Able to trade small accounts successfully but fail when account size is large

Discussion in 'Psychology' started by addminuslast, Feb 23, 2022.

  1. I've traded a few small accounts successfully in the past, then I scale up into 5 figure accounts, which always turns bad.

    I know psychology is affecting me, for e.g. when I lose a few trades on large accounts, I would think what I could have bought or what if I just went out and didn't trade, I could have bought XXX or saved $X by doing so.

    However, after always losing my large account, i would take a break and come back trading a small account, and I am always successful.

    What advice could you give? Slowly scale up bit by bit instead of switching immediately?
     
    murray t turtle and zghorner like this.
  2. mikeriley

    mikeriley

    tomas262, damnpenguins, zdreg and 2 others like this.
  3. Excellent book with genuinely practical tips on how to identify and fix psychological issues. You will certainly find what you need in this book in my opinion.
     
  4. 1. In general you want to test your proposed strategies in sim.

    2. If you think you've got a winner, trade real money.. but small. As a minimum you could trade a 1-lot in the MES. This will be an important time. You'll feel the emotions of risk/reward and learn about yourself regarding coping with money pressure and discipline. Some of it is "learning the market". Some of it is also "learning yourself".

    3. When you've successfully "traded small", trade somewhat bigger for a while. Pay particular attention to how differently you feel and cope cope with risk/reward and discipline when the money is "more meaningful" to you.... compared to when you "traded small" or sim. Keep scaling up on the back of your prior success.

    I know you want to "get rich soon"... we all do/did. What's more likely is that it's going to be a longer time with more hurdles to overcome than you envisioned.

    You don't need to get rich "right away"... you DO need to learn to trade well. If you can get that down, the sky is the limit! :)
     
    aja, thedefaultone and nooby_mcnoob like this.
  5. Automate it.
     
    ET180 and rb7 like this.
  6. What % of ET'ers do you think are able to automate and do well?
     
    persistence likes this.
  7. Good point.

    Probably not many, but if it is the problem, then there's the solution.
     
    morganpbrown and rb7 like this.
  8. Automation might solve the problem of discipline...
     
    ET180 likes this.
  9. rb7

    rb7

    You need first to find why you are failing with a 5 figure account and not with a small account. Not sure what type of instrument you are trading, but for some, a 5 figure account is not considered as a big account.
    Some potential reasons why your results differ:
    - Psychological (fear of losing or other)
    - Discipline
    - System not scalable

    Only you will be able to do that exercise.
     
    Fonz likes this.
  10. maxinger

    maxinger

    you posted it in the correct forum

    your subconscious mind (which AUTOMATICALLY generate fear when you handle too large a position)
    is causing havoc.

    You cannot bash / smash your brain to fix it.

    so go and do mind exercise / cleansing / reprogramming (or-whatever-you-call-it)

    eg
    mindful meditation
    chakra
    tapping meridian points
    psycho-cybernectics
    pray (to diety or whatever)
    retreat in Tibet / Myanmar / Nepal / Thailand ... Buddhist temple
    (this was popular before the covid things)
    etc



    you have to try various mind things and see which suits you.



    ooooooohhhhhhmmmmmmm .....

    Amitabha / peace be with you or whatever
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2022
    #10     Feb 23, 2022
    mikeriley likes this.