Okay,,,, I am having a very good run for the last 5 trading sessions. It is a nice change after struggling and failing and picking myself up over and over for more or less the last 14 months. Been trading now for over 6 years. Here's what... it feels weird? Like "chill out, this won't last"... It is almost like this is it, this is what I have worked so hard for, but struggling and loosing is what I know. Does anyone have this issue? How to deal with it?
Just start every day as a new day. As impossible as it sounds, you have to totally forget what happened the previous day. Every day is day zero. This shit is way tougher than the Peace Corps.
Oh yeah ... like - I'm going to have to give it back sooner or later! The only way to deal with this, imho, is trade, trade, trade, until you gain enough confidence/stats to remove any doubt. Then you can say to yourself - yeah I'm in a slump, but I've been there before an I always get myself out. One needs to live/trade through all the emotions ... embrace them, be aware of them, don't fight them. They are there to make you better when the time comes. I think you will miss this time once you are consistently profitable! How weird would that be!?
Some day you may have an ephinany. That is, "I get it. I'm supposed to win... almost every day... and I understand why". The big deal is the "understanding why". Once you get that, you can just bag up the money and take it to the bank! Instead of it feeling "weird to win", it will feel "weird to lose". It's "all in the charts". Price TA... KISS, baby!
I've often said, "once you get it, trading the markets is like finding money in the street" (I know what that's like. Once while in college, I found $4 in a gutter... just "bend over and pick it up".) Trading the markets, you're SUPPOSED TO WIN! And the only way you don't is because either "you don't understand or becuause you screwed up"! But of course, you're likely to have multiple screw-ups as part of the learning process. Yeah, the market is trickey... it's like a puzzle... but it's solvable.
I had this feeling when I was winning for a few months... it did not end well. Don't get too cocky, keep your ego in check.
The psychology of trading: First you learn to be numbed to losing, then learn to be numbed to winning. I achieved the first but still get excited when I have a profitably trade.
Come back in 14 years and review your message posts...I'm sure this forum Elitetrader.com will be still around for you to do that. wrbtrader