Day Traders: Losing Days

Quote from NoDoji:

I've been honing a list of rules based on a long running analysis of my losing trades/losing days. Though I often have losing trades, I rarely have losing days. In reviewing my losing days over the past year and working on my basic rules over time, I've found that EVERY losing day came down to a violation of one or more of these rules:

1. Picking and choosing trades instead of trading all valid signals.

2. Trading lukewarm setups or chasing entry deep into a move in an attempt to "get back" a move that was missed because of not trading all valid signals without hesitation. (This one directly relates to #1.)

3. Having a bias based on news or S/R levels instead of trading the price action itself. (This often leads to either counter-trend trading or missing the best moves because the bias makes you think price is going the "wrong" way and will reverse at some point.)

4. Cutting winners before target is reached while letting losers go all the way to the stop loss.

5. Counter-trend trading without waiting for a valid reversal signal

6. Not placing stops at the price where the trade would be invalidated (basically placing wide stops that I believe will never be hit).

Since every losing day was a result of violating these rules, I'm assuming that if I never violate these rules, I'll never have a losing day (except in the case of a system/platform failure, or a news event causing a halt or gap against a position).

At this point in my trading career, the rules I still consistently violate are #1 and #3.

Outside of totally automating one's strategy, have any discretionary traders here managed to overcome these issues and simply trade like a machine, following rules for entry, stop and target on every valid signal?
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Nodoji, thank you for the thread. I am just starting day trading. I have all above said problems. I think there are something you can do.
1)for #6, you can automatically place stop and profit target limit order once entry is filled. this will help you a lot.
2)Write down rules and read aloud everyday before you start trading
3)after several losing trades, start to read the rules aloud.
 
Quote from NoDoji:





I still consistently violate are #1 and #3.

Outside of totally automating one's strategy, have any discretionary traders here managed to overcome these issues and simply trade like a machine, following rules for entry, stop and target on every valid signal? [/B][/QUOTE one discretionary machine posting live trades with entry;s setups and stops that i have seen on et was jsspmk,go back about 18 months ,2 years, es journal, he gave his setup ,posted entrys,stops and exits , was disciplined ,stuck to everything
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Quote from mindtrade:

How many times would your winning days be losing days if you took every single signal like a machine?
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Here's how I do my bar-by-bar analysis now, to avoid any cheating. I have a set of criteria that determine a valid setup and a signal bar. I can only choose to trade when a 5-min bar has completely closed and my entry price is the open of the new bar, with stop and target entered at the same time. I can't move the stop or the target. One or the other will be hit or if it's end of day, the position will be closed then. I've yet to have a losing day when doing this.

Even with my picking and choosing issue, and my frequent piss-poor trade management, I've had very few losing days. But I've had so many days when I should be earning 2-3 times what I end up with.

It amazes me the amount of over-thinking and rationalizations I can come up with for not taking certain trades. I know that if I take all trades off valid signal bars, x% of them hit target and my targets are always 2x my stop or better. This is my edge. But I still pick and choose.
 
Quote from traderzhangSan:

Nodoji, thank you for the thread. I am just starting day trading. I have all above said problems. I think there are something you can do.
1)for #6, you can automatically place stop and profit target limit order once entry is filled. this will help you a lot.
2)Write down rules and read aloud everyday before you start trading
3)after several losing trades, start to read the rules aloud.
More...

I have #6 fully under control now, but posted it as one of my common past mistakes.

I have my rules written down, but I think you're right, reading them out loud every morning would be a very good idea.
 
Quote from ChkitOut:

nodoj, you haven't posted your daily blotter in a while.

I miss analyzing your trades! :)
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Maybe I should post my daily blotter again. The thought of you guys analyzing my trades might keep me from micromanaging them :p

I already feel really guilty now when I announce to my Skype group "Moving my stop to break even..."
 
Tiger Shark...

Thanks for posting this thread. Should be a breath of fresh air compared to the other threads here.

"Beddy bye" time for me.:)
 
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