To break bad behaviors, what worked for me was keeping track of occurrences/actions. I keep track of 2 things... # of trades without "incidents" and # of days without "incidents". For me, an incident is basically taking a non-valid/random entry, jumping in impulsively, skipping a valid trade for no reason, or more generally, just deviating from my plan I found (for myself) that when I could resist acting impulsively for a streak of trades/days, the urge to do so would decrease. The more trades and days I go without screwing up my behavior, the stronger my discipline becomes. Sometimes I slip up, and just reset the counter back to zero. Relapses in behavior are normal, but, with enough effort, eventually a turning point in thinking/behavior comes.
The universe doesn't give a sh*t about you getting stopped out at the bottom. You are just another sucker. But go on, continue to feel sorry for yourself and continue burning your money. I could also tell you some logic behind the situation, but won't post here, only thru DM.
Every trade that stops me out gets me somewhat annoyed. But I also know of adverse behaviors like immediately reentering, or doubling up a position, or revenge trading to get the loss back makes things worse. so I let myself get pissed after a loser that I can’t control, but I do control myself from adverse behavior after the trade. You either are able to do this or u lose money.
How do you initally enter a trade? And by that I don't mean, whether using PA, Fibs, Oscillators, S/R breakouts, etc. What I mean is it in the direction or opposite price is currently moving. Most try to get a "bargain" by picking a bottom. I prefer to see price move in the direction I expect it to before entering. Such as taking out a previous swing high etc.
I believe pro traders have a quality of confidence and consistency in work. So when things do not go as per plan they don't go mad instead have mental stability and trade again.
use M,W,F weekly options as possible alternative to stops? https://www.cannontrading.com/tools/trading-weekly-mini-sp500-options-contracts
Thanks for sharing your method. Will try to not make random trade and see how many days I can keep it going.
Buying lowest low, swing high, or buying support on retracement, when enter i have stop below the next support level,
i found that the best way is to think you have booked your loss,.........that may seem negative but what causes emotion is uncertainty.. ..... so if it is certain that you have a losing trade you are not sad because the event is over so i put my stop and accept that is the loss i have booked..........then i am quite calm whatever the market does. also putting the stop means you do not have to predict the market exactly and you really save a lot of metal energy and second guessing ....... i am not sure if this makes sense to you. but i have felt a lot better about my trading after i started thinking like this. trading is not about being right or wrong......if you think you have to be right you are putting huge pressure on yourself and you end up over analyzing and fearful of being wrong. if you think ....ok i am risking this much to make this much......it removes the ego from the equation and you remove emotion..... because you are not getting reward for being right and not getting punished for being wrong. this why risk management not only saves your account....but it may also save you a lot of mental and psychological noise and agony which can sabotage your trading. of course you have to understand how the market moves and what it does generally.......but once you remove the stigma of being wrong.....then you see things a lot more clearly and you are less likely of being shaken out of the market at the worst possible time. a lot of people have asked me : you know so much and yet you make nothing at all. i was under the mistaken belief that getting knowledge about the market means you make money.......this is possibly the worst mistake......because you can never know the market or something or somebody perfectly. so if you go on that road like i have done for 13 years.....you will find that road does not end. you do need a lot of knowledge...do not get me wrong.....but do not over do it...and you will never know the market perfectly......