IMHO trading is about probabilities, so if you are up early and all your trades are working beautifully, then it is just a matter of time before you have a loser. So you should consider stop trading while you are up (at or near your goal), because having a big loser late in the day is sometimes difficult to make up (you can run out of time or worst revenge/overtrade).
K-rock, I agree. One primary peice of advice that keeps comming up day after day is the need to STOP trading once I reach my goal for the day.... I seem to do very well in the morning most days then struggle all afternoon... I think if I reach my goal by the time the morning sesion is over I really should consider stopping for the day.
I think this has more to do with psychology than anything else. I always seem to be finished trading for the day before 11:00 ET. I think your mind is more fresh in the morning and the days stress hasn't built up yet. It is easier to make sound decisions like this.
Recently I toyed with the idea of modifying my 2 pt. net daily goal to a 40 pt. net monthly goal, so I could adjust my daily goal accordingly after a losing day (go for more points per contract), to make up losses during the month, but the psychological impact prove to be too much. My trading became too aggressive and I found myself overtrading to meet this higher goal. After trying it out for three days I had enough. I know now for certain it is easier for me, psychologically, to trade more contracts than to trade for more points per contract.
That is how it was for me to. I still like just doing one trade with more contracts per day. It is so much easier on my mind. But then again there are guys that like the idea of trading less contracts and more trades. I always thought that the more times I jack with it the more likely I was to mess it up. Trade once with a fresh mind where I know exactly when to enter and exit and be done for the day. This might have been easier for me just due to the fact I could leave my computer and go out and do work instead of sitting there watching a screen all day. I know I would have been trying to keep trying to trade like everybody else. 4re
It took me over 6 years to get were I am, remember " it's always to soon to quit" "anything worthwhile is never easy" Learning to trade is the hardest thing you will ever attempt to do.
Since I went back to my 2 pt. net daily goal my trading has improved and my stress level has gone down tremendously (generally done by noon versus trading all day).