Half way through life and not close to being consistent

gamblingman said:
but the "cut your losses", that never made much sense to me. I think the risk should be controlled via size (and I'm bad at that as well).

One thing I'm curious though (and I'm sure I arrive at this knowing how I trade) is the "insane risk" part. I fully agree my risk level is high but how did you arrive at that conclusion (is it based on the weekly P&L changes, the fact that I don't stop myself out, the fact that I fail to recognize the trend or do any technical analysis ...)
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I think you will have problems with reaching max potential until you realize how to cut your losses. I explained it as simply as I could, but like I said, go read any good trading book. I guarantee you they will talk about that. It is by far the most important thing because it's one of the few things you have control over.

Through your own admissions, your "losses wipe out your gains." That's how I know that your risk, however you want to calculate it, is "insane." Either your probabilities of success per trade are too low (this happened to me last year), or you hold losses too long, or your trading too many contracts. All of this contributes to "insane" risk. When I say insane, I intend for it to mean that you are taking on a risk that almost ensures you will lose.
 
gamblingman said:
~500k. If it drops to ~400 I deposit more (or if I'm over leveraged and need to deposit more for margin), if it goes to 600 I take money out.
Half @ IB, half @ TD, both are portfolio margin.
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The single best advise I've ever received on ET and followed thru with was to periodically take profits. When I started taking out a minimum amt every quarter it really helped in my discipline to keep trading small and to NOT over leverage.

DO NOT overleverage...whatever it takes DON'T over leverage.......

Like you, I made bank in Feb and thought we might go down more .....BUT...when we didn't and my deltas became uncomfortably short started buying calls and selling puts more aggressively on each very small down move...BTFD....patience .

Re-evaluate your goal...Consistency....what does that mean to you? The market is anything but consistent. shit happens...look at CL. When you accept that you most likely will NEVER be consistent in your trading you will be more willing to bank your profits and move on to the next trade.

anywhoo...GL.... it sounds like you are doing just fine over-all and needed to vent:)
 
masterm1ne said:
I think you will have problems with reaching max potential until you realize how to cut your losses. I explained it as simply as I could, but like I said, go read any good trading book. I guarantee you they will talk about that. It is by far the most important thing because it's one of the few things you have control over.

Through your own admissions, your "losses wipe out your gains." That's how I know that your risk, however you want to calculate it, is "insane." Either your probabilities of success per trade are too low (this happened to me last year), or you hold losses too long, or your trading too many contracts. All of this contributes to "insane" risk. When I say insane, I intend for it to mean that you are taking on a risk that almost ensures you will lose.
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Fully agree on the risk side and the fact that I don't manage it well with position size. I'm working on that.

I have a hard time with stop losses though, but I don't want to turn this thread into a religious discussion whether or not to use them.
 
wwatson1 said:
What time frame do you time your entry and exit?
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Mostly swing trades. No pre-set time limit on most of them. Some of them have a weekly limit but most option trades have at least one expiration cycle if not more. Most automated trades are between two weeks and two month, some are significantly longer or shorter. Discretionary ones that completely go against me (like the short S&P) are getting rolled monthly, so you can either say it's the same trade every month or it's a single trade with a really long duration.
 
RichardRimes said:
The single best advise I've ever received on ET and followed thru with was to periodically take profits. When I started taking out a minimum amt every quarter it really helped in my discipline to keep trading small and to NOT over leverage.

DO NOT overleverage...whatever it takes DON'T over leverage.......

Like you, I made bank in Feb and thought we might go down more .....BUT...when we didn't and my deltas became uncomfortably short started buying calls and selling puts more aggressively on each very small down move...BTFD....patience .

Re-evaluate your goal...Consistency....what does that mean to you? The market is anything but consistent. shit happens...look at CL. When you accept that you most likely will NEVER be consistent in your trading you will be more willing to bank your profits and move on to the next trade.

anywhoo...GL.... it sounds like you are doing just fine over-all and needed to vent:)
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Just fine would be four times the profit this year ;).
I agree with taking money out, since I've been taking money out the results were better and more consistent. As far as delta goes, you're absolutely right, I lose focus on "revenge" trades rather than making sure I have enough capital to stay in the game the next month, so I'm working on leaving emotions behind.
 
Keeping a journal and careful records during the drawdowns was also helpful to me. Hard to do both emotionally and when you are working or busy with family. I would do a daily print out. When things are rolling my way I just do monthly.
 
gamblingman said:
Mostly swing trades. No pre-set time limit on most of them. Some of them have a weekly limit but most option trades have at least one expiration cycle if not more. Most automated trades are between two weeks and two month, some are significantly longer or shorter. Discretionary ones that completely go against me (like the short S&P) are getting rolled monthly, so you can either say it's the same trade every month or it's a single trade with a really long duration.
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So you use daily charts to make a trading decision?
 
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