been trading for a few months now going into the 1:00 hour today i was up several hundred bucks shorting the ym. right around then the ym took a dump to around 12,4 (i missed it but that was ok) at that point i said to myself that it didnt seem fair that it would fall that far that fast. seems like the nice thing to do would be for it to come back up and finish the day down, maybe, .5% 8 longs later im done for the day with a loss note to self....ignore your feelings the, market doesnt care. it just wants my $
Just look at the loss as a lesson you paid for. Never take a loss without gaining something in return. Paying for lessons now, hopefully in small amounts, will pay (you) dividends later.
You are very insightful to have learned this lesson so early in your trading career. I like how you phrased it, too, that feelings are expensive. Makes very good sense. opm8
As the opening post shows, it is amazing that people, amateurs, just come into the markets and start jacking around punting. Then there is a cry of pain when it hurts - financially that is with losses. Making money in the market for an indiviual player is a dedicated art. It can only be practiced successfully by a player using skills, expertise and knowledge which takes considerable time and patience to acquire via preparation, research and study even before implementation through trading drills using a complete and very reliable methodology. Way to go - takes effort and time.
I learned that lesson when I first started. I keep it simple. I just look at the trend if there is one and stick to it. I know it sounds simple but it works for me and others I know. Good luck to you.
I have been leaning the markets and trading part-time. After about 60k real money loss I realized that listening to my feelings sucks. I even started paper trading and was loosing on it too. Wtf was wrong! I could not really understand my problem. Well, now I know, it is my "ego" and the feeling of being wrong ... Since then, I have been learning that taking small losses (I used to hope for a comeback) is much better than hoping. I know, I have listened to this saying but never "actually" listened. It is true. I started a blog last week and have been paper day trading SSO (http://ssotrading.blogspot.com/). Ignoring my ego has been much better now and I been able to pick the right trades. Do not ride your loosers, cut them short. Instead, ride your winners. You'll become more relaxed when the market goes against you, and you are NOT riding a looser.
i think my problem was just over thinking the whole situation and expecting that the markets should be "reasonable". i felt that it didnt make sense for the dow to be down 2% and the nq be down 3% i read in some book that when you enter a trade you should realize that anything can happen. i probably should have applied that to a bigger time frame (afternoon/day) thanks for the feedback
Only one trade was necessary on Friday: a short position. And your analysis was quite correct initially but you started to doubt yourself. Possibly because the the smaller time frames told you that something is about to happen, right? If you find yourself trading every swing up or down thinking that this must be the decisive turning point, my advice to you is to concentrate on the bigger picture. But how can you focus on the bigger picture if you see every move as a threat against your position? Well, close the smaller time frames and switch to the 15 minute chart to turn off all the noises. The 15 minute chart helps you to clearly see the bigger picture and additionally the activity of the previous trading sessions. Nothing below 15 minute is allowed and see how it works out for you. I'm very sure that this will be a significant step forward. The 1 minute or tick chart is a distraction for many traders (mostly scalpers) hoping to be the first participant if something significant is about to happen. It seldom does. You see patterns that are not important to a trend trader and make decisions that puts you in doubt again right after entry. Therefore my emphasis to you is turn off all those unnecessary and distracting noises. Hopefully your feelings and doubts will disappear.
That's pretty easy to say à posteriori, I mean, the futures were trending positive until the GE PW and outlook cut... What's the trade necessary for Monday?