Confessions of a revenge trader

stop thinking losses are obvious and can be avoided. they're only obvious because they happened. your strategy probably sucks and you are mean reverting. suggestion:
ignore the psycho-babble quacks and work harder, much harder, possibly for years. in the meantime, don't trade.

Quote from Learning2Trade:

My story: I've been trading futures for about a year with mixed results ar best. Recently, I've been practicing a trading system for a good 4 months and let me tell you, I ROCK the sim account. Ok great, so finally I go live and what happens? I have 2 winning days and 5 losing ones. Bad!!! Where do I go wrong? It's not the system's fault (nothing to do with slippage and whatnot), it's mine. My problem is that I can't take a loss. I basically go to pieces mentally and suddenly I am taking ridiculous trades that lose, compounding my loss. I can hardly even believe how fast I leap into a bad trade after having taken a loss. I feel particularly frustrated as I KNOW I can do better. I need to find a way to maintain a good mental state in the face of thr inevitable trades which don't work out. In fact, here are the pressures which give me difficulty:

-taking a loss
-thinking about taking a trade, hesitating, watching price move as anticipated and feeling like I'm "missing the move"
-trying to anticipate a turning point, jumping in too early
-taking a loss and still feeling like I need to "make it up" the next time I trade. In other words, it's still on my mind.

Amazing how much of a mental game this is!

I would greatly appreciate any insight or suggestions from others who have gone through this. I must conquer this problem otherwise I will never be a successful trader. Thanks in advance.
More...
 
yeah, I like revenge trading

the chances of you hitting it right the first time are slim to none

gotta take care of that position size

Like the man said, "If I didn't average down, I would be working at Burger King."
 
ask the braket traders

they are so smart

they can pick the entry

and the stop

and the target

3 out of 3

they must be truly great
 
actively managing in the chop is quite more challenging

but everybody knows

most of the time it is chopping

yet still

all the money is made on the trend
 
Chop!? What the hell is chop, old boy!?

One mans chop is another mans opportunity! The lazy man observes chop, the hardworking fruitful trader bags the the dollars!



Have a nice day!
 
Thanks to everybody for your helpful replies. I've started reading Mark Douglas' Trading in the Zone and it has started to help put things into perspective. Here are a few replies to your... err... replies:

<i>i had the same problem. I stopped caring when i had a working edge.</i>

I do have a working edge; however, the system I use requires a fair bit of discretion.

<i>The above question is the real question. Do you trust your signals?</i>

Generally, yes. However, as I said, there is a certain amount of interpretation/ discretion involved.

<i>1. on taking losses. Use a stop. IMO, this should not even be an issue. That's me though.</i>

I do use a stop, absolutely.

<i>One mans chop is another mans opportunity! The lazy man observes chop, the hardworking fruitful trader bags the the dollars!</i>

Whoa! That sounds incredibly confident. Chop is always the bane of any trader ...or is it? If you have any suggestions or strategies on how to deal with chop, I would certainly welcome them. Thanks again.
 
whatever

if you aint got the brains to figure it out

I don't have the patience to explain it to you

most of the time the market chops

If it didn't we'd all be rich

anyone who claims to make a living from the chop

is just the next candidate to get wiped out when it finally trends
 
Quote from oldtime:

whatever

if you aint got the brains to figure it out

I don't have the patience to explain it to you

most of the time the market chops

If it didn't we'd all be rich

anyone who claims to make a living from the chop

is just the next candidate to get wiped out when it finally trends
More...


Nope.

I would be extremely rich without the spread, non-fills, comms and slippage.

Chop, is a little pussy kitten compared to the above.
 
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