ahhh. your rules already have you disconnected with the market. the integrity of the rules and setup dictate your entry and exit, not the number of trades. i would suggest you look at no more than 100 bars on any time frame and create a 20 bar setup inside those 100 bars. look at only 1 time frame rather than toggle to others. what are you trading? stocks or futures? an example of managing your trade is" either way. specificy an entry, exit and target before entering. when price moves up 2X your stop move to break even. then at 5X risk Exit. That's it. no emotion. be ok with the Break even or the loss because 5X risk will make up for it. if your setup has a 30% win rate, you'll still make money. (if $200 is your stop, then move stop to break even when trade is up $400 and move stop up to plus $200 when up $800 and exit at $1000) as price moves around feel the emotions and notice them. just stay true to the trade management. eventually the fear of loss will break away and the dope will subside. you are not your thoughts, be an observer of the thoughts, yet stay true to the management of the trade and enter the trade no matter if you think it will work or not if it meets your setup rules. the trades you dont think will work, could work and ones you think will work, could not. its not about if you think it will work or not. hope this helps.
Thanks guys all good answers… so risk management, discipline, save more money, and be ok with the scratches is what I got here. I’ll work on it.
Excellent advice, OP should pay attention. OP, in case you didn't know, I failed day trading a decade ago, dabbled a few times since without success and finally, at the beginning of 2023, decided to take a systematic approach, started with a clean sheet, just like a new day trader, as my final stab at it. I first developed a method, then a process, then backtested for a few months, then real time paper traded for three months and finally went live with small size (~$1K) three weeks ago. If everything goes as plan, in two months, I will start scaling up. Will I succeed? According to statistics, I have a 1% chance.
i respectfully disagree. a trade setup has an entry a stop and a trade management process with an ultimate target. your stop is your trade exit, not a "feeling".
saving money? no. its about risk as a % of your account and the multiple you target to make. ie. Tudor Jones requires at least 5X return for every trade he takes. its not about if the trade works or not, its about taking the setup and adhering to your rules. you must remove the fear of loss from your brain, otherwise you cannot see the market for what it is and you will be trading from weakness and emotion and creating all kinds of needs for certainty to be met to cope with the fear or loss.
You sound like someone with a background in automated trading? I'm a full discretionary trader,mostly swing trades and if I gave a trade a chance to work but the stock is just dicking me around I wont wait around for it to hit my stop I'll just close the trade. To each his own.