Bad habits and good habits

Discussion in 'Psychology' started by peilthetraveler, Oct 1, 2008.

  1. So I finally developed some good habits that make me money.

    The good habits

    1. Not overleveraging myself
    2. Going with the trend

    The bad habits

    1. exiting a trade too early
    2. Always wanting to be in a trade which forces my mind to try to find patterns where there are none (this one I only do when i've made alot of money early in the day, which coincidently, wipes out my profits for that same day pretty quick.)
    3. Thinking i need to be in and out of a trade in the same day or as early as possible(this one only comes up when i have made alot of money in a quick amount of time which makes me think i need to keep trading like that...sort of like when you get off the freeway doing 80 mph and then you are on a 25 mph road...its hard to not do 40 or faster on that road)

    The "I dont know" habit.

    1. I dont use stops. I hear so many traders say to use stops, but whenever i use them, they get hit and I have found they hurt me more than help me when my trade spikes. I dont know...maybe my stop losses are just too close.

    I know if I break those habit #2 and #3 my win rate will really go up. Right now I pick about 65% winners vs 35% losers. My winners are only very slightly higher than my losers about 1.075 to 1 which will also go up if I break bad habit #1...but on the other hand, bad habit #1 has saved me before too. For instance yesterday, when i thought I was riding a trend, but I got out early because I was too tired to keep watching. Turned out I got out at just the right time as thats where it reversed. But then this morning, i got out too early and if i wouldve stayed in my profits would have been 3 fold for that trade so when you see stuff like that, it just makes it harder to break the habit.

    What are your guys bad habits/good habits?
     
  2. my good habits:

    1. go against the market, market up, I short; market down, I long. this habit is very useful in the current bear market.
    2. act fast in taking profit

    my bad habits:
    1. when my daily logged profit target hits, I starts to be a sheep, I become too nervous, and i am afraid I will lose.even an alomst 100% guranteeed trade is there, i hesistate
    2. when I lose, I start to do revenge trading even i know I am wrong totallt ignoring technical signals and fundamental reasons, I rember those losers. like yesterday GGP is sinking in very strong trend, I lost my first trade, I can not short it becuase of the ban, I removed it, then very oddly I feel GGP owed me, I put it back to my screen, keep thinking how to get my money back, tried several times, but most failed, I lost more. even i get a blackname list. damn it!