i have recently started daytrading with real money. i have a particular system that provides consistent returns. however after a few successful trades, i sabotage myself by entering trades that did not fit the patterns and end up losing money at the end. how can i increase my concentration and reduce my stupidy. I had this thread in careers without realizing that this was the most appropriate location to post.
Either you decide to follow your rules, or you don't. Either you have discipline, or you don't. Once you find yourself drifting, either quit, or go outside and enjoy some fresh air.
what can i do to improve my concentration. any traders who had crossed such hurdles, pl share your experience and actoins taken to improve it.
It's not a concentration issue and may be part of a larger deficiency in your brain. Not joking around either, this is something people are afflicted with. For me, following my rules is very simple. I never get the impulse to go outside my trading plan but I know of several traders who have the very same issue you describe and they just cannot get past it. After 5+ yrs, they still self sabotage. You're going to have to work extra extra hard and talk yourself through each trade to make sure you dont subconsciously slip up.
You need to, as a trade is setting up, tell yourself (out loud even) what exactly you need to see to enter the trade. If you do not see it, you do not do anything. If you do see it, you tell yourself to get in. Do this for every setup as they come and go. The goal is to eventually train yourself to ONLY take the trades which meet the criteria of your method and rid yourself of the impulse trades that are detrimental.
try literally sitting on your hands. having to physically move your hands to the mouse may help you take a second to think about what you are about to do. just an idea.
It's got nothing to do with concentration buddy, your problem is 100% discipline. In actuality you're problem is that your impulse to get "action" is greater than your desire to make money. It's like the guy at the casino that makes the big score at the black jack table and ends up begging for money to take a cab home b/c for him it's more about the action than the money. By trading that way you will never make money. You have to honestly sit down and think about if this is you even though it sounds ridiculous. It doesn't matter how good your system, how smart or good you are or anything else. You're trading like a gambler and calling it a lack of concentration. I have know plenty of really talented guys like that and zero of them are still trading. Just like a gambler, they made every excuse about the odds, the setup, the moving averages as to why they didn't just take their great day and go home. But the only thing that mattered is how much they were up at the end of the day not in the middle of it.