"I'm getting close to my daytrader dream I had over a decade ago... This is after thousands and thousands of hours of heartaches, losses, account blowups, profits, swings, ups and downs of all sorts. It's been the longest journey of my life!" Great to hear that.
Missed the morning session, scalped a few trades here and there. Following a uptrend is supposed to be the easiest way of trading, that's what the chart has been telling me at least. But my brain just doesn't believe it can keep going up, and forces me to fade it. Just my thought on bullish markets, not specifically today. 90% of my huge losses were caused by fading a bullish market, for a while I was dedicated to catch a strong bullish day, but never made it even once. P&L: +27 Current balance: 312
Hurricane, You're still alive...bravo. Yeah, you need to deal with your thoughts about counter-trend trading when you know its a trend. I use to joke and say have someone with you while your trading...the person has one job only to whack you on the head before you do something stupid. Note - Do not hire your kids to do this. wrbtrader
I have already hit my loss limit. I was in the gambling mode and couldn't help fading the up trend. Something is seriously wrong with me, I don't want to trade any more. P&L: -35 Current balance: 277
I asked before if you would share your set up. It all starts with your plan. You either don't have one, or you have a poor and incomplete one, or you have a great plan with a negative edge. If your set ups have a house edge like keno, you can have the best trading plan in the world - you are going to go broke quickly. What is your set up? What defines the if and when you take a trade?
I trade channels, I don't know if it's qualified as a plan. The thing is that I can't get rid of intuitive trades. I'm supposed to wait for a reliable channel, but I can enter a gambling mode very easily: This one might work. I don't think it can make a new high.
Channels can absolutely provide a solid plan. You may or may not have a comprehensive plan. Regardless, it sounds as though you lack the patience and discipline to trade a plan. You are looking for something other than profits. You are looking for action. Also, no matter how long you have been trading you have yet to shed the bias nearly all beginning traders have to bet on every reversal. 80% of reversal attempts fail. That is why the other day I suggested you adopt a with trend approach rather than a counter trend approach. You responded that you prefer low risk of counter trend. I mean no disrespect or insult when I say that that is the beginner's mentality: small risk for potential big reward. Ask yourself, if you have a small risk and a high potential reward, what must the institution or trader on the other side of the trade have? They have a larger risk a smaller reward. So what pays them to take the trade? What incentive do they have to allow you the possibility of a large reward with a relatively small risk? The answer is probability. They have a 60% or better chance of making at least one times their risk in profit while you have a 60% chance or more of losing your bet (the entire amount risked). You will only come to find yourself on the right side of the equity curve when you start to take higher probability trades funded with the proper stop loss. You will need to cure yourself of ever thinking all these "reversals" will work and remind yourself that on an intraday chart 80% of reversal attempts fail. During a trend, they all fail. Are you using charts? If so, may I ask what particular bar interval you are using, e.g. 5 minute, 1500 tick, etc.?
Thanks, @NQurious. Your post makes a lot of sense, and I completely agree with you. I used to trade 1m and 5m charts, but switched to 2000 tick chart recently. I will work on two demons: 1. Can't help fading an uptrend. 2. Impulse trades.
Almost hit my daily loss limit with the first 3 losing trades in a row. The later I start trading the better. I will not trade outside the RTH from now on. Total 15 (14?) trades P&L: +47 Current balance: 324
Talk to @trader99. He used to trade just like you. No more, he has been printing money for a while after he changed.