When I'm on, I'm on I feel like I can't miss a trade. I scalp trade using level II so there are many emotions. When I'm cold I get really cold and have a tendency to revenge trade, try to hit the home run to make back all my losses. I have trading rules in place but always seem to break them. I've even implemented shocking myself with a zap pen everytime I broke a rule. I would continue to break rules. I kept a journal. Still I would break rules. Does anybody have any advice they can offer me?
Get the book Mastering the trade by John Carter. His section on the business plan really help me. Also the daily profit and drawdown target are a must, all nicely explain in the same chapter.
I have said this here a dozen times and I will say it again. Two things will happen to you over the course of the learning curve. 1 - you will get sick and tired of breaking your rules and adjust 2 - you will blow out Thats all there is too it. Are you a disciplined professional(in training) that grinds out his lumps and gains with minimal emotion? Or are you some douchebag degenerate thats pulling the lever and feeding the machine? Sorry to say, but you using the term "on tilt" has me leaning towards 2. But please, feel free to prove me wrong!
No offense, but you are probably a degenerate gambler. Therefore, you should quit and seek help. You will more then likely eventually blow out.
No offense taken. I appreciate the honesty. The thing is that I have been able to make a merger living out of trading. I'll be going along fine and then, WHAM I'll have one day where I lose it and give up my entire month.
I was just about to start this thread. I HAVE 8K short shares of a thin piece of shit stock and my out is in jeapordy. I see it is going so I press market buy. NOTHING HAPPENS. MARKET BUY. MARKET BUY. LIMIT BUY. I send a gazillion orders. NOTHING. I CANNOT BOOK THE $400 loss. Miraculously 15 cents later my orders start working again. So iI get out of the position and book my 27 cent loss. Suddenly my day that was 15 minutes ago +$2000 is -600. i GET SO ANGRY That I start whaling into and out of stock AND IN 15 MINUTES DROP ANOTHER 1200. so now I Just blew 3800! My stress is so high I want to break shit. ARGAGHAGLKJHS;LDFHGSFD JKLDFKLJGFSDFKSJDFHKSDHDF MAKING THAT MONEY WAS SO EASY GAMBLING THAT LAST 1200 AWAY WAS EVEN EASIER WATCHING MY ORDERS GET REJECTED FOR NO FUCKING REASON I CANNOT DEAL WITH psychologically. It throws me off. two steps forward one step back. These markets are so easy there is so much free money out there, but FUCKING CONTROLLING THE EMOTIONS WHEN YOU GET ROBBED is a sill I have not mastered. Holy shit, it is so easy to go on tilt. FUCK FUCK FUCK
To all the people offering negative advice to the OP, you may think you are high and mighty but the real traders read your post and know that you do not actually trade. If you did, you wouldn't pompously pretend to be above human emotion. To the original poster, I have suffered the same issues since I first started trading. It is very difficult. What helps me is staying objective, and doing my best to focus only on setups where I won't have an asshole cancel all the bids on me and make me want to hold knowing it's a shakeout. I try to find setups where I can be the first to take the liquidity that's my out, so I'm always out early, but it works... I might be right 8/10 times but only make money 5 out of 10 because on 3 of the 10 I get out too early into an obvious shakeout but not letting the losers get away keeps me from going on tilt. Most likely, certain situations and setups lead you to your losses. I've been going on tilt when I'm leaning on my out, it goes slowly, so after covering I get back in, then the rest of the out (the last 30%) goes instantly and I freeze instead of paying the wide spread and then it goes against me. I try to avoid these situations. You will always have the gambler inside of you. It is because you are human. You have to compensate by choosing setups that don't allow you to gamble, you have to compensate by being extra skilled at reading the market. You have to always learn the same lesson over and over. I feel like such a piece of shit right now, venting on this thread is helping me, but I am no different mentally than I was as a rookie trader. The only difference is I'm good enough now that 4/5 days I can avoid letting these emotions overrun me to the point of disaster, and on the 5th day I try to cut my losses between $500-1000. When I have a blowup day and my emotions get out of hand I take a day off, afterwards, that helps. Some people/traders might say the tough man's mentality is to stay and fight the next day, if that works for you great but for me I get too angry. Taking a day off to cool off humbles me and brings me back fresh. Ignore the negative dickheads who can't trade themselves and want to bring everybody who has some talent down.
98% of traders who are profitable disciplined professionals at least several times per year become a douchebag degenerate gambler pulling the lever and feeding the machine. I've only met one trader who never suffers that problem - this guy is an absolute piller of good discipline - I trade with him every day. Last week, he had 1500 shares 15 cents out of the money because he froze fro a second... he was supposed to hit out for a 6 cent loss. For about 10 seconds, he was in deer in headlights syndrome. That is the only time I can recall in 8 months him being a degenerate gambler - every other instance he always markets out no matter how nasty the slippage. Even the most disciplined guy has it in him. AND, that one guy, the pillar of good discipline, he makes less money than me because the same part of him that makes him so disciplined keeps him from sizing up appropriately and being aggressive enough. Keep going back. Don't quit the game. Every time you blow your month up and build it back, and say "back to square one," it builds your character as not only a trader but as a man.