lol...
My account today is worth $ 605 and some change. This time it is my own money. And Monday is going to be an exciting day because if I fall below the margin for one contract, I need to raise some more money somehow. But I know I won't !!!
I suck at making projections about my trading. Yes, I was trading 10 contracts almost two weeks ago. Then I reduced it to 5, and right now I am trading just 1, and most likely Monday would be the last day of trading if I continue the current losing streak I am on.
I have an unbelievable ability to make and lose a lot of money very fast. And I just noticed that I trade for excitement rather than to make money.
I also learned that I should quit trading the max # of contracts my margin would allow. That means, I should only risk a very very small percentage on each trade.
My mistake was, I was risking 2% of my equity thinking that there is no way I could have 50 straight losses. But, guess what? it could very well happen because the days that you have to quit trading because of your automatic shut off point for the day, can and will add up. As well as those days that might get out of hand and you don't end up shutting down at your shut off point. Thus, effectively, I had 34 losing trades in a row. (not losing trades, but when "shut off trading" days are magnified into their equivalent # of trades).
Another problem is that I am in a trade at almost all the time, although this is something I am fighting very hard it is very hard to do. I usually have 38 trades a day!!! Thats why there is a higher likelyhood that a trade could take a wild turn against me, not that my EDGE isn't ineffective or anything.
Another problem (I only have problems!!!) is that I allow some losses to get big because I give it a little room because I was up +$ 1000 and such for the day. Turning a potential +$ 1000 day into -$ 2000 day was one of the turning points as to why I am riding down the equity curve right now.
But its all good, because this weekend, I had the privilege of reading the best book on trading that is ever written. If I hadn't experienced what I had experienced during the last couple of days, I don't think I would've had any desire or incentive to learn:
"The FIVE FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS of TRADING"
1) Anything can happen.
2) You don't need to know what is going to happen next in order to make money.
3) There is a random distribution between wins & losses for any given set of variables that define an edge.
4) An edge is nothing more than an indication of a higher probability of one thing happening over another.
5) Every moment in the market is unique.