Deliberate Practice Tools and Techniques
Table of Contents
Deliberate Practice Tools and Techniques
Defined Trading Procedures
Defined trading procedures are the primary deliberate practice tool for the Trade stage (of our Trade-Record-Review-Improve cycle).
Article 79, 80 documented our trading plan. Article 81 documented our trading procedures. By having clearly defined and documented procedures we ensure we minimize the likelihood of procedural error and maximize the likelihood of correct application of our trading strategy.
Our procedures manual also provides processes for ensuring we remain in a focused state with positive mindset.
Results will depend on our ability to correctly apply our plan and procedures; plus our level of expertise with regards to market analysis and decision making.
Trading Logs and Journals
Article 89 outlined the numerous trading logs and journals which we use to record observations and outcomes during our trading process.
These logs and journals are the primary tools for the Record stage (of our Trade-Record Review-Improve cycle), also featuring heavily during the Review stage.
Journals also offer the benefit of being easily accessible for further reading, whenever we have spare time.
Documented Review Process
Our procedures manual, outlined in article 81, provided a sample session review procedure.
The primary aim of the session review is, in my opinion, carrying out a comparison between your performance and perfect performance. That is, looking at the session with the benefit of hindsight and asking some hard questions about both your read of the market environment and your ability to trade that environment.
This post-session review procedure is therefore the primary tool in achieving an effective Review stage (of our Trade-Record-Review-Improve cycle).
You may also wish to refer to the following pdf in eBooks, titled, “How to Conduct an Effective Trading Session Review”:
The procedures manual also outlines processes for our longer-term reviews – monthly and annual.
The end result of the review process is a set of process goals for the next trading session; recorded in your trading log. This, hopefully applied with success in the next article, is the Improve part of your Trade-Record-Review-Improve cycle.
Market Replay (Bar Replay)
Our session review process also includes recommendations for use of a market replay feature, if your trading platform offers such a tool.
Market replay allows you to replay the trading session in a simulated environment. Price bars appear tick by tick, exactly as they did when trading live.
It will typically offer controls, as displayed below for play, pause and fast-forward, as well as a slide control to move to any particular chart time period.
We are also able to re-enter and manage trades all over again, this time in a simulated environment. This is an ideal tool for implementing deliberate practice.
Our post-session review allows us to identify error within our analysis or decision making. The market replay then allows us the opportunity to re-trade our setups again with the benefit of perfect hindsight; reinforcing correct behavior, enhancing our intuitive pattern recognition abilities, and advancing us further along our path of trader development.
While the exact price action will not occur again in future (every setup is unique), many very similar situations will occur over the remainder of my trading career.
Through taking these actions post session, I have reinforced the lessons from this trade, as well as experienced perfect trade entry and management.
And I have taken another small step forward in my development as a trader.
Market Replay Alternatives
If your trading platform does not offer a market replay feature, I highly recommend you consider changing platforms.
However there are alternatives.
- Use video and audio screen capture software such as Camtasia, in order to record your live trades. This allows you to play back the video during your post-session review and compare your live trading decisions (supported by audio comments during the trade) with hindsight perfect trading decisions. However this does not allow for re-trading the setup, as available through market replay.
- As a last resort, simply step bar by bar through your charts, either on the screen or on paper, reviewing your trading decisions from the perspective of your hindsight-perfect analysis. It’s not as good as market replay, but don’t discount it if this is all you can do. It’s still achieving deliberate practice – trading, seeking feedback, identifying the lessons, reinforcing correct behavior, and repeating.
Peer Review
One further option you may wish to consider for enhancing your deliberate practice is peer review.
It requires that you create a trading group – a small number of traders (I‟d suggest 4 to 6) who act to support each other through the learning phase.
This is not something I have been involved in (at least not in a way which worked). It can be quite difficult to find the right group of people if you don’t already have a network of friends all interested in trading the same markets, timeframe and strategy.
However, if you do have an established network, or can create one, consider implementing the following review process.
After each session (if time allows), or at least one a week over the weekend, each person is to submit their journals to another member of the group for review and feedback.
You’ll learn from reviewing their work. And you’ll learn from reviewing the feedback they provide on your work.
As I said, it can be difficult to find the right group of people. I never did. But if you can achieve this I suspect it will be the next-best thing to having a personal mentor, and a whole lot cheaper.