Hello, I have just made a stupid error entering an order this morning and I am really pissed. It didn't cost me much but it's really frequent in my trading... I estimate it cost me 10 % of my performance annually, not kidding... Thanks god I'm mostly automated and it reduces the number of occurences.. I think I've made every possible error ranging from forgetting rollover day, a zero in the limit, trading wrong contract, let my platform run on holiday 2 hour trading... One of the best being the day I was trading with the book and bought at ask instead of joining it... Now I try to concentrate more but I still make errors. These things really make me angry... I don't mind losing because of my strategies but I can't bear stupid errors. Have you got experiences, methods... to work on it? Thanks.
the best way to avoid mistakes is to try them all. the more money you lose on each mistake the more likely it is that it is not going to happen again. after 10 years of trading you will look at all your errors with a smile and as a necessary part of your education. Not with anger. And don't worry, you will still be making new mistakes - we are not machines after all. The most important thing when doing a mistake is to fix the problem as soon as you realize it, i.e. take a loss if there is any. The biggest mistake of all is to wait for the mistake to bring you back at breakeven on the trade. That's at least my experience.
Well, those are rookie mistakes that should vanish after a few hundred trades under your belt. It sounds like you aren't a newbie and yet you continue to make those mistakes. One answer I can think of: LACK OF FOCUS. Perhaps you are too emotional and that blurs your mind, forcing you to make silly mistakes. Usually when I hit the buy button instead of the sell button, I close the trade immediately and take a long break and re-focus myself. Keystroke errors are unacceptable and 10% of your performance suffering from it is way too much. A temporary solution would be to set up your trading platform so that you always get a pop-up confirmation window before executing any trade. I know it slows down the order process, but it trims down your mistakes. Cheers.
Thanks for your replies, Yes, it seems like I lack focus when I trade manually especially in situation I rarely face. I make no errors in trades I'm used to place every day. Nothing to do with emotion, I barely feel something when trading since even when I trade manually, I'm just a robot with precise setups. It's just lack of focus in uncommon situations. I'm also making errors in automated trading and that's what cost me the most. Like rolling over manually and then forget to change the instruments in the automated strategy... I really have to work on it.
Just sounds to me like you are not concentrating. Simple as that, I mean we all make the odd mistake but it sounds like yours are non stop. Think about what you're doing. Maybe one day when you lose some REAL BIG money you might learn from it.
No, they are not non stop ( 1-2 per month on average ) and I make about 20 trades per day... but those I make costs me a lot since I'm not professional and let my platform run on its own most of the time.Sometimes I cannot simplt offset since I'm not here.