Going through personal crisis & trading

Thanks for the advice guys, I've started to significantly cut back on my trades and taking longer breaks in between.

Normally 50-60 trades have been cut back to about 5 trades today so far.
 
Quote from spanish89:

I recently had an extremely horrible personal problem..,
it was when i lost my fiance back in may, and even though its been 5months now it still really really hurts me.

Im not sure if your problem is similar mate, but i actually think the opposite to what most people have sayed on here,
that instead of just sitting in your empty house feeling sad n letting it get to you even more, trading will take your mind of it.
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That's really quite different, at the risk of being insensitive, your personal tragedy is resolved and done with. You are at the next phase where you can focus, where as the OP is still stuck in the middle of his issue that is NOT resolved yet.
 
massaging a troubled person with sympathy just allows him to wallow in his troubles,what a person needs is a kick in the ass and a solution to focus on,admittting there is a problem is the first step in solving it,finding a solution is the second step and solving and putting it behind you is success
 
I'll be candid. My heaviest losses (and they were Heavy with a cap "H") were caused by a break up in a relationship. I went full tilt.

We trade for money. We hope that the money will give us something that's lacking. Social status, women, security...whatever. The removal of happiness makes profits seem futile as a measure of worth. Believe it or not you're probably self sabotaging right now because you can't come to grips with the contrast of winning at the table and losing in your personal life.

If you can't stop trading do one of two things. Move your size down to an inconsequential amount or fade yourself.

Are you developing market "opinions" that you normally wouldn't?
Quote from polpolik:

thanks guys. The crisis I'm talking about is not a string of losses, I've been doing quite well in the market all year until about 2 weeks ago when things start to unravel. My account has experienced a 10% drawdown since then. And I'm starting to feel like "fuck it" to losses when I normally don't even let it run.

I'm beginning to become careless and my thoughts are clouded. During the trading day, while trading, I would just walk away from the computer and take a short nap ~ maybe to just stop thinking about the problems.

But yeah, I started this thread in hopes of hearing similar situations from people and how they are able to segragate situations like these from their trading.

I have talked to a doctor friend of mine and I have been talking to family and friends.

I'm starting to lose interest in trading lately, too, so I suppose I need to take a break.
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Quote from Pa(b)st Prime:



Are you developing market "opinions" that you normally wouldn't?
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Yes. I don't normally justify a bad trade but i did with the 2 largest losers i've had in months. It's almost like telling the market "do your worst" to me.

i've become numb to losses almost. I know it hurts but it almost seemed like I didn't care.

Cutting back on my trading today allowed me more time to think about my problem and focus on it. My trading rig is still online but i haven't looked at it much all day.
 
Quote from polpolik:

Yes. I don't normally justify a bad trade but i did with the 2 largest losers i've had in months. It's almost like telling the market "do your worst" to me.

i've become numb to losses almost. I know it hurts but it almost seemed like I didn't care.

Cutting back on my trading today allowed me more time to think about my problem and focus on it. My trading rig is still online but i haven't looked at it much all day.
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If you need to talk feel free to PM me your number. I'm always glad to help in any little way I can.
 
My advice - if you aren't feeling mentally strong, then stop trading entirely, and go have fun for as long as it takes to get your mojo back. Or, if you are genuinely mentally afflicted (depression etc), go get treated or at least speak to others who have gone through that & understand.

Just as a drunk, angry poker player is the prefect guy you want to sit down at your casino table, because he will spew all his chips, so a emotionally unstable, feeling sorry for himself, crisis-ridden trader is just more food for the sharks that are professional market operators. If you really want to donate money to anonymous strangers, then give to charity.

You have very little chance of trading profitably if you are emotionally not on an even keel. I'm probably as close to Spock-like as anyone I've met, but even I have stopped trading on occasion if too much shit was going on in my personal life.
 
Pabst, Cutten, and everyone else, I appreciate all the advice and offer of help. My friend and families have been pretty good at helping me through this.

I'm going to try and stop trading completely at least for 3 weeks. The last thing I need is to worry about what the market will do, reviewing charts, managing my money.

I've hit my target for the year last month so no need to push myself anymore until I am mentally adjusted to my situation. I'm not facing a life-threatening situation so I suppose it's all relative.

Like any trader, we all try to take a real break from the market once in a while - only to find ourselves trading during our break.

But yeah, the way I have been with my trading, I'm shark bait. My last balls to the walls trade last week was buying 3k LEH @ $6.10.

Like I said, not looking to trade anymore until sometime October.
 
If taking time off isn't feasible then I d suggest reduce your size and continue trading reduced size until the problem becomes second nature to you and it stops affecting your trades. Then start building yours size too and its should take care of itself.

That's what I did ( personal problems big time)

Main thing is longer you stay in the game stronger you become.
 
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