Through the Looking Glass

[illiquid]

Quote from NoDoji:

Illiquid, it would be really interesting to see a chart posted of your entries/exits/reason for trade on a few of your big losing trades. I think the input you'd get from others here could be really helpful. It took input from four different traders over a period of time, but I finally "got it" (at least until the next time I lose my mind).

The biggest losses are usually: me getting caught wrongfooted off a news event when volatility is high, and just not taking my loss or worse averaging down; or me getting whipped back and forth by programs and succumbing to frustration trades; or me making a big bet on market direction and being wrong loaded up to the gills with triple shorts/longs etc.

When it comes to individual stocks, I really consider each trade/situation on a case by case basis, so when I'm wrong I just get it wrong -- I feel going over it won't really give me any "clue" to my next trade beyond additional experience of the loss itself.

 

[ammo]

Quote from illiquid:

: ___me _____getting caught .............. not taking my loss or worse averaging down; ...............or _____me____getting whipped back and forth .......... _____me_____ making a big bet wrong loaded up to the gills(EGO) with triple shorts/longs etc.
_____I really consider each trade......--------_____ I just get it wrong -- _____I feel going over it won't really give ______me any "clue" to _____my next trade beyond additional experience of the loss itself.

you.ve mentioned yourself 7 times in this statement,you've admitted that you have a problem taking losses,you can't come up with a solution until you've identified the problem, you've identified the problem, it's you...right there in black and white,post after post after post ,me I ,you need to have a serious talk with your ego,he;s working against you, he's jumpin up and down saying ,look,over here,i'm open ,throw me the ball, he doesn't care if you win or lose,as long as he's getting all the attention...if you lose ...he even blames it on the market ..he is never wrong...who is in charge ...as long as he's screaming in your ear...you are going to have trouble hearing what the markets telling you...this problem unsolved will break the bank

 

[schizo]

Quote from illiquid:

The biggest losses are usually: me getting caught wrongfooted off a news event when volatility is high, and just not taking my loss or worse averaging down; or me getting whipped back and forth by programs and succumbing to frustration trades; or me making a big bet on market direction and being wrong loaded up to the gills with triple shorts/longs etc.

I'm hardly qualified to judge, but from your admissions your problem ain't about taking losses but consistently getting into bad trades. Hence, I suggest you heed NoDoji's recommendation and post a chart or two with your entries/exits clearly annotated. Note that this is for your own good since nobody cares more about those losses than you.

Best wishes.

 

[illiquid]

Quote from schizo:

I'm hardly qualified to judge, but from your admissions your problem ain't about taking losses but consistently getting into bad trades. Hence, I suggest you heed NoDoji's recommendation and post a chart or two with your entries/exits clearly annotated. Note that this is for your own good since nobody cares more about those losses than you.

Best wishes.

Put it this way, there's nothing to be gleaned from a chart from how I trade, any points to be made would all just be retrospect and "obvious" in hindsight. And yeah, I'm not giving anything away here edgewise -- not that you would want to know anyway given the performance.

I'll give an example: today I found myself in 3 short positions by noon, for various reasons, and since I held most of them to the close I was profitable today. But was I just bailed out by the Greek downgrade? Maybe. Could I have just as easily been runover if the 200MA was broken to the upside? Maybe. I did have stops in and I didn't overleverage myself, so I suppose you could say I traded more "properly" than my usual. But there's nothing on today's chart that would have revealed anything, mostly since I don't really trade off charts to begin with.

 

[illiquid]

P/L for week 6/18: +2k on 400k shares

+3, +1, -3, -1, +2

The mental re-grouping continues; reworking one's stance towards the markets in general as well as day-to-day trading is not easy to accomplish overnight. Given your edge, do you "know" what your ideal day looks like, meaning your activity and p/l profile throughout a trading session? Of course there's no blueprint etched in stone when it comes to this business, but I'm beginning to realize what my day should resemble when I'm running on all cylinders -- whatever the p/l may be. This last part is key. My near term focus will be on selectivity and non-action; I want "do nothing here" to become a more conscious decision, a product of effort distinct from just sitting back and waiting. It will be hard when I'm down on the day to fight that instinct to push, but I'm realizing this habit has become far more damaging than ever before.

 

[ammo]

good job il.consider not trading as a trade,like not drinking sour milk,or spoiled meat

 

[illiquid]

P/L for week 6/25: -7k on 460k shares

+4, 0, -3, -9, +1

Again, discipline fails. This month is shaping up to be my worst in a few years, no doubt I'm definitely feeling pressure, even when having a decent day, to "push". I've changed certain parameters that I think have hurt me in the past few weeks, with the continued goal of lowering volume and focusing on good setups. But honestly it's the inability to take a slow and steady approach while forgetting the recent past that's the key failure here.

 

[illiquid]

P/L week ended 7/2: +12k on 320k shares

-2, +1, +6, +2, +5

Key adjustment for the week was raising my max position size to 4k from 1.5k shares; +1 if you can figure out how it helped.

 

[NoDoji]

Quote from illiquid:

P/L week ended 7/2: +12k on 320k shares

-2, +1, +6, +2, +5

Key adjustment for the week was raising my max position size to 4k from 1.5k shares; +1 if you can figure out how it helped.

It allowed you to scale trades more effectively.

 

[illiquid]

Quote from NoDoji:

It allowed you to scale trades more effectively.

If you mean averaging down, it's might be true at times but that's usually how I also get killed as well. It's the main reason why I stayed below 2k shares for so long, since every time before I had asked for a higher max I would get crushed eventually on an avg down gone wrong.

This time, I saw that raising max share size allowed me to concentrate more of my buying power in optimal setups rather than spreading it out evenly amongst every idea I had. I realized that I had a tendency to use up most of my buying power (aka overtrading) as the day progressed, with the later entries usually being of less quality than the first. So rather than have 1k shares each of say 6 or 7 different ideas of varying qualities, I could be more patient in just waiting for the best opportunities to come by, and push harder on those trades. It just becomes that much easier to be patient.

Max shares had been almost a taboo parameter for me to adjust, but like many aspects of this business sometimes you need to have courage to break certain "rules" you've always believed in, and in doing so achieve a counterintuitive result. Could raising my max shares actually help me become more disciplined? I'm hoping that's the case here.