Time of Day & Overtrading: How to Stop from 11-3?

[chrisdunn]

Quote from KCalhoun:



Anyone have any tips on how to remind yourself to avoid trading 11am-3pm (unless the market's rallying or bouncing off a sharp selloff or a specific stock that has a compelling pattern etc)?

I noticed the same thing about 2 years ago... My best advice...

Just SHUT IT DOWN! lol... I made a rule that I won't trade past 11AM unless I come back at 1PM and act like it's a totally new trading day... If I don't feel 500% fresh and ready then I leave it alone....

Good luck,

Chris

 

[trader_david]

install a monitoring program, or buy a count machine.
you set a number daily, after a trade is done, the number is counting toward zero.after zero, the account is frozen, you can not do anything.

I think your problem is you are guilty of your trading subconciously: you know you are "over-trading", but the market always tempts you to believe or you see a setup or whatever opportunity, you jump in again, but later you found it seems not an opportunity, you got out with minor loss, and on and on, you feel more guilty,when you thought you created lots of commisions to your brokers, you almost feel you are evil..

First tell yourself: there is no overtrading such thing, your loss are not caused by overtrading or trading too much, your loss is causd by one fact: your trading skills are poor, you need hone them hard. even DOW may just move a 100points in a day, but if you trade properly, you may gain 500~1000points, the key is your trading skills are very poor!

second tell yourself: in order to gain something, commissions are part of business, so you should not save commissions to avoid the market. your focus is: hone your trading skills

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from KCalhoun:


...Anyone have any tips on how to remind yourself to avoid trading 11am-3pm (unless the market's rallying or bouncing off a sharp selloff or a specific stock that has a compelling pattern etc)?...

JUST STOP DOING IT!







I hope that helps.

 

[afto]

If the object of the exercise is to MAKE MONEY then set a target and quit when you've reached it. Rinse and repeat.
Why hang around a computer monitor longer than necessary...its bad for your eyes and maybe even your sanity.

 

[the1]

1. Place hammer on desk.
2. When over-trading occurs hit head with hammer.
3. Repeat as necessary.

 

[Pita]

Quote from Big Money:

Kcalhoun,

Not to sound negative here, but we get these types of posts all the time. You know your own problem but even after 10 years, you refuse to change your known bad behaviors. There is a simple answer and it is called DISCPLINE. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. You know you don’t make money during certain times but you keep trying to and lose hard earned money fighting with yourself. If you can’t stay away during certain times, drastically reduce your size as suggested until you learn how to trade it consistently profitably.

Trading is about maximizing opportunities while minimizing risks. Be aggressive when you have the best of it. Protect yourself when you don’t and avoid situations where you know the odds are against you, i.e. the lunch doldrums or whatever those situations are for you.

The good news is you actually keep track of your trading tendencies so you at least have an idea about what is really making or costing you money. That puts you ahead of many. But knowing the cause and not fixing it is inexcusable and says you don’t take your trading seriously. Trading history is littered with those who were disciplined almost all the time but would still give in to “flyers” or temptations for the thrill of it to their detriment. Don’t follow in their footsteps.

Best of luck

BM

absolutely agree here and when you even have the result in a statistic you could improve dramatically by cutting out the problematic time frame calculate the average loss derived from gambling out of boredom and add it to your initial risk/size level during the trading times you are trackably more profitable which will result in less trades and higher profits. More free time at hand doesnt need to be mentioned in your case as you obviously have nothing better to do than watching a screen.

 

[KCalhoun]

great ideas, thanks all - I did that today, minimized my IB/esignal windows at exactly 11am, stayed out.. got back in only later in the day after 2pm (especially that SQNM breakout), and ended up the day net profitable by over $140, so thanks....

sometimes it really helps to have the fellowship here, the insights from everyone, especially when it comes to discipline issues -- great points from everyone, and that kept me (correctly!) out of the market 11-2, which worked.

I also stuck a note on the edge of one of my monitors saying "No Trading 11-2pm", to help w/reminder.


To profits,

-k