Quote from illiquid:
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.
Actually averaging can be adding to a winner as well to a loser. I really have no idea how you trade, but larger max share size certainly allows more room to work either strategy, one being counter-trend and the other with-trend, but both being very effective if managed properly.
I have to agree that larger size makes you more patient and disciplined. There are rare times when I will trade significantly larger size than normal, but it's on a very specific setup, my timing has to be perfect (I absolutely won't chase entry if the exact entry price is missed), and my stops are insanely tight. When these work, they really work well; when they don't work the loss is minimal. I've yet to have one fail, because the patience in waiting for the setup and the sniper-like method I have of entering make it extremely high probability.
I, too, found earlier trades to be the best and sometimes I won't take a trade despite a valid setup/signal simply because it's later in the day, when textbook setups have a greater tendency to fail.
Congrats on a great week!
