Quote from EON Kid:
1) The irony is when you got the balls (as we all did when we started) you lack the brains and when you get some brains you lack the balls
2) If you have sufficient knowledge and good R/R and positive expectancy then you are either trading with scared money or other reasons.
3) One thing I will mention is that if you have built up an image of yourself as a 'good trader' the reason people may hesitate to take a trade, that you have every reason should work, is that the ego does not want to be proved wrong, so it goes about creating uncertainties in order to protect you, but really its protecting itself. Better to be a right pussy than one who has put all their knowledge on the line and then proved wrong. This also shows in the need to grab some profit without waiting for your predetermined target or adjusting your stop.
I'm no psychologist, just my2c
Thank you for the psychoanalysis, Doc
(j/k, thank you, Kid)1) You tell me, I started trading oil live in April 2008 and shorted this mofo all the way from 100 to 146... and made money in the process!!! Edit: sorry for the war story, but when oil went up 10 bucks in one day I simply gave up trading oil. The day after that I think it went up a bit and then one more day later started cratering... well you know the rest.

2) Regarding scared money, my trading account is not scared money, but my savings account is getting afraid, very afraid (the crisis, you know, Spain being a PIIGS and all that).

3) In my view you make a very good point, but I don't think this is a case of protecting my ego because a) I don't think I have the image of a good trader - hey I've posted 31 be's/small losses in a row!; b) b) profits come from luck, small losses come from skill: if I win, I'm just a lucky monkey, if I'm stopped out I did the right thing by protecting myself.
I'd say I'm naturally risk-averse (I've <i>always</i> found it hard to put on positions, even at the beginning and even during good runs) and that this aversion is compounded by: having a system that relies mostly on reversals (i.e. entering counter-trend), having changed this year to longer/larger targets (oddly enough I find it harder to enter when I'm ready to add and hold for a large gain than when I used to scalp for 20-30 ticks) which I guess somehow makes every trade a bigger deal and finally I'm sure this preposterously long run of be's/losses (down in all 900 USD, not a killer, I just need one decent trade to break even, but certainly not nice either) is not helping either.
But thanks for the pointer, I'll be watching Revolver this weekend. When Herr Kid speaks, Picaso listens
