day I look like a pro, the other a rookie, but this is trading, an emotional roller coaster with background graphics.

Ninth day: I didn’t operate for personal reasons. I was frustrated that I couldn’t stand in front of the screen, as if I missed something. Bad symptom, I think.

Tenth day: 4 trades, all losers. -3.2R. I completely skipped my rules. I am considering stopping a week. The diary does not lie: when I leave the discipline, the market charges me.

Reflection after ten days: the key is not to know more, but to do less. Less impulses, less operations, less noise. Just focus on price action and respect the system. This is teaching me more than any course.

One of the most common mistakes between the novice traders – and also many experienced – is to underestimate the impact of the emotional management during the operation. We can have a profitable strategy in the paper, impeccable backtesting and theory of surplus, but if we are not able to execute that strategy under pressure, in the real moment of the market, of little use all the above. The emotional factor is the great silent saboteur of the profitability. In my experience, the real change comes when you stop looking for the perfect operation and you start to observe yourself as part of the system. For example, if each time you lose two operations in a row you start to operate more aggressively or out of your plan, it is not the fault of the system. It is your emotional management that is unadjusted. Many fail not because their analysis is wrong, but because they react badly to the normal results of the trading, as a breakaway, one tool that has greatly helped me to carry out an emotional diary, not only of operations. I notice what I felt before, during and after every trade: fear, euphoria, frustration. So I have been able to identify mental patterns that I have repeated.

Thank you for sharing this very real reflection. I felt totally identified.

And what do you do when the journal shows you that you're just repeating the same mistakes over and over again?

Excellent contribution. It’s the best I’ve read in this forum lately.

Thank you very much, you just opened my eyes to my own post-trade behavior.

I'm not so convinced that the emotional diary is so useful. Isn't it better to just follow the rules without so much personal analysis?

Brutal this reflection. I’m already printing this to have you next to the monitor.

Thank you for this post, I needed to read something like that just today. Very helpful.

But don't you think sometimes we exaggerate with the emotional?

This goes beyond technical analysis, it's what really makes the difference.

I'm going to implement it from tomorrow. Thank you very much!

This type of contribution is what makes this forum worthwhile. Thank you.

There are those who need action, not introspection.

What you're saying about separating self-esteem from the result made me feel strong, thanks for sharing.

Very true everything, especially the operation after a winning trade. It happens to me all the time!

Thank you for the level of detail. This is not anywhere.

Don't you think focusing so much on emotions can lead to paralyzing action? You have to operate, not philosophize.

And how do you measure the success of your pauses? Because not everything is as easy as standing and breathing.

I feel that sometimes we look for emotional excuses to justify a bad strategy. It’s not always the mind’s problem.

It made me reflect on my impulses after a loss. Thank you.

Thank you for reminding me that this is a long-term game.

Inspiring, I'm going to save it and reread it every week. Thank you from the heart.

What if we're just bad at this? To what extent is emotion not a sign that this isn't your thing?

All that sounds nice, but does it work when real money is at stake? Because theory is one thing and spread another.

Good approach, but don't you think many just want signals and not so much self-knowledge?