Matt Petrallia, CMT

I received my favorite type of "cancellation" e-mail the other day. Someone who's leaving my service to be INDEPENDENT. That's the entire goal! No one should be fostering dependency, I want to foster independence! I'm honored to have been part of your journey Jamie!

@FranVezz Thanks Francesco. Hope you're doing well!

@theEquilibrium On point as usual Matt.

This is when style drift swallows-up less mature traders. Know your strategy. Know what's necessary for it to thrive. Know that no strategy works in every environment. Treat your trading like a business, not a hobby or a compulsion.

One of the biggest edges retail traders have is choosing when, and when not, to participate. I base this decision on my understanding of what is needed for my strategy to work. Truly internalizing this concept results in both power and freedom. The power to control when you take risk - only risking time and money when it’s worth your time and money - and the freedom to break away from the endless noise and run your own race.

Most of what you see on social media - outside of pure marketing - is an expression of discomfort. So much of trading is about handling discomfort, and that internal battle gets put on public display in different ways. Some lash out, some seek validation, some try to convince others to “follow them”.

When you TRULY don't care what anyone else is saying, you're well on your way to decision-making clarity and real independent trading.

@PrimeTrading_ I'd argue that "doing nothing" absolutely does NOT "sell well" :) Most can't handle it at all.

There’s a weird prestige right now around being all cash, ultra-defensive. After months of pain, it sells well. It sounds disciplined, controlled, almost superior. But sitting in cash isn’t a strategy, it’s a phase. If you don’t define in advance what gets you back in, what structure, what behavior, what signals - you’ll stay “disciplined” just long enough to watch the next leaders leave without you. Defense looks smart in the drawdown. It just doesn’t get you paid when the tide turns.

Those that treat their trading like a business keep up the daily process no matter the environment. Period. Those that don't are the hobbyists that come and go. But none of it has to be done on fintwit for validation. Twitter "noise" isn't a measurement of anything meaningful other than noise itself.

I don’t remember fintwit or Discord ever being this quiet. The last few months have been tough, no doubt—I feel it too. But this is exactly when it matters to stay engaged. When the market finally gives you a real shot, you need to be there to take it. Not trying to call a turn at all, but those opportunities tend to show up when participation is at its lowest.

@MJ52084254 Scroll down a bit and check out my “Environment > Setup” post

@theEquilibrium How much of a weighting do you put on the indexes to make that call? For example, do you aim to only participate when the indexes are trending above a short term moving average or some other indication like that?

A high volatility environment with low follow through is either conducive to your strategy or it isn’t. Act accordingly. It can be that simple, despite the avalanche of noise standing in your way. If you’re not sure, you don’t understand your strategy. OR you don’t truly have one. Having EVERY strategy is having NO strategy.

I see plenty that think 'optimism' means simply being bullish all of the time. That just makes you an inflexible perma-bull. Optimism is that part of you that knows you can survive it all, keep pushing, and come out better on the other side.

@SunriseTrader Hope you’re well!

I will listen today. Matt often has good things to say and teaches a lot. Worth the time to watch I am sure

Intro from last night's video for anyone interested - a "rant" about doing nothing.

Most simply CAN NOT wait for an environment conducive to their style. 1 - Define what that environment is. For me, Follow Through IS the environment. 2 - Address the battle going on between your ears, fueled by the noise you ingest. That’s where your struggle usually lies.

@FranVezz Have to know what asset you’re really trading

@theEquilibrium Yup. The divergences never cease to amaze me.

Crude nearly +10%, meanwhile:

👇

Often your best course of action as a swing / position trader is to do nothing. In an environment with no follow-through: do nothing. In a conducive environment with plenty of tailwinds: let your open positions work, i.e. do nothing. Reframe your mindset to embrace this simple concept.

@CFlanders7 The real battle is always what's going on between your ears.

If you find yourself repeating self-destructive behavior over and over again in the markets ie. breaking rules, pulling stops, not pre-defining risk before placing a trade, chasing entries, and not understanding why, this will help. Its due to your belief system. You do not believe that those things are necessary to accomplish your objectives. You'd be right. Because what you THINK your objective is, is almost certainly not your TRUE objective. You are deluding yourself. If your TRUE objective was to keep your drawdowns controlled, then you would ALWAYS trade with a stop loss, cap your risk per trade and always pre-define your risk. How else could you possibly achieve your goal? If your TRUE objective is to make as MUCH money as possible right NOW then keeping your risk capped to 1% of account equity would make zero sense. Capping risk would be a hindrance, it would be impossible to achieve your objective if you did. You get exactly what you want... and then the inevitable drawdown hits and it blows you up. If your TRUE goal is being right. Then you should absolutely pull your stop. Because if you stop out, you are admitting that you were wrong. The only way you can be right is by pulling the stop, holding the loss and hoping it goes back in your favor. "Everyone gets what they want out of markets." It's true. If you don't see it yet, you are likely not being honest with yourself about what you TRULY want out of markets.

What does waiting and actively doing nothing in a poor environment for your style look like on social media? Complete silence. Social Media is a popularity contest, trading is not.