You and I talked a while ago and I finally began to understand the simplicity of what you told me and making a profit has been simple. Basic strategies like buying support and selling resistance. I felt the same way as the op when I began making money. Now, I trade for about 30 minutes a day now and make twice as much as I would for a full day of work on my job.Some day you may have an ephinany. That is, "I get it. I'm supposed to win... almost every day... and I understand why". The big deal is the "understanding why". Once you get that, you can just bag up the money and take it to the bank!
Instead of it feeling "weird to win", it will feel "weird to lose".
It's "all in the charts". Price TA... KISS, baby!
Feels Weird to win ?
- Thread starter John9999
- Start date
Good fortune to you, may it continue.
There is a bio-chemical basis for what you are feeling. This article goes into detail about the dopamine hypothesis and long-term potentiation. In other words your year of losing has changed your neuro-chemistry to be similar to suffering from addiction.
http://discovermagazine.com/2015/may/17-resetting-the-addictive-brain
Fortunately, one doesn’t have to undergo what’s described in the article to implement a solution.
Look into alternative therapies for trauma/ptsd for relief. A sample of the more known effective ones are cbt, edmr and hypnosis. There are others but it would be better if you discovered them through your own inquiry.
This forum has it’s fair share of suffering folks whom are constantly a hairbreadth away from being triggered and emotionally vomiting.
Hth
i feel much more at home losing than winning. it just doesn't feel right making a shit ton of money quickly, i was paranoid and couldn't speed it fast enough. i felt someone was going to come get or arrest me all the time. maybe you have to be a professional loser and survive to ever accept crazy wealth. i struggle with it all the time, more mentally than anything it took to find my edge.
to this day i am uncomfortable with winning, it was easy when i traded commercially and it was not my own money. that separation allowed me to be a bad ass trader cold and mechanical.
to this day i am uncomfortable with winning, it was easy when i traded commercially and it was not my own money. that separation allowed me to be a bad ass trader cold and mechanical.
Last edited:
Some great insights here. Unlike a lot of the market psychology stuff that is out there, I don't believe in a certain "randomness" to the market. I have never lost money on a trade that was due to market "uncertainty." In ALL cases, the reason I lost was how I approached and handled the trade. That is why James Cordier's apology video (OptionSellers.com) bothers me -- he attributed the losses to a "rogue wave." For crying out loud, look at the freakin' monthly and weekly charts and you could have seen that the Natural Gas had tremendous upside momentum.
If I just look at my charts and indicators across multiple time frames, I do fine. It's when I try to "mind read" the markets (a phrase that Dr. Kenneth Reid uses) and anticipate things (rather than just looking at what the market is telling me right now) -- that's when I get in trouble.
Similar to John9999, I struggled for a long time. On the positive side, it's caused me to create an even more robust strategy but it's been a painful, long, difficult process. The most challenging thing now is just to trust my strategy / indicators.
In any event, a lot of it comes down to focusing on the process and letting go of the outcome. In fact, when I was in a futures trade the other day and getting impatient, I just kept telling myself that regardless of whether I win or lose, the approach was sound so relax and let it play out, which it did.
John9999 -- I wish you continued success.
Scataphagos -- thanks for the insights.
Happy Thanksgiving!
If I just look at my charts and indicators across multiple time frames, I do fine. It's when I try to "mind read" the markets (a phrase that Dr. Kenneth Reid uses) and anticipate things (rather than just looking at what the market is telling me right now) -- that's when I get in trouble.
Similar to John9999, I struggled for a long time. On the positive side, it's caused me to create an even more robust strategy but it's been a painful, long, difficult process. The most challenging thing now is just to trust my strategy / indicators.
In any event, a lot of it comes down to focusing on the process and letting go of the outcome. In fact, when I was in a futures trade the other day and getting impatient, I just kept telling myself that regardless of whether I win or lose, the approach was sound so relax and let it play out, which it did.
John9999 -- I wish you continued success.
Scataphagos -- thanks for the insights.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I've often said, "once you get it, trading the markets is like finding money in the street" (I know what that's like. Once while in college, I found $4 in a gutter... just "bend over and pick it up".)
Trading the markets, you're SUPPOSED TO WIN! And the only way you don't is because either "you don't understand or becuause you screwed up"! But of course, you're likely to have multiple screw-ups as part of the learning process.
Yeah, the market is trickey... it's like a puzzle... but it's solvable.
I just read a great article of Paul Tudor Jones tips... he says it is good to be scarred..
Looking over the past 6 months,
Some weeks my strategy produced nearly all winners.
Some weeks my strategy produced nearly all losers.
Most weeks my strategy produced an outcome which resembled longer term results (about a 50% win rate).
I used to feel euphoria over a big week, and despondency over a bad week. Perhaps I still do from time to time, though at a lesser degree.
I've begun to consider myself a "good trader". Not that I have some magical market intuition, sixth sense, or other bullshit. Just an ability to recognize my signals instantly, and a growing track record (habit developed) of strictly following my plan.
No matter how boring it gets... or whether the strategy produces a losing week or winning week.
Some weeks my strategy produced nearly all winners.
Some weeks my strategy produced nearly all losers.
Most weeks my strategy produced an outcome which resembled longer term results (about a 50% win rate).
I used to feel euphoria over a big week, and despondency over a bad week. Perhaps I still do from time to time, though at a lesser degree.
I've begun to consider myself a "good trader". Not that I have some magical market intuition, sixth sense, or other bullshit. Just an ability to recognize my signals instantly, and a growing track record (habit developed) of strictly following my plan.
No matter how boring it gets... or whether the strategy produces a losing week or winning week.