Quote from iceman1:
neither... it just is part of the game... early stops and missed opportunities.
>>The goal is to minimize both, can't eliminate entirely; and then accept that which you cannot perfectly change!
Further... one does not " suck more?!
IF it feels like it does, as you describe (in capitals), then that is WHY the original poster on this thread (and anyone) is having or will begin to have the problem he described. Unless and until one (each of us) accepts this as an imperfect situation... unless and until one understands (to use a sports performance analogy) that baseball guys are considered real good hitters jacking homers less than one 10th-15th of the time... and singles/ doubles maybe 1/4 more... frustration wil be your (our) vanity plate(s).
IMHO
I-man
It does suck more phsychologically. This asymmetric treatment of gains and losses is engraved into human behaviour.
Think about these two scenarios:
1) you have an overnight position, it gaps against you at the open. You are 5% (of your capital) down, you immediately get out and see it drop like crazy 20% more in the next few minutes. Naturally, you feel very good about being such an astute trader and having escaped this deadly drop. But chances are, very soon you'll forget about it and move on to other things, as it's just one of those decisions you think was right and you can't really take full credit for it, so no big deal.
2) same situation, overnight position, opens 5% down you immediately put in a market order and close it... at what turns out to be the low of the day. Not only that, the price rebounds in the next few minutes and climbs back and now you see you WERE right in taking the initial position. I guarantee, the extent of unhappiness you will feel about situation 2 will far exceed how happy you will be in case 1. Not only that, you will feel the pain for much much longer than you'll feel glad you swallowed the loss in the first scenario...
I'm not saying you are wrong that people shoudn't act this way, I'm saying they they do b/c gains and losses aren't treated the same way in our heads.