I've been getting out between .20-.30 which translates to $160-$240 on 800 shares. Most of the time that I stop out from capitulating and unfortunately, I get out within 5 cents of the top/bottom. If I held it, it usually retraces about .10. Last week I was doing well fading the SPY, but this week, volume has been steady during the morning and closing session with about 4-6k contracts/min on the ESM3. That develops a steady trend and makes it tough to pick reversals. Today I ended up down $105 when I traded 500 share lots on the SPY in the afternoon, after being up $150 trading 200 share lots from the morning. Today's swing for the fence didn't work out. DNAJ65000
Why not just do the 200 share lots all day? Extrapolating ... if you were up $150 in the morning ... continued to trade 200 in the PM another $150 in the afternoon wouldn't be all bad.
ive hasd the same problem lately too, i wa salways taught when you are doing well, step on the gas, but lately wheever i add size i do poorly so..... i stopped im a big believer in just doing what works, no majic formulas like only add 1/5th and only lose 20% of this or risk 2% of that blah blah blah.... KISS if its workin gkeep doing it, if it isnt working stop doing it, if soemthing changes figure out what youare doing differently and stop, etc... thats what works for me anyway
If you are altering your risk exposure intraday based on the sucess of one or two good trades, then you clearly do not have a defined and quantifiable risk strategy in place and will most likely end up losing more than you will win. I used to do this, and it nearly sent me to wall. You're better doing the opposite, when you have a big win, understand that mentally you are exposed to "gambling" with it, and be a little more conservative. Runningbear
" You can pay for knowledge once, or you can pay for ignorance over a lifetime" Nice tagline you have, reread your post, learn from the mistake as suggested and take the lesson. As Nihaba pointed out on another thread there's no lesson better than looking at printed charts with your trades marked on them. Banjo
If you have a problem playing with sizes. All i can suggest is to focus on the the $0,10 - $0,25 that you are making, instead of the dollar amount that you are up/down. This will put you back in perspective, and you should be able to trade the same way you do with small lots. (but i never advocate home runs) - - just look at my quote below. Good luck.
Try increasing your size in smaller increments, say 25 or 50 share increases at a time, and gradually work your way up to the larger size. It sounds like the 500 - 800 shares you're trying to trade is beyond your risk tolerance and confidence level right now, and you're getting shaken out of your trades. I'm going through something similar, but I guess it's all relative, because I had to go back to trading really small (like 20 or 30 shares). Right now, 100 shares is "size" for me. ...Just trying to get back to basics and focus on the trade rather than the money, until I can figure this thing out.
Are you saying... your profitable in the morning but have lately been getting losses in the afternoon session? If so...sounds like you should either not trade the afternoon or reduce your size if your going to trade the afternoon. If your psychologically not prepared to trade a bigger size...you could be subconsciously trading differently with a larger size than with a smaller size... doing something differently with your trading plan. NihabaAshi
I think its very important for beginning traders to stop when they have a gain and call it a day. Booking winning days is very important for both the confidence and mentality of a trader. It can be absolutely devastating to go from a positive day to a negative loss. For the longest time I always quit for the day whenever I had a very strong gain. This was because I knew that if I stayed I would be very tempted to press my luck which would almost always incur losses. Those large gains made me overconfident and take bad trades. But now as I keep getting a better handle on my own psyche I will continue trading regardless of my p/l if I see opportunities in the day. You are most likely trading at your best during these large positive p/l days and as long as you can maintain your perspective and not start making bad decisions (which is much harder to do than it sounds) you can continue trading.