HOw to be okay with leaving profits on table

Discussion in 'Options' started by Jdesey, Mar 18, 2025.

  1. christhesquid

    christhesquid

    Don't quit your day job.
     
    #11     Mar 18, 2025
    HawaiianIceberg likes this.
  2. maxinger

    maxinger

    upload_2025-3-19_7-1-13.jpeg
     
    #12     Mar 18, 2025
    MarkBrown likes this.
  3. Handle123

    Handle123

    Eyes lie, they pick out the huge profitable trades that happen 5% of the wins and don't see the other 95% winning trades that made consistent profits.

    If you are trading multiples, leave one to try for homerun but most of the time smaller profit trades are the "bread & butter".
     
    #13     Mar 18, 2025
    aja, Adam777, MarkBrown and 1 other person like this.
  4. S2007S

    S2007S


    Happened to me today on 2 trades
     
    #14     Mar 18, 2025
  5. Peter8519

    Peter8519

    No stock runs forever. None. Jack Welch could brag about GE and yet it came back down to earth. The only thing that can be held long term is S&P 500 ETF.
     
    #15     Mar 19, 2025
  6. Businessman

    Businessman

    Eliminate all emotions from trading.

    Would a computer running a trading algo be upset if it left money on the table on a trade. Ofcourse not, a computer does not feel emotions..

    Most humans are emotional snowflakes.

    We need to trade with rock solid discipline and no emotions. This includes after a trade has been closed out. Not just during a trade.

    Easier said than done :D
     
    #16     Mar 19, 2025
    themickey likes this.
  7. newwurldmn

    newwurldmn

    I read a research article that once stated the best descretionary traders had an emotional connection to their pnl. They took losses personally. And they took wins higher than any cocaine binge.
     
    #17     Mar 19, 2025
    HawaiianIceberg likes this.
  8. Handle123

    Handle123

    I think it better to think of it as percentages than money. With automation taking quite a few trades, after awhile you become numb to the numbers, so long as accounts doing better than a year ago, all that matters.
     
    #18     Mar 19, 2025
    HawaiianIceberg likes this.
  9. danielc1

    danielc1

    The thought "Leaving money on the table" is a confirmation bais problem. You are conforming to yourself that if you didn't exit, you would have this amount of winnings. You can only act on what is in front of you and what is happening now. After the fact, everyone can say: If only I did this or that. That is not good trading, because you can not act after the fact. What is good trading is making up rules about what you are accepting of giving back profits and what you would not accept. Following those rules, are the only way out of this madness. Of course you can adjust the rules, but striving after perfection is a losers game. What I do for myself is, the higher I get a "r" multiple, the stricter my exit becomes. Some kind of chandelier exit. Or what I also do is get the exit closer at a resistance or support area, to just see if it will turn or go trough it. And then I have the ulitmate exit, some far a way 'wow' exit target.
     
    #19     Mar 20, 2025
    newwurldmn likes this.
  10. acrary

    acrary

    Change your expectations.

    Expectations < Reality = Happiness
    Expectations > Reality = Misery

    If you traded according to your plan that's all that's important. Set your expectation that I'm going to do the next n trades according to plan. If the plan needs adjustments then do it and take the next n trades accordingly. The pressure goes away if you are following your plan.

    As the saying goes "plan your trades and trade your plans".
     
    #20     Mar 24, 2025
    MarkBrown and maxinger like this.