Trade Management - Letting your winners run and cutting your losers short

[etfarb]

Quote from dbphoenix:

So what are you so afraid of? Assuming that you are in fact up 20% for the year.

To be honest with you DB,

I'm afraid of losing money for horrible stop placement (case and point why I am posting today in regards to my trade) - I took it off the table far to early in fear of losing money.

I apologize to being a little rude and hostile to you; however, I don't take kindly to when people suggest failure.

Yes I have now been at this for a year. Yes I still have a ton of questions but just recently I have become profitable. Trading like life is a dynamic process that requires one to constantly learn (IF one wants to succeed). Today I am in search to understand what signals or clues the market gave me that I ignored and would of helped maximize the gains on the ORB

 

[dbphoenix]

Quote from etfarb:

To be honest with you DB,

I'm afraid of losing money for horrible stop placement (case and point why I am posting today in regards to my trade) - I took it off the table far to early in fear of losing money.

I apologize to being a little rude and hostile to you; however, I don't take kindly to when people suggest failure.

Yes I have now been at this for a year. Yes I still have a ton of questions but just recently I have become profitable. Trading like life is a dynamic process that requires one to constantly learn (IF one wants to succeed). Today I am in search to understand what signals or clues the market gave me that I ignored and would of helped maximize the gains on the ORB

Failure is on the table whether anyone mentions it or not. That you react to the idea the way you do suggests that the possibility/probability of it fuels your fear.

Be that as it may, do you have a trading plan yet? If so, have you tested it (understanding that the trading plan is only an idea until it's been thoroughly tested)? If you have a trading plan and you're satisfied with it, then why aren't you following it?

On the other hand, if you do not yet have a thoroughly-tested and consistently profitable trading plan, then you have every reason to be fearful: you have no edge. The casual suggestion as to what you ought to do about ORBs isn't going to have any material effect.

 

[etfarb]

Quote from dbphoenix:

Failure is on the table whether anyone mentions it or not. That you react to the idea the way you do suggests that the possibility/probability of it fuels your fear.

Be that as it may, do you have a trading plan yet? If so, have you tested it (understanding that the trading plan is only an idea until it's been thoroughly tested)? If you have a trading plan and you're satisfied with it, then why aren't you following it?

On the other hand, if you do not yet have a thoroughly-tested and consistently profitable trading plan, then you have every reason to be fearful: you have no edge. The casual suggestion as to what you ought to do about ORBs isn't going to have any material effect.

I have a rough trading plan... with a few solid (research and backtested ideas) - only recently have I started to look into the opening...

I will be revisiting your thread on the trading plan and wyckoff forum today.

Once again, I apologize for the hostility. All the best in your trading this afternoon

 

[ammo]

Quote from etfarb:

- only recently have I started to look into the opening...

shouldn't be spending a dime of real money on that until you have learned its nuances ,percentages of working,not working,treat every trade like an investment not a gamble or taking a shot,if you are new and have one edge that appears and you are up 20% with it, that is the only live trade you should take...use the rest of the boredom to study other avenues

 

[dbphoenix]

Quote from ammo:

shouldn't be spending a dime of real money on that until you have learned its nuances ,percentages of working,not working,treat every trade like an investment not a gamble or taking a shot,if you are new and have one edge that appears and you are up 20% with it, that is the only live trade you should take...use the rest of the boredom to study other avenues

Quite right, though don't know that I'd rely on one setup until it's been tested, whether it appears to be successful or not. Quasi-edges of this sort spoil as rapidly as warm milk.

But trading without a plan only exacerbates the tension and the anxiety and the fear, hardly optimal conditions for successful trading. Why the rush? Even if one eventually develops a plan he can trust, it can take months and sometimes years to cope with the consequences of allowing fear to infect his approach to the markets.

 

[ammo]

Quote from dbphoenix:

Quite right, though don't know that I'd rely on one setup until it's been tested, whether it appears to be successful or not. Quasi-edges of this sort spoil as rapidly as warm milk.

But trading without a plan only exacerbates the tension and the anxiety and the fear, hardly optimal conditions for successful trading. Why the rush? Even if one eventually develops a plan he can trust, it can take months and sometimes years to cope with the consequences of allowing fear to infect his approach to the markets.

most kids are afraid of the dark,water, bicycles until they have tried it ,there is no substitute for experience,and learning to lose ,accepting it as regular event like a boxer taking a punch,is probably the single most important lesson you can master before coming successful,not suggesting that the op loses on purpose but learn not to be afraid of losing,when the fear is gone you can take losses rationally

 

[dbphoenix]

Quote from ammo:

most kids are afraid of the dark,water, bicycles until they have tried it ,there is no substitute for experience,and learning to lose ,accepting it as regular event like a boxer taking a punch,is probably the single most important lesson you can master before coming successful,not suggesting that the op loses on purpose but learn not to be afraid of losing,when the fear is gone you can take losses rationally

I agree that there's no substitute for experience. However, without a thoroughly-tested and consistently profitable trading plan, the experience of trading will most likely paralyze the trader into chronic inability to act appropriately.

One learns to accept the inevitable losses by experiencing them within the context of the sort of trading plan referred to above. If one knows (a) that the plan will sometimes yield a loss and (b) what the longest string of losses is likely to be, he will be far more likely to be able to take those losses in stride as a cost of doing business.

 

[ammo]

not really a counter point,just saying that before computer age trading, a non mentored trader,one who didnt clerk for a market maker, most likely tried and failed 3 times with real money before figuring it out, so that fear is beaten into you and if you can't get past it,you won't make it

 

[dbphoenix]

Quote from ammo:

not really a counter point,just saying that before computer age trading, a non mentored trader,one who didnt clerk for a market maker, most likely tried and failed 3 times with real money before figuring it out, so that fear is beaten into you and if you can't get past it,you won't make it

And few people do make it. I suppose beating is one way, but I've been in the market since '76 and nobody ever beat me.

Perhaps I was missing something.

 

[ammo]

how many times have you emptied an acct db,i've done it several times,too the point that it just sinks in as part of the learning curve,it doesn't kill you so you carry on and become immune to it,learning to take losses