Emotions - How do you deal with it?

[QuantWizard]

I always think it's funny when people get the idea into their heads that "I just need to program all this stuff, then money will fly from the sky."

It's an illusion, because I know several people who have fabulous computerized trading systems and they lose confidence and then turn the damn machine off!

The parts of "Trading Psychology" that work are the same sort of things that elite level athletes and business people use. It's not specific to trading. 99.8% of the stuff sold as "Trading Psychology" is total bullshit.

Do what you are supposed to do.

People seem to think that somehow it's easy for a successful trader. It's not. Taking stops sucks. Taking uncomfortable trades is still uncomfortable. You study your edge and know you have one, so you take the damn things anyway.

Start and stop with that.

Well, if you override your trading system, you shouldn't have one in the first place. Of course it requires that you have backtested it through all kinds of market sentiments for several years, that still makes it much less mentally taxing than just go for something unproven.

 

[Grandluxe]

In rare instances, yes, Cornix, you are correct.

Take the famous Turtles for example. They made hundreds of millions trading a simple Donchian breakout system, with a 20 day lookback period.

But after a while their fantastic system was no longer profitable.

So they simply changed the lookback period from 20 to 40 days and voila! they were back in business and made out like bandits, once again. The rest is history...

Adapt or die, that's what trading is all about.

That is a simple adapt. Mickey mouse stuff.
A hard adapt is when your whole system goes kaput. Also, a way to adapt is to leave the business.

 

[Grandluxe]

Can't there be a case of system working for some time and then stop working? So that edge existed, but disappeared.

Diff people can use the same method but their "edge" doesn't die while yours might.

Case in point is NoDoji's "Breakout Trendline Pullback". She has said that edge can never go away as it is simply eternal price action.

 

[cornix]

Diff people can use the same method but their "edge" doesn't die while yours might.

Case in point is NoDoji's "Breakout Trendline Pullback". She has said that edge can never go away as it is simply eternal price action.

That edge was mine before she even started trading futures.

 

[dbphoenix]

That edge was mine before she even started trading futures.

She doesn't claim to have invented it. That edge has been around since before you were born.

 

[cornix]

She doesn't claim to have invented it. That edge has been around since before you were born.

Sure. Just joking, NoD would understand the joke for sure.

Breakout pullback is a classic of price action, known for at least a century.

 

[ras72]

dbphoenix and his logorrhea...

 

[Grandluxe]

That edge was mine before she even started trading futures.

That might be so.

But she has now mastered it and make money in all market conditions, trading lucratively for a living every day.

You are working for your wife's family.

 

[cornix]

That might be so.

But she has now mastered it and make money in all market conditions, trading lucratively for a living every day.

You are working for your wife's family.

Yes, must admit I never was able to extract $500/day/car in CL with any consistency.

 

[ProfiForex_Victory]

Automate the trading.

Hahahaha.. Oops! Sorry for the laugh, but I was wondering how a trader will have to use auto trade forever. Well, even with auto trades, one can still panic. I think emotions can be suppressed to a certain degree.