Does anyone hide or not look at their P&L during the trading day? I've been finding that it is beneficial for me not to look at the day's P&L as it prevents me from over-trading or over-adjusting. If one's process/mechanics are sound, the P&L should take care of itself. I'm curious to hear the experiences of others using this practice.
I am of two minds. 1. Hide it. Don't worry about being up for the day or down for the day, as that shouldn't impact your next trade. For trading psychology purposes, it'd be best to never know. For risk management purposes, you should keep track of it. 2. Don't hide it. You can't get over it psychologically if you avoid it. An exercise in analyzing your own psychology. After all, the end goal here is to make money. But we shouldn't let making money affect our judgment.
Yea, I don't look at my P/L until the trade is exited. I already have the profit target and exit orders in - This keeps me from messing up a perfectly good trade.
I agree, don't 'hide' or escape from anything -- be fully aware it's there and confront it...psychologically, physically, mentally, spiritually
I'm not hiding from anything. I see P/L as an output from one's setups--not an input. Decision inputs should be chart patterns, market indicators and portfolio Greeks that are completely independent to P/L. The market doesn't care if you're up money or not. Maybe I'll put the question another way. What purpose does looking at P/L serve?
Real novice traders stare at their P/L all day (neurotic) but usually do not record or analyze their trading performance, they are often in real denial about their mounting losses. Pros typically do not look at a streaming P/L, they record and review their trades, and know at any time exactly were they stand. A trader in Japan (CSI), made 35 million last fall in 2 days shorting the Nikkei. He attributes his success to not looking at the P/L until he has first exited so as to keep the emotions from running his trades.
Hiding is not the best idea but if it helps you to cope with your emotions, go on. I personally always look on the p&l as I need to have the whole situation under control I agree with the post about your own demons that is written above
Hiding is not the best idea but if it helps you to cope with your emotions, go on __________________________________________________________________________ Nearly every novice loves being glued to the P/L window - they did not plan the trade before entering, instead they fixate on the P/L window - riding the emotional roller coaster tick to tick of hope, fear, greed. This crowd is in casino mode and rarely lasts very long. The pro has the trade planned out before entering, they keep an eye on the charts and adjust stops. Letting you P/L run a trade is not control, but everyone starts out thinking like you do - been there done that.
I've found that the less I look at my P/L, the more I can focus on my trades, which helps my P/L. My main trading screen shows my main watch lists, graphs of what I'm trading, and an order ticket that skews what I'm allowed to trade with since it's a margin account. After a trade, I journal the results and update my equity curve - watching an account balance go up and down is a distraction. Took me five years to be able to write this...