What is the worst thing you do when you get mad at a bad trade?

jack hershey · May 5, 2003

Quote from bungrider:

Hi all,

Quite often when I get nailed in a squeeze, or have a really reliable setup that goes against me, I get all pissed off and it takes me about 5minutes before I'm ready to trade again.

And quite often, even if I am ready to trade again 5 minutes later, and everything else has been going well after the blowup (including subsequent trades) I still think back to that one trade, and although my system is fine and there's no need to change it, it becomes a "once bitten, twice shy" routine where I am too afraid of getting stepped on again and don't take similar good setups for a week or two until the shock of that one meltdown has worn off.

I'm wondering if anyone has any little tricks they use to re-assure themselves that their system is fine and that it's perfectly fine to get slammed every now and then in a trade.

**I don't trade a mechanical system. I'm an old school tape/support/resistance aka "price action" trader.

Thanks in advance,
-mr. bungle

a_ooiioo_a hii · May 5, 2003

investing $50 in a punching bag might be worth it

bungrider · May 5, 2003

Quote from a_ooiioo_a hii:

investing $50 in a punching bag might be worth it

i want to skip the whole venting step and instantly forget about the loss, and instead use that information to make a better trade, if possible...

a_ooiioo_a hii · May 5, 2003

then maybe some discipline like zen or shaolin might help you get there

jack hershey · May 5, 2003

Quote from bungrider:

Hi all,

Quite often when I get nailed in a squeeze, or have a really reliable setup that goes against me, I get all pissed off and it takes me about 5minutes before I'm ready to trade again.

And quite often, even if I am ready to trade again 5 minutes later, and everything else has been going well after the blowup (including subsequent trades) I still think back to that one trade, and although my system is fine and there's no need to change it, it becomes a "once bitten, twice shy" routine where I am too afraid of getting stepped on again and don't take similar good setups for a week or two until the shock of that one meltdown has worn off.

I'm wondering if anyone has any little tricks they use to re-assure themselves that their system is fine and that it's perfectly fine to get slammed every now and then in a trade.

**I don't trade a mechanical system. I'm an old school tape/support/resistance aka "price action" trader.

Thanks in advance,
-mr. bungle

Failing to debrief myself. This requires leaving the market; getting out a sheet of paper or two; 1. writing up what happened; 2. writing up what I want to be happening for myself (skip what the market is supposed to do); 3. Accepting what I want my performance to be under the circumstance. (accepting 2.) and 4. moving on by putting the "four stepper" in my journal.

If something goes amiss, then you are responsible. taking responsibility for it is important. You will see around here ther are some "blammer" types posting. Mostly people haven't taken responsibility for staying in the market when they do not know what is going on. If you do not know what is going on, you have to sideline to consider where you are not able to function.

A good thing to notice when you losse money is that someone other than you does know how to make money when you don't.
If you have a crummy way of trading, that is a neat place to consider improvement.

dougcs · May 5, 2003

Quote from bungrider:

Hi all,

Quite often when I get nailed in a squeeze, or have a really reliable setup that goes against me, I get all pissed off and it takes me about 5minutes before I'm ready to trade again.

And quite often, even if I am ready to trade again 5 minutes later, and everything else has been going well after the blowup (including subsequent trades) I still think back to that one trade, and although my system is fine and there's no need to change it, it becomes a "once bitten, twice shy" routine where I am too afraid of getting stepped on again and don't take similar good setups for a week or two until the shock of that one meltdown has worn off.

I'm wondering if anyone has any little tricks they use to re-assure themselves that their system is fine and that it's perfectly fine to get slammed every now and then in a trade.

**I don't trade a mechanical system. I'm an old school tape/support/resistance aka "price action" trader.

The simple answer is not to make bad trades. If you follow your trading plan and the trade goes against you, then all you have done is place a losing trade and unless your plan only has winners then this is just a normal, expected outcome not a bad trade. A good trading plan has winners and losers. Quite often, it will have more losers than winners.

I always look at my "profit factor" which is total $ profit over total $ lost. If it is around 2.0 then I think well now I just lost $400, now I'm ready to make $800. Sometimes I think of the money lost as an investment or a cost of doing business.

Another way to look at it is to consider a casino that lets you flip a coin and wager. If you win, then they pay $2 for each dollar bet. If you lost a few times in a row at that game, would you keep playing or get mad and quit?

Doug S

PoundTheRock · May 5, 2003

Quote from bungrider:

i want to skip the whole venting step and instantly forget about the loss, and instead use that information to make a better trade, if possible...

bung, I think the only way to do that (especially for a system trader) is to not even look at the quotes between trades. Enter the trade, don't watch it, and wait for the exit signal. One trader used to futz around with his trades so much that he would minimize all of the charting and quote windows and just wait for the alert - made him much better. By the way, I think most traders who say they don't get upset by losses are full of shit and are just repeating something they read from a psychologist trader wannabe who can't really trade. The less emotional investment you have in the trade (feeling the ticks so to speak), the better prepared you may be to just enter the next trade.

qdz5 · May 5, 2003

Quote from bungrider:

I'm wondering if anyone has any little tricks they use to re-assure themselves that their system is fine and that it's perfectly fine to get slammed every now and then in a trade.

The worst thing you can do is blame yourself!

It's easy to blame someone else. Just remember your system is fine. It's just the f*%cking crooked scammers and market manipulators who are screwing your orders around and making you lose money.

minimi · May 5, 2003

Nothing can be worse than getting yourself mad in the first place.

dbphoenix · May 5, 2003

Write down exactly what I did so that I don't do it again, then move on.