How Do Yall Handle the Near Misses?

bubba, are u stoned?

the market is not a person... rather it is a collective of people who are all out to take eachother's money. Most of the collected end up on the surprise side of the market. I don't see how the market can be a partner. Please elaborate. Or pass the ganja dis way mon.
 
anyway,

i yank out my keyboard and mouse and start swingin them around by the chords.

most people don't like that little habbit so I had to start trading at home.... gotta take out the aggression, or the aggression takes out YOU!
 
Maybe your stop in not appropriate...you say $400 swing diff. but i wonder how much of that you would have really taken. It's the whole package(stops, entries, size, exits, etc.) in sync with each other. Ok, so you know this....so what's the issue...tweek the parameters 'till it fits. Either that or learn to identify the plays that merit chasing, and how much to chase, yada yada yada...did you ever see that Seinfeld ??
 
Quote from bubba7:

Each of the things you chide yourself for could be done by your partner, the market.

By over stepping your bounds and taking this job away from the market, you get caught.

The one thing you do is predict and bet on the prediction.

Why not skip the predicting?

You have alternative tools for each thing you do as you take over.

Put those tools to work for the market to come to. Then you have an experienced partner that is always on your side and helping you out all the time.

It almost looks like you want to be right or something. were I you, I would switch to being rich instead.
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Excellent - there is more wisdom in this one post than there is in the entire "The Truth about Daytrading Futures" thread.
 
Quote from Flashboy:

I know.. I've been struggling a great deal lately..

Contemplating taking a break..

Very frustrated..

I knew I shouldn't have made that post here about everything going my way.. boy that sure did turn around on me.
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Never ever do that..I recall 2 years ago, I told my wife I was up 20 days in a row, lost the whole wad over the next 8 days!!!!

Call me superstitious, but when doing well just keep it to yourself.

You'll be ok, just go back to the basics and scale down.

Best,
David
 
Quote from Flashboy:

What I mean is how do you guys cope with a day that should have been very good that turns out bad..

Example..

I was long Cattle over the weekend.. Had my sell stop at 77.50 this morning.. thought about lowering it a few points but didn't.

market went down to 77.45.. stopped me out.. and headed up to 78.50.. thats a $400 swing per contract..

On the Emini today.. 2 of my favorite setups at 10:10 & 11:40.... put a limit order in both times and did not get filled.. market eventually went in my direction without me.. missed each entry by a single tick.

So here's a day that should have turned out very good.. but didn't due to a few ticks here and there.. actually made a couple trades toward end of day to come out losing

Aggrevating..

Makes you think you should give up..

Makes you think you'll never succeed at this..

This business is tough.. mind games all the time..

I hope I can conquer this thing or should I say myself before it kills me..

Jeff
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My first trade in the futures market was in live cattle... 1980.

I've had the same "tragic" near misses as you. Rather than entering with limit orders, use market. When you use limits, your concept for the trade AND your estimation of price... BOTH have to be correct... that's often expecting too much.

If necessary, trade smaller and give yourself a little more "ride-out" room after a market order entry. If your concept for the trade is wrong, it's going to be a loser anyway. You should at least give yourself more "room to be right" so that you catch the ones where your play was generally correct.
 
Quote from Fast_Trader:

Everyone has days like that. As long EVERY DAY is not like that, you should be OK

-FastTrader
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I'm with this guy.
I keep track of how many times I am stopped out too early, or close too soon. If I see a trend then I'll adjust my stops and/or exits.
 
IMO near misses are as much a part of trading as losing trades. you have to accept them and move on to the next trade. They are frustrating, but they will happen, even if you start adjusting stops and targets.

You may find that by using a larger stop that you catch a couple of extra 4pt trades a week. However, that may be offset by the 8 losing trades that you now have to take an extra point on. You may also find that even although you adjusted your stop you are still getting as many near misses, just 1pt further away.

The bottom line is whether your system/strategy is profitable to an acceptable level, over an extended period of time.

This is not to say that adjustments shouldn't ever be made, but if they are, make sure it is not at the expense of the long term bottom line.

If you are struggling with the occassional near miss, try keeping track of the near catches. Those trades where it just misses your stop by a tick or it just hits your target before turning. You may find that they even out over the long term. Makes the near misses easier to live with.

If all else fails then go with Brandons advice.
 
Quote from Flashboy:

What I mean is how do you guys cope with a day that should have been very good that turns out bad..

Example..

I was long Cattle over the weekend.. Had my sell stop at 77.50 this morning.. thought about lowering it a few points but didn't.

market went down to 77.45.. stopped me out.. and headed up to 78.50.. thats a $400 swing per contract..

On the Emini today.. 2 of my favorite setups at 10:10 & 11:40.... put a limit order in both times and did not get filled.. market eventually went in my direction without me.. missed each entry by a single tick.

So here's a day that should have turned out very good.. but didn't due to a few ticks here and there.. actually made a couple trades toward end of day to come out losing

Aggrevating..

Makes you think you should give up..

Makes you think you'll never succeed at this..

This business is tough.. mind games all the time..

I hope I can conquer this thing or should I say myself before it kills me..

Jeff
More...
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[1] Like to meditate on a somewhat accurate paraphrase of what Ed Seykota wrote this year-To avoid whipsaws, stop trading.

[2]There are at least 2 ways to apply-To avoid whipsaws, stop trading.Also like Bubba-7 comparing the market to a partner.

[3] Dont know the cattle market;
the first thing I diligently check for when I get a whipsaw or hit my mental,written stop -is a trend change.




:cool:
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''In all labor there is profit''-Solomon, trader king
 
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