What to do when you are ready to lose your mind from trading?

[MKTrader]

Just listen to this great tune by the Pixies (way ahead of their time, musically speaking)

 

[murray t turtle]

Just listen to this great tune by the Pixies (way ahead of their time, musically speaking)

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THOSE song words sound like they hinted for a PSAR, or spin it + win it/LOL[ I could not figure out which one came first, \ that song or PSAR\LOL
WELLS Wilder has some great quotes \ ''IF you cant deal with emotion get out of trading''
I like the Cowboy Carman video/they are bull riding\like an inverse ETFs \LOL '' Holding On,thru the flood, thru the blood''
Speaking of videos\never forget what the New Mexico game warden said ''bears are tough\ ''Unforgettable video\black bear climbed up a power pole, accidently touched the top wires\LOL+ jumped down HARD on concrete + ran away/LOL.
The New Mexico game warden said '' bears are tough''

 

[Laissez Faire]

In my experience nothing other than a complete break/reset works in a situation like this when you've taken a loss out of the ordinary. Following a losing streak it's very easy to become irrational and try to make back the loss. Usually only compounding your mistakes and losing even more.

Your money is gone, so that's a sunk cost. Take a break and get your mind back to neutral and then slowly get back to it.

Here's what Marty Schwartz have to say on the subject:

The Losing Streak by Marty Schwartz

Every trader faces it. Only the winners know how to handle it. The dreaded losing streak rears its head every so often and attacks every great trader. It eats away at your judgment; it saps your confidence. Sometimes, it can take you so low that you think you'll never get out. You're sure that something has gone wrong, that you've lost your touch, that you'll never be a winner again. When you're in the middle of it, you think it's never going to end, but mostly, your judgment and rhythm are off and what you have to do is stop and regain your composure.

The best way to end a losing streak is to cut your losses and divorce your ego from the game. I learned this lesson many years ago at the crap tables in Vegas. The old cliché says “never send good money after bad”, and it's true. You have to manage your resources and not lose too much of your stake. Many people when they're losing increase their bets; they double up hoping to win it all back on one roll of the dice. That strategy can be devastating. The best way to stop a losing streak is to STOP! STOP THE LOSSES, STOP THE BLEEDING. Take time off and let your intellect take charge of your emotions; the market will be there when you return.

But believe me, this simple advice is much easier to give than to take. In August 1996, I was in the worst losing streak of my career. What was driving me crazy was that I would see the trades, but I was so scared of losing, I wasn't thinking about winning. This fear of losing was slowing down my reaction time, and while I was seeing everything, I was reacting later and later, which meant that I was taking more risks, not less. What I had to do was to step back and recharge my batteries, but I couldn't stop. A guy called me and wanted to play some golf. I knew that I needed a break so I told him I'd play eighteen, but as I got up to leave, I couldn't go out the door without a piece of the action. I couldn't let the market go up without me. I bought ten lousy contracts and ended up losing twenty-five grand. It ruined my day and further sapped my confidence.
You can never shift from reverse to first gear without first going through neutral. YOU MUST FIRST CHANGE THE DIRECTION OF BAD TRADING BY FIRST SHIFTING TO NEUTRAL. YOU MUST STOP. What happens is that as your fear of losing rises, your emotions start to short-circuit your intellect and you no longer have confidence in what you're doing. Stopping lets your emotions calm down and lets you reestablish your momentum with your intellect. Remember, time is always your ally. Use it to relax, clear your head, and regain your energies.
Once you've stopped, digested your losses, gone through a period of preparation, and feel comfortable with your work habits and methodology, you're ready to start trading again. The best way to do that is to trade small and to concentrate on being profitable. DON'T START BY TRYING TO MAKE A KILLING.

When I came back, I'd see a trade I liked and I'd do it small with a very tight stop, so if I was wrong, I'd get right out. All the time I kept telling myself, make little profits, make little profits, make little profits. Black ink, black ink, black ink. It's all psychological. I felt sick and I wanted to make myself feel good again. I wanted to regain my confidence because CONFIDENCE IS ESSENTIAL TO A SUCCESSFUL TRADER. I had three contracts the other day, which is a tiny position for me, but I ended up making $15 000 on them. Fifteen thousand dollars is real money, and I took that and built it into $40,000 the next day, and all of a sudden, I'm hot again, and I feel great.

If for some reason this process doesn't work initially, try it again by stopping longer and coming back to trading even smaller. The most important thing is to protect your trading capital until you can regain your equilibrium and put all the shadows of the losing streak behind you. Losing streak are an unfortunate part of the game, but if you are a good disciplined trader who can shift into neutral, the losing will end and black ink will start to flow again.

 

[7out]

Stick to your system, but do the opposite of what it tells you!

