But before that I think I need to address a few things… 

Something has changed within me. Something is not the same… 

This process has really highlighted that and I have done some real digging to find out what it is…. 

I’ve always been one to look inward and assess what I can do well and what I can’t. I’ve spent a fair bit of time since the last newsletter thinking about that. 

You see, when I read Adam’s newsletter and how he was shocked because he has seen my zen like control of my mind when I was trading tennis this really got me thinking. 

Why have I not be trading like myself with this bot? 

I mean behind all the excitement of something new, something that can trade for me there was a lack of control. 

When I really thought about it, the reason I was able to control my emotions when trading manually was I knew I was in control. I could control what would happen, many times if I was not feeling it I would stop. The same if I was doing well. 

I knew how it worked, inside inside out. I’d been there and done it. But the big thing for me was control - I could control how I handled myself and my reactions to the markets. Now rightly or wrongly I have always had confidence in my own convictions.

That is why I know I was able to trade the way I did for so long because I knew my system, it wasn’t sexy either (some online like to take the piss out of it!) but it worked. I knew that I didn’t have to always be trading, I knew there was always another trade. 

With a bot it’s totally different. Yes I am in charge of the rules that go into it, but I am not pulling the trigger. Something about myself I am learning through this and also being a parent is that. 

There was matches everyday, so it didn’t matter if I did them all or not. With this automated trading and the way the strategy I am using works is that it has to do all of them to work, because that’s what the data shows, from my backtesting and forward testing. 

That’s hard when it’s not doing great. Whereas before I would take a day off, come back knowing I can come back from this and have countless times. With the bot I have to sit back and let it create its data. 

I also know how to learn, to learn or grow at anything you have to engage in the field. 

What the hell is engaging the field? 

I will do a full video / post on this but in a really short snapshot means that when we want to do something or learn something new we usually consume information about it, then reflect on it, then try (engage the field) then reflect on that again. 

Most people stop at that consumption stage. They never go past that. But you have to get onto the field, make some mistakes, learn from them and get some data, then reflect and do it again. 

Then you can start to level up. I started coming into this automation project at level 1 basically asking what should I do? Which is a simple answer, engage the field. Build a strategy and test it out, get some data on it and then I would be able to actually look at. 

Otherwise I’d be asking things like ‘Should I do football or horses?!’ 

But by engaging the field, basically giving it a go I have got data, which means I move to level 2. I can then start to reflect on that again, which gives me more data, more ideas, more things to look at. It’s all about gathering the data and then reflecting on it and going back into the field. 

Does that make sense? 

So now I’ve reflected… 

Well the last month was amazing. The 2 strategies pulled in a massive 39pts profit, putting the bank back very close to it’s starting position of £300, it now sits at £293.89. 

I now know a little bit more about when the s**it hits the fan what I need to do, how I need to handle my emotions and my thoughts, I know I am playing the game. I am deep in it, sometimes I will fail other times I will win - but at the end of it I get data. 

I know with a bot I have to let it do it’s thing. 

This leads me to being able to win long term, because how can I ever master this if I am sat on the sidelines? I can't, I have to be out there playing. In this instance pretty publicly too as I am building this out in public. 

Adam and I had a chat, we looked at some of the rules of the strategy we were both running and made a few tweaks. The tweaks looking at the back data and the data we have from our own results look promising. 

So we have tweaked the strategy - There’s a lesson there? Try with your idea for your strategy, see what works and doesn’t make tweaks, go again and reflect. 

I am also only running the one strategy from the month of May. We are going to refine this one and really nail it before adding in any others. 

I’ve picked the best one based on the data I have. 

I’ll reflect on it again. That’s how we learn, that’s how we grow. 

Adam will be along soon with his update! 

Ryan