This has probably appeared here a thousand and one times, but I am feeling so upset and frustrated at the moment, I wish to talk about it. I started trading 3 weeks ago; now my account is down 19%. It is not the losing that bothers me as much, since I perceive it as a necessary tuition fee. What really upsets me is the fact that I always make the same mistakes, again and again, without the ability to break from them. From the books by Mark Douglas, I know that in the end it is a trader's psychological ability that determines his success. Every day, before the markets open, I even try by telling myself repeatedly to be disciplined and stick to my plan. However, once I am in the environment, I just cannot control my emotions, and make all the mistakes again: - rush to enter into a position due to the fear of losing out; - when the price does not move immediately as expected, I begin to panic and close the position, before the stop is hit; - then the price begins to move in my original trade's direction; I blame myself for not sticking to the stop and mourn the profit I could have made, and miss the second opportunity to enter; - after that, the price takes off, and I just sit there, frozen, thinking of the mistake I made and the profit I missed, unable to enter when a new signal comes along. This process repeats, and I am so upset and frustrated with myself. How can I break all these bad habits and learn discipline? Or am I simply not cut out for trading???
1) What are you trading, you did not mention this. 2) You said you have only been trading 3 weeks. Give yourself 2 years before you decide whether or not you are cut out for trading. 3) Trading takes time to learn just like anything else. 4) Play as small as you possibly can over the next 6 months. Control Risk. 5) Backtest your strategies. 6) Do not get frustrated. 7) Be strong. 8) Understand that this is a tough business and there is possibility of losing everything unless you prepare properly. 9) Be patient. 10) Work hard at improving your methods and understanding the markets. The list goes on and on. But that's what came to mind off the top of my head. Your situation is nothing to cry home about believe me. ozzy
Maybe you you won't like what I'll say but anyway here it is. The stock market is no longer the market of 1, 3, 5, 10 years ago. If I were starting in this market today, well I wouldn't because most of the time it's chop, chop, full of fake moves and rarely any follow-through. Once in a while you get a ''trend'' day to keep a few people a little longer in the game. It's mostly computerized programs screwing with you all day. So, it makes it very hard and confusing for anyone new to ''learn'' this shit because of the trickery involved. Frankly, I'd run, not walk from this crap. Will there be a more ''normal'' market one day? I don't know but this is not the kind of markets conducive to attracting needed investors. Only gamblers aka ''daytraders'' and hedgefund assholes screwing each other and further enriching the brokers. Oh, and furthermore, the majority of wannabe's here will keep saying work on this, study that, practice the other. After all that bullshit and several years of hard work, the best that most can do is still BREAKEVEN! Then the forever hopefuls will come back with the line that it takes years to become a lawyer, doctor, etc. Yeah, but those people will be EARNING money from their vocation while the wannabe traders are still scratching their ass looking for the next ''trend''. As someone else said recently here, it's not your father's market and the ''opportunity'' does NOT merit the risk of your money or time.
You are risking way too much per trade if you can be down 19% in less than a month. Don't expect to lose money as tuition.
One funny thing I've noticed over the years has been the indexes/charts used by magazine editors/writers to get their latest crop of readers all excited in order to renew their subscriptions. For example, a few years ago trading rags used to put up charts of the S&P/e-mini and tell you to buy here/sell there. But that market got harder and harder and they could no longer continue their bullshit there so they moved on to show newer examples of how to trade but instead they used the Russell 2000 which was trendier then. That has also been less trendy as of late so they're obviously running out of trendy exciting stuff to show. So for the last TWO months consecutively, Active Trader has been showing charts of guess what? The Brazil Index! Unfortunately too many have also piled on and that index hasn't been too good lately. And so the search for more BS and more newbies to con continues.
good news; you are not alone but I have seen some traders made it pretty quick; one within 8 months and one within a year and half, there are some common traits that stand out, both are women so less ego, wanting to be right and both follow the trading rules religiously and paper trade and carefully keep detail of their paper trading and only take the leap after consistency making paper money. You need to find your styles sort of like finding your kung-fu master, if your leg is long maybe be you should concentrate on kicking school and then master your style only then show up for the real battle and remember who, he run away live to fight another day. There are plenty of styles in here may you find the one suite you best, good luck.
trade-ya, From your posts I believe you are a very experienced and fairly big trader (at least, compared to most on this board) with traders working for you, and you have access to many resources, info and trading systems. So I'm surprised to see your comment. What is your outlook for the market and what do you see as the biggest problems traders face these days. Thanks for any thoughts you may have. C