Great point .. I've set a $200/week goal on a $6000 account, trading 1 contract. Its do-able and fun.
I think he stops because he knows that the race is over and he'll look awfully silly if he keeps on going.
i tend to agree with the goal ,200/500 -what ever , time after time being up fast ive lost the respect for the money- pushed it lost it + some more, then go into work for 8 hrs to make a small fraction of it and suffer all the indignities of agrivations envolved wth working with the public- dreaming once again of a way out . Maybe chopping losses and taking smaller targets with disipline could make it possible.
It sounds like what you are saying is that your trades are luck and that if you keep pushing that luck, you eventually lose it all and then some. If this is true, I agree with stopping. But, when you have an edge that's proven to work, it makes NO SENSE to stop after hitting some arbitrary daily P&L target. If that edge shows up again during the day, you take the trade, regardless. You don't start swinging for the fences (just because you have a cushion) nor should you stop trading. Keep trading when you get trade setups and sit on your hands when you don't.