Very hard time taking loss:(

been trading for almost a year now, 9 months to be exactly, i'm expecting i might even have to go for a nighttime job to support my trading career, but it is no big deal, i just love trading and will do it for as long as i live. Just want to gain more and more experience.

It's been an amazing ride though, I can't imagine 9 months ago, still trying to rely on MACD only with ameritrade trading those penny stocks which a trading "group" promised they'd help me, and pretty much they all lost their money, i'm lucky *ironic?* that I didn't participate all that much, but I did take a beating and I was stupid enough to believe them. All they really did was pump up stocks on chat forums, I didn't like the group and didn't believe it was real trading, so I left. Found this forum, and everything has changed since then.

Been one wild ride. Only going to get more and more interesting with experience.
 
Quote from Ripley:

Taking losses isn't your issue. Its having a winning edge. Thus, there is a higher % that a trade will go against you. It could also be that you are risking a little too much on a single trade than what you can stomach.

With that kind of odds, even the most disciplined traders would have a hard time taking losses. Trade smaller, develop a winning edge.
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Well, that makes no sense. What do you want him to do, Ripley, trade 1 share at a time? He said he was only trading 100 to 150 shares. At some point even if you're right, it makes no sense to trade if you don't get a return; and even if he has a winning edge, taking a stop loss is the most important rule in his bag. Not adhering to stop loss rules will eventually catch up with you regardless of the edge you have.
 
I have a similar issue. I constantly find myself giving up mental stops and withdrawing stop loss orders when stocks goes near my stop price. And in most cases I end up paying for the mistake. Now I have a rule that I take 3 breathes and determine where I would like to be stopped out before entering any position. This is hard at times but it does save my account from falling further.
 
Well i have to say That stop loss and Overconfidence are 2 things that a person has to be carefull off.
I would say i have not failed but i have gained 1 step higher to being succesfull trader and more knowledge the next time i start trading. Right now i am taking a brake :) and taking up a job to cover some unexpected expensives
And when i come back there is no surrender :eek: :cool: :D :
 
Quote from kming:

I have a similar issue. I constantly find myself giving up mental stops and withdrawing stop loss orders when stocks goes near my stop price. And in most cases I end up paying for the mistake. Now I have a rule that I take 3 breathes and determine where I would like to be stopped out before entering any position. This is hard at times but it does save my account from falling further.
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Why not just put in the stop once you enter the trade. I always have stop as soon as I enter the trade, the key is placing the stop right.

MENTAL stops force you to think more than you should, especially if emotions are controlling your trading.
 
why is it so hard to take a loss?

just set your stop loss immediately after entering your buy and sleep on it. There. No decisions to make thereafter.
 
Quote from JMowery1987:

Why not just put in the stop once you enter the trade. I always have stop as soon as I enter the trade, the key is placing the stop right.

MENTAL stops force you to think more than you should, especially if emotions are controlling your trading.
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ditto
 
Quote from JMowery1987:

Why not just put in the stop once you enter the trade. I always have stop as soon as I enter the trade, the key is placing the stop right.

MENTAL stops force you to think more than you should, especially if emotions are controlling your trading.
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Oh, I forgot to mention that I do exactly what you said. After the 3 breathes and the determination of a stop price I put that in and do not second guess that decision.

This has been very helpful.

The other big stupid mistake in my early trading has been overtrading. I put on 20 ER2 contracts with only 50k in equity and lost 20% in one day. Only later I realized that I am playing with 30x leverage! Since then I've been much more disciplined. As many say, you can only learn discipline through significant real money losses. I realized that I should indeed be trading 1 contract rather than 20!
 
WOh 20 contract that must be something ER2
Well it is true u dont realize the value of $ unless u trade with real money.
Demo are all bullshit just to get use to the system but when u are with real money u will know the risk and reward
And it is better to take $35 loss then to take $150 loss
Cause i have seen there is always a good trade waiting for you :)
 
Quote from kming:

Oh, I forgot to mention that I do exactly what you said. After the 3 breathes and the determination of a stop price I put that in and do not second guess that decision.

This has been very helpful.

The other big stupid mistake in my early trading has been overtrading. I put on 20 ER2 contracts with only 50k in equity and lost 20% in one day. Only later I realized that I am playing with 30x leverage! Since then I've been much more disciplined. As many say, you can only learn discipline through significant real money losses. I realized that I should indeed be trading 1 contract rather than 20!
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wtf! 20% drop in 1 day. DUDE. you're either not diversifying enough or are carrying too much leverage
 
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