Good thread! Just to give my two cents, the experienced trader who trained me years back realized I had talent and was good at trading but was letting my losers run. He had me go to the ATM machine one day, withdraw a few hundred and put it down in front of my trading station. He said every time a position goes against me and I close the position, take off the table whatever amount I am down and give it to him to hold for a month. This made me realize the real face value of money and how electronically your not thinking about it as much, but when it's taken away right in front of you cold hard cash...oh do you learn a thing or two.
What was the ***last*** thing you had to master before becoming profitable?
- Thread starter Kovacs
- Start date
After more than 3 years following earnings, I found that Earnings Report day (ER) is a pure gambling time. Too many times a good company with good earnings got its stock crushed and vice versa. Before every ER, I bet the news media have written two narratives, one praising version for up and one blaming version for down. Even if you guess right, you can still lose money. It is totally a money-sucking guessing game for traders.
On the second point, borrowed money will squeeze the time out of you. Time is the most precious asset in trading. With borrowed money (aka leverage) you will fear of getting margin-call or getting your options/contract expired. This is also how Forex brokers make most of their money. They force you to have a leverage, bet against you on the other side, and then force liquidate your asset on a dip.
If you want to stack, stack non-expiring assets like -good- stocks, provided you still have some cash in hand. Stacking expiring contracts or options is reckless.
One day I blew my account out. I puked hard then went to bed the nausea was horrible. I had been consistently profitable but when I ramped up the share/lot size I couldn't handle the losses which before I was able to take. I tried revenge trading and breakeven trading due to the increased size. Literally and figuratively it was my turning point. Since that day I scaled back, followed the rules and GRADUALLY started adding back size. The quip about the heart attack is true. If I had been older I probably would have died from a cardiac arrest.
True Dat.
master myself. when I realized the market is uncontrollable under my capibility. but I know the only thing I can control is myself. control myself is not an easy task. I wrote rules after rules, I still frequently broken them. for example,
my first rule is: loss not exceeds 2% of my account per trade, daily5%. but still occusaionally I stroke the luck after I broke the rule, put my loss to 10% daily sometimes.
gradually those pains added up, I started to be very strict on my self. to that point, I felt trading is not that kind of hard thing to do, profit after profit is not a dream.
when talking about selfcontrol, the most hard thing is control the emotion. when my stop loss was token out becuase of whipsaws, I get angry. when I lost, I want my money back,the revenge thing comes out. when I missed a good setup, I feel frustrated. when I couldnot get the market, nomatter what I do, buy high wrong, buy dip wrong, sell high wrong, sell low wrong, trade after trade, I feel I was defeated. when I get luck after luck, I feel I figured the market out, smart, I become brave, then stumpled on a naive mistake again.
my first rule is: loss not exceeds 2% of my account per trade, daily5%. but still occusaionally I stroke the luck after I broke the rule, put my loss to 10% daily sometimes.
gradually those pains added up, I started to be very strict on my self. to that point, I felt trading is not that kind of hard thing to do, profit after profit is not a dream.
when talking about selfcontrol, the most hard thing is control the emotion. when my stop loss was token out becuase of whipsaws, I get angry. when I lost, I want my money back,the revenge thing comes out. when I missed a good setup, I feel frustrated. when I couldnot get the market, nomatter what I do, buy high wrong, buy dip wrong, sell high wrong, sell low wrong, trade after trade, I feel I was defeated. when I get luck after luck, I feel I figured the market out, smart, I become brave, then stumpled on a naive mistake again.
Find consistency. Put together a modest string of positive days. Document everything in a journal in terms of what it took to yield those positive results. Your mindset, your charting, your profit targets, your stop-loss levels, your position sizing.
The worm will turn for you when you can turn your consistency into a systematic approach that replicates those results.
The worm will turn for you when you can turn your consistency into a systematic approach that replicates those results.
Bone: Find consistency. Put together a modest string of positive days. Document everything in a journal in terms of what it took to yield those positive results. Your mindset, your charting, your profit targets, your stop-loss levels, your position sizing.
The worm will turn for you when you can turn your consistency into a systematic approach that replicates those results.
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Excellent post. Unless you are very lucky, this is the only way that I know of anymore.
The worm will turn for you when you can turn your consistency into a systematic approach that replicates those results.
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Excellent post. Unless you are very lucky, this is the only way that I know of anymore.
I may have to find someone to set up a similar arrangement
The numbers on the screen may seem distant and far away at times, but it IS real money. Easy to forget that at times, especially when overtrading and racking up losers.Thanks.
mine was not to be too mechanical. for years I worked the numbers and set up strict rules and trading strategies that were only waste of time and money but all those years of staring at quotes and charts for thousands of hours gave me a feel for the market and its flow. my only rule is to not risk anything that would affect my lifestyle and to trade my own style and not get influenced my what others do
I was the contrary. when I started to trade, I donot have rules. did things based on my common sense. yes, I was making money, I toke risks that I cannot bear, but through patient waiting, I ended up with unexpected gains. but somehow, I realized why I need go through the pain first, or if the market did not come back long time I may suffer and waste lots of time in waiting and experience emotional frustration/suffering, if I did the right way, I can make that money while I am not suffering the paper loss and enjoy the ride.
so I started to write rules to myself, and ask myself to go with the market way, try hard to figure out how to go with the market . when I can dance with the market, not step on its toes, I find my emotions of "missing the opportunity" "revenge""try hard to wait out toB/E".... are gone. so my methods become very mechanical. just if then. I have standard answers for any trade I did. where to get in, what conditions to define an exit. my wife laughed at me about those answers. she thought there is no standard answers for a trade. but I showed her, she immediately realize my point and
truly thought that is the way to define a trade's standard answer.
every day, I feel I am doing an exam. after the market closing, I can use my standard answer to verify my trades whether they are correctly executed, so I can improve my next trading. a loss if correctly executed, I give it a right check mark. a gain if not correctly executed, for example, get out before my signal says so, it is marked as an incorrect trade, will get minus scores.
only live in a structured enviroment, I feel I can control myself and I am confortable, and I am able to do what I should do.
my consistent proft comes from that point.
so I started to write rules to myself, and ask myself to go with the market way, try hard to figure out how to go with the market . when I can dance with the market, not step on its toes, I find my emotions of "missing the opportunity" "revenge""try hard to wait out toB/E".... are gone. so my methods become very mechanical. just if then. I have standard answers for any trade I did. where to get in, what conditions to define an exit. my wife laughed at me about those answers. she thought there is no standard answers for a trade. but I showed her, she immediately realize my point and
truly thought that is the way to define a trade's standard answer.
every day, I feel I am doing an exam. after the market closing, I can use my standard answer to verify my trades whether they are correctly executed, so I can improve my next trading. a loss if correctly executed, I give it a right check mark. a gain if not correctly executed, for example, get out before my signal says so, it is marked as an incorrect trade, will get minus scores.
only live in a structured enviroment, I feel I can control myself and I am confortable, and I am able to do what I should do.
my consistent proft comes from that point.