Anyone else besides me, when you've had a good week through Thursday, find it a little harder to pull the trigger on Fridays - especially in summer? I just don't want to give any of it back and have to think about that all weekend. But of course that limits the opportunities to only 4 days worth of trading profits in such cases. It's not that I'm not confident I have a good shot at doing ok on Friday, it's just that we all know risk is risk.
Its ALL in your head. If you have a working net/net profitable system, then it don't matter. Now, that is unless you look back and see that fridays in the summer are KILLING your overall results.
You took risk all through the week, and now you quit because its Friday??? You know there is also the chance that you double your weeks earnings on the Friday.
Good points gentlemen. It's all about the mindset for the weekend. That falls into the category of emotion-based trading decisions, which we know are not allowed.
I reduce my size, take fewer trades, and move stops to break even (something I dont do) after 5 on thursday. Fridays always end up screwing my week, I even stopped trading them after a while. Although, last night I made .5 ticks when the same trade earlier in the week would have netted at least 80, possibly 160. I feel retarded and those bastards nicked my stop EXACTLY. I think the stop to break even is emotional security and I have let the practice go except on fridays where I am afraid of giving it back. I dont have the stats, just remember giving back to mr. market ALOT on Fridays. There is a little fundamental difference I believe, due to other people (with longer timeframes) emotions going into the weekend. If you are taking only longs in an uptrend and the swing traders who have been long with you all week decide they are taking profits and tank it before the weekend, this fucks your strategy. This has clobbered me so many times I see no problem taking friday off. If you want to tell me "if my strategy is sound who cares?" I reply "if my strategy is sound the market will still be there on monday." If I am missing a statistical concept here I am open ears, but seems ok to me. Plus, hey, its a 3 day weekend. Who doesnt like that?
I have the same feeling, particularly at the month end or at week end or the last month in a year. I gained day in and day out, then at the month end, I become nevous, afraid to lose away my profit. in whatever way, this damn thing really hurts me. when I am cautious, that means i am feraful, in trading, if there is fear, most time as you know, end up with loss, " sheep get slaughtered, bull buy to make money, bear sell to make money". anyone has any idea how to conquer this "end" thing?
Strange, I did this exact thing this week (afraid to give back 4 days of profits) and could have doubled my profit for the week if I would have traded through today. Instead I called it quits yesterday and am kicking myself of course now. I always notice that if I am making a decision out of fear, chances are I am going to regret it. I keep proving this point correct . On to the weekend and no regrets! Next week my goal is to trade all 5 days!
Just look at the volatility, the YM today was nearly untradeable {for what I do} after 7am.. It was tradeable but it was a grind... I have three styles based on high, low and very low volatility, the lower the volatility the harder the work... About 8am today I decided to just do a four day week, you have from Thursday's close to Monday's open to do whatever... that extra day, on average should yield something in line with other days except for the lowered volatility so what's the point in struggling through a day that almost isn't worth it? If I was going to work Fridays I'd trade the first half hour and that's about it, there is always some gain but there are far better things to do sometimes...
Yes, it's called realizing that your "fear" in this case is complete crap. It's in your head. Like I said, unless you've dissected your trading and found fridays to be your worst days, then the fear in your head is unfounded and irrational. Possibly the reason you have bad fridays, if that is the case, is you are projecting that fear into bad trading. Stop thinking about stupid things and focus on your method.
You guys that did not trade today were just too damn smart. Today was crap. Granted I'm a newb and trading paper 50% but I made twice my goal Monday - Thursday in the futures. When you make your goal .. it is time to shut it down! This is not a day job where you gotta show up 5 days a week. If you make your weekly goal by MOnday noon .... then you are done for the week! Now if you make your goal on the first day for several weeks obviously your goal might be a bit low ... but maybe you're just damned good. Besides all this .. by Friday I'm mentally exhausted between my paper exploits, my real positions, webinars during the week and my day job. This is normal.