How can I stop being perfect!

Discussion in 'Psychology' started by bat1, Apr 13, 2012.

  1. Handle123

    Handle123

    You have become scared of losing what you have made, I did this long ago too. Becoming too rigid when trading emotions, price action, flows, it is not concrete. I never buy/sell on whole numbers, I give up a tick so I can get filled, reverse or protective stops. If my target is 2.00 points and I see market hitting it several times and I can't get filled, I might lose 2 ticks, big deal, but to lose more than that hurts the mental outlook too much for me. I had to learn to accept what the market allows.
     
    #11     Apr 14, 2012
  2. Average it.

    - Divide your qty by 5.

    - Layer 'em at 5.98, 6.00, 6.02, 6.04, 6.06 ..
     
    #12     Apr 14, 2012
  3. lwlee

    lwlee

    I was gonna suggest the same thing. By dipping your toe in, you are at least in the trade. And when it goes your way, you can start adding more.

     
    #13     Apr 14, 2012
  4. Yeah .. We could get fancy, and talk about the top layers being thinner .. but one step at a time eh? :)
     
    #14     Apr 14, 2012
  5. RobertG

    RobertG

    Change NOTHING! you make money and above average, so what is the problem? This is exactly how traders screw up, with "perfecting" a system.

    Ask yourself this: What are the odds of always getting what you want, whether entry or exit consistently all the time? If your technical said 6.00, then it's 6.00 and that is what you stick with.

    Most traders suffer from the "too early" syndrome.

    RG
     
    #15     Apr 14, 2012
  6. Scale in/out.
     
    #16     Apr 14, 2012
  7. I'd almost bet that the next post is about flat txn costs.
     
    #17     Apr 14, 2012
  8. =============
    Mr. bat-trend
    As Atticus/shephard says''average in, average out''

    There is some risk in this sentence, but with years of study & liquid stocks,[Like MSFT...] liquid NYSE stocks ,simply use a market order for exit.Especially with a $5/$6 stock that ran up that %% in a day. I like reasonable limit order s for entry.

    No thats not greed;
    thats pennywise & pound foolish.

    Congrats on the 300% advance;
    unless you did that in 2 years or under 2 years, that would mean a risk level that almost is a ceratain prediction of failure.That is not a prediction, simply a very, very high probability.:cool:
     
    #18     Apr 18, 2012
  9. being perfect is no wrong here.

    do not try to correct it.

    it is an edge. being perfect keeps you away from whim based trading or gambling.


    I will suggest you keep doing that.

    of course you will miss lots of opportunity.

    I think your being perfect in the way is wrong.

    for example, if you want to do long, then a perfect thing is: find a setup, put your stop buy there with a planned stop loss, I do not think picking a perfect bottom /top is being perfect.
     
    #19     Apr 18, 2012
  10. @bat1

    Regarding perfection. Getting the perfect fill for 100 shares and getting the perfect fill for 200,000 shares are totally different matters. The first requires knowing when to pull the trigger... the later requires a strategy for accumulating or distributing the stock through a period of time executing at many different prices through the use of different flavours of WAP algos, darkpools, etc...

    So, in order to rid yourself of attempts to perfection, put yourself on the large player's shoes. execute your orders at different prices in small blocks... buying around a certain price range and selling around a price range, not at a specific and "perfect" price... cause at the end of the day if your order sitting at the perfect price doesn't get filled, then it isn't really perfect...

    :)
     
    #20     Apr 18, 2012