JK

Step back. Take a few months to clear your head and get back to some kind of baseline.

I keep several strategies but one I use, is to scalp 5 point from NQ (or 2 pts from ES) when condition gets triggered with a $400 stop loss.

The irony, out of frustration I did (the opposite) for 5 trades and was stopped out with a 5 point loss (NQ) within seconds each time (looking for the reverse 20 point gain vs 5 point loss). Then went back to my original strategy and immediately got hit with a 20 point loss.

Just seems like I'm on the wrong end of so many trades lately. Also frustrating that I'm running bad playing poker (all in expected win% vs actual).

I just feel cursed all of a sudden. expect to lose every time I trade. Obviously, I will take a week off of trading and just follow the markets - but when I have done that recently the strategies worked perfectly until I entered again and then I started having higher than normal stop loss hits.

 

[Overnight]

I keep several strategies but one I use, is to scalp 5 point from NQ (or 2 pts from ES) when condition gets triggered with a $400 stop loss.

The irony, out of frustration I did (the opposite) for 5 trades and was stopped out with a 5 point loss (NQ) within seconds each time (looking for the reverse 20 point gain vs 5 point loss). Then went back to my original strategy and immediately got hit with a 20 point loss.

Just seems like I'm on the wrong end of so many trades lately. Also frustrating that I'm running bad playing poker (all in expected win% vs actual).

I just feel cursed all of a sudden. expect to lose every time I trade. Obviously, I will take a week off of trading and just follow the markets - but when I have done that recently the strategies worked perfectly until I entered again and then I started having higher than normal stop loss hits.

It is not your strategy, per se, it is the market itself. Your strat seems to be revolving around a slow, lumbering, narrow range market, which has not been the case for quite a while now. You have to increase you stops and targets by 5x in order to ride the volatility wave. Otherwise you will be caught up in overtrading.

Does it make sense to have a 2 point ES stop when it can move 10 points in a few minutes at any given time of the session?

 

[mikeriley]

Does it make sense to have a 2 point ES stop when
it can move 10 points in a few minutes at any given time
of the session?

I like your question. Even in a slow grind market price
tends to rubber band back and forth at least 2 points.

In a drawdown, sometimes you just have to ride that beast,
or run from it.

 

[7out]

It is not your strategy, per se, it is the market itself. Your strat seems to be revolving around a slow, lumbering, narrow range market, which has not been the case for quite a while now. You have to increase you stops and targets by 5x in order to ride the volatility wave. Otherwise you will be caught up in overtrading.

Does it make sense to have a 2 point ES stop when it can move 10 points in a few minutes at any given time of the session?

The beauty of my trades was when conditions warranted it, I'd be in and out of the trade in mere seconds/split seconds with a $100 profit, volatility made it even more accurate (I enter my trades with a buy stop or sell stop above and below the market and exit via limit order 5 points farther).

 

[GotherL]

Just seems like I'm on the wrong end of so many trades lately. Also frustrating that I'm running bad playing poker (all in expected win% vs actual).

Your gonna get burned trying to scalp the indexes/etfs in this FUD market.

It moves in a way that is counterintuitive and builds a ton of stress and emotions which leads to tilt.

Swing/investing obviously not viable either.

Russian invasion and inflation fears to blame.

 

[murray t turtle]

I keep several strategies but one I use, is to scalp 5 point from NQ (or 2 pts from ES) when condition gets triggered with a $400 stop loss.

The irony, out of frustration I did (the opposite) for 5 trades and was stopped out with a 5 point loss (NQ) within seconds each time (looking for the reverse 20 point gain vs 5 point loss). Then went back to my original strategy and immediately got hit with a 20 point loss.

Just seems like I'm on the wrong end of so many trades lately. Also frustrating that I'm running bad playing poker (all in expected win% vs actual).

I just feel cursed all of a sudden. expect to lose every time I trade. Obviously, I will take a week off of trading and just follow the markets - but when I have done that recently the strategies worked perfectly until I entered again and then I started having higher than normal stop loss hits.

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THAT could work\planned deed\ ''do the opposite'' But sorry\ you did that\admitted ''opposite'' as a revenge trade or emotional trade.Both of those are the best way i know to lose money consistently.
MANY times feelings are wrongs but i figure + feel those 2 types of trades[revenge + emotional] are the best way to lose consistantly.
I never considered gambling for quarters in a pool hall related to trading @ all;
even though market sometimes pay$ attention to .25 + Fed may also pay attention to .25,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Monobrowtrading]

The beauty of my trades was when conditions warranted it, I'd be in and out of the trade in mere seconds/split seconds with a $100 profit, volatility made it even more accurate (I enter my trades with a buy stop or sell stop above and below the market and exit via limit order 5 points farther).

Are you a human HFT?