HELP! my winning days are killing me!

Quote from limitdown:

I've heard of this condition, which doesn't really have a name associated with it. :)

I guess its fear of success :D
One thing is I know its real, and we've had to deprogram other traders on our desk to resist shooting themselves in the foot every time they defensively closed out their profitable positions early, only to chase them later into a flat or loss for the day.

Good thing you're discussing this condition.
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Limitdown,

Can you discuss some of deprogramming methods you've seen used?
 
I think a lot of the problem comes about because everyone spends a ton of time thinking about how they will enter trades, but rarely any on how to exit. All the advisory services and chatrooms provide a ton of guidance on entries, but rarely do you hear about exits. Most traders are focused on all the money they can make with these great setups. As a result, entry plans are very well thought out and exit plans are not. This causes a lot of conflict because the exit is so much less clear to most people then the entry. There are as many different ways to exit as to enter, but the best thing to do is to sit down and construct some solid selling rules and focus on them as much as you do entries I think.

Brandon
 
Quote from Pabst:



Limitdown,

Can you discuss some of deprogramming methods you've seen used?
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taking them to lunch

showing them the door

stepping on their toes with a loud thump

rolling over their feelings

pulling their eyelids out

uh, just about anything that gets their attention
 
Quote from candletrader:

Thanks for the update, Brother rs8.5... btw, is version 8.5 still Jewish, or has it gone Catholic?
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Version 8.5. just like version 7.xx is devoid of any scheduled theological subsystems. However, both versions appear to interface with the Hebrew version of Spousal Error Correction, which is a TSR (terminate and stay resident) program that cannot be halted in any way, or even have it's icon disabled or removed from the main RS folder. Much like trying to get rid of the "Recycle Bin" Icon on the Windows desktop. Always there to remind you of what you should not have had in the first place! The programmers have always referred to the Spousal Error Correction program as JEWISHWIFE1.0" which has neither been upgraded or modified in years because of if's perfect operating record. For thousands of years.

Reace,
:)Rs8.5
 
Sounds like you are doing the right thing. I would increase your size and stick to the model.


Quote from daytraderpete:

Just wondering if anyone else has gone through what I am going through right now, and if you did, how did you get past this stage.


I have excellent discipline in taking my losses, and when I have a bad day it is maybe a couple hundred bucks. MY problem
is that when I am having a good day, I am making about $300 - $400 whenI should be holding my trades longer (obvious trend days) and should make around $1,000.

My question is: What techniques do you use when you are right to max the trades potential?!

thanks ,
Pete
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I have a friend who had a period where he was *way too bullish* (late 90s), and found he was watching the stock peak, his signals would tell him to get out, his brain would tell him to get out, but his heart was begging him to stay in - he "fell in love with the stock" and watched it drop, drop, drop, always *hoping* for a reversal to validate his love (which, of course, never happened). So what I did was *take all control away* from my friend (like he was Ulysses being tied to the mast when the Sirens called him). *He* got into a trade, then *I* told him when to get out. Whatever I said, he did. If he couldn't bring himself to do it, I'd manually get him out while he watched. And believe it or not, it worked. I would say "you made x percent, it's time to get out." "It's way too high, sell now". He was too close to the situation and wasn't thinking logically. I had no fear and no greed (it wasn't my money!), so I could play it by the book, and it worked great! Our "Extreme Trading" was like a financial tag team.

He had great entry systems and intuition, and I knew how to use a mental trailing stop. :p

I recommend trying it, just for fun, if you can find someone you trust enough to trade with. Maybe both of you throw some cash in a pot and then only trade it as partners... See if you can complement each other with your strengths...

What do you think?
 
I have discovered that switching to statistical trading solved most of my psychological disturbances that this thread eludes to. However I feel I am still crazy. I must be..... to trade Futures and walk away from my trades merely trusting my new statistical approach trading.

This does not mean I have given up on my scalping studies and being glued to my charts. I simply am reading and studying to keep my days occupied while my trades automatically execute throughout the day.

I long to return and begin scalping when I learn how to do it. I have watched Nitro in the chat room....but still do not have a clue how he does it. So I have decided to come up with my own system. The ES sure is liquid enough and volatile enough.

So meanwhile my advice for me was just trust my system don't leave myself uncovered and walk away. Crazy isn't it? Perhaps you can build in an adaptive function to your trading and watch the range and adjust daily....but define your plan and keep yourself busy studying other techniques. If you consider yourself a pro then learn all forms of trading...and get away from a gambling mentality.

Michael B.
 
One scalping thought that cannot be overlooked is the simple fact that when scalping you are scalping against members and there low rates. It is kinda hard to find and edge against people paying a fraction of what the retail customer would pay.

Quote from ElectricSavant:

I have discovered that switching to statistical trading solved most of my psychological disturbances that this thread eludes to. However I feel I am still crazy. I must be..... to trade Futures and walk away from my trades merely trusting my new statistical approach trading.

This does not mean I have given up on my scalping studies and being glued to my charts. I simply am reading and studying to keep my days occupied while my trades automatically execute throughout the day.

I long to return and begin scalping when I learn how to do it. I have watched Nitro in the chat room....but still do not have a clue how he does it. So I have decided to come up with my own system. The ES sure is liquid enough and volatile enough.

So meanwhile my advice for me was just trust my system don't leave myself uncovered and walk away. Crazy isn't it? Perhaps you can build in an adaptive function to your trading and watch the range and adjust daily....but define your plan and keep yourself busy studying other techniques. If you consider yourself a pro then learn all forms of trading...and get away from a gambling mentality.

Michael B.
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