Quote from Rearden Metal:
RM: Quitting early after a big gain is the second worst trait a trader can have. No offense, but you'll never be rich.
I agree, but I think it's important to distinguish between finding something great and then quitting it early because you've hit some arbitrary profit target and recognizing when the real juicy stuff is finished and calling it a day or taking a long break.
Lets say you're making sweet trades and have a great read on the market, make a ton of money, and then things start happening you don't anticipate. You're making bad calls. All of a sudden you've lost a substantial part of your profits, but are still up huge on the day. In a situation like this, I'd say it's wise to go home, or at least take a very long break.
Now lets say you're making sweet trades, have a great read on the market, make a bunch of money, and then you hit your "profit target" and then just stop. Now that is stupid. Even worse would be just calling it quits on the week or worse yet the month because you've had some good days. Good days/weeks tend to happen in clusters, so this is a bad idea.
It's true, marti gras doesn't come too often, so you have to capitalize on the real good stuff or you won't make enough money to survive the bad. That said there's nothing wrong with finishing up early on the day when you fell like you've entered giveback mode in my opinion.
