Quote from i_c_fed_people:
just part of the game.
95% of trades give me +3 - 5 points with no heat at all.
5% of trades i have to take some heat on, but in averaging in I always end up in profit. Dont forget the +7 points or so on add-ons as part of this trade.
I just have to accept that this happens on rare occasion and deal with it.
Take the good with the bad.
I like how people pounce when this rarity occurs and the dismiss previous gains.
Anyone can tally up all my posted trades to see how im getting on though
Good luck all.
Taking heat and accepting a loss is the part of the game that will keep you in the game in the long run.
So, you currently have a 100% win rate? Was the reason you risked those 30+ points (more since you did not have a stop) that you were afraid to be wrong on a trade?
If that is the real reason, I would be very afraid of what will come some day.
When would you have cut your losses on this one provided it did not come back to you? Would you have taken a 100 point loss? More?
The fact that you have been so successful will make it that much harder for you to swallow your pride and take that first big loss.
Even if you racked up 200 points in profits in the last months, it does not take that many big losses to give them back, especially if you`ve increased size as well.
When I first started trading in the stock market, I actually managed to build up a small fortune in a relatively short time. I really did not know much, but I actually traded with a stop and took small losses. The only problem was that those losses did not happen very often. And usually, I was stopped out of a trade after having the trade move in my favour initially (meaning I was stopped out for a profit). I thought I was a genius (sure felt so)
Then, one day, being leveraged to the hilt and dreaming about my retirement, the market gapped through my stop and I instantly had a HUGE loss. Of course, I was unable to accept it. I prayed and I hoped and read forums to see what the other losers were hoping and saying about my stock (very funny and interesting behaviour btw) . Finally, the pain was too big, and I sold at the bottom. Fuck. I entered long at the new swing high since it was too painful to see the market run away without me. And so the story goes.....classic revenge trading followed after that. I lost most of my profits in a very short time due to poor risk management, inability to take a loss, inability to adjust to the new conditions and revenge trading to finish it off.
The ES may continue going up for a long while, I`m not denying that. But some day, the party is over. And when that happens, those traders who are not able to adjust will get wiped out.
Now, I hope this is not immediately labeled as criticism, because in all honesty it is well meaning advice that I have paid much for myself. I truly commend you for all the profits you`ve racked up lately. I just don`t want you to lose them due to poor risk management like I did.
Now, they say that one often needs to experience things for themselves in order to truly learn. Maybe that`s true
Best regards,
LF
