Yep.. Did it again.. Doing great since the 1st of July only to give back 80% of the profits in the last 3 days.. 80%.. wow can't believe it.. How dumb can I be.. promised myself I would never do this again.. Psychological errors.. too wrapped up in the moment.. taking trades that are not in my plan.. trying to scalp for a few ticks and getting burned by market continuing to go against me.. and before I know it down 3 points.. Shorted the Euro today..clicked to sell it at 10:00 at 114.75.. market took off.. actually got filled at 114.84.. at 10:00 the release of the consumer confidence report.. didn't know.. getting lazy and not paying attention to when reports are coming out... tried to get out quickly but put a limit order in and it wasn't hit.. before I knew it I was down 31 points... if I had 1 minute more before hitting that sell button wouldn't have taken the trade.. Funny thing is .. when I'm in control.. of my emotions that is.. I trade so well.. I cut losses very quickly.. wait for my setups and I'm always profitable when I'm in that mindset.. I need to find a way to keep that discipline... I can't put any quotes or anything in visible sight because I am at my regular job when I'm trading.. I've cried about this here before.. sorry to be repetitive.. just releasing some frustration .. Hope everyone else's trading is going well.. Jeff
Dear Brother Jeff, I admire your confidence to declare your error in here - And this is something every trader faces from time to time. Nothing special. If you have the discipline to look at yourself and realize your mistakes, you're already halfway there as a trader. However, there might be a few things you could have done to minimize your risk; Let me ask you a few questions that you need to answer to yourself: 1) How large was your position size? If you lost 80% of your profits, you either had little profits or too large a position size. 2) Why did you put in a limit order? Never, NEVER put in a limit order when you need to get out of a trade! Limits are for entries, not for exits - Unless in special situiations, such as sometimes when scalping etc... Again: You MUST put an open stop in when you need to get out. Limit orders are only appropriate if the market is already on your side (profit). Next time you do it in a fast-running issue, you could go broke! Be lucky you survived. 3) The "scalping temptation" is something many traders fall for. I scalp quite frequently when the market changes from good long trends - However, you need a 100% watertight scalping plan with rules in order to succeed. It's the hardest form of trading there is. Really. 4) Why didn't you see the reports coming? You always need to do your homework and due diligence before you start trading. There's no way around it. If you're trading multiple issues and it's too much work - Specialize! Trade just i.e. 1 index and get to know all about it! 5) Take your collected quotes and rules and memorize them! You don't have to have them in visible sight! Just look at them in the morning, and repeat them in your mind. Memorize them as if you'd want to be able to tell them to others. Like a poem. Present them to yourself. Never let them go. They're your rules. Without rules - There's anarchy! 6) Exercise your discipline. There are many ways to go about it - It has been discussed on here extensively. Try to do Martial Arts if you have access to it - I've done it for years and I swear on it! In terms of disciple trading, it's the best you can do! Don't let the turkeys get you down, Flashboy. You learn the most from the mistakes, remember? You'll be up again soon! Good luck to you! ~The Scientist
Did the same this month. Was up and chargin ahead, then last week got relaxed, made two ah-what-the-hell trades (exactly against my system) and lost 75% of this months gains. I am at work too, though.
Maybe you are just trading the way you are supposed to trade. Instead of saying you made a mistake... maybe you should just accept the losses as a loss. Giving back 80% of profits is not a mistake.. its just an unfortunate outcome of your trading. There are basically 2 types of trades.. profit or loss. Nothing in between and nothing outside. When you lose money.. you think of it as an error or mistake.. but in reality.. its just the way the game works. --MIKE
The amazing thing to me is how alike we all are. This is why trading is possible. Patterns of behaviour repeat. Separating yourself from the crowd is extremely difficult.
We're here for you flash. Scientist made some good points. Learn from it. Write it down. Commit it to memory. Forex is tough. EUR/USD will likely be jumpy while the Saddam thing is milling about. Reminds me of the time I gave the Forex Gods a lot of my money betting on a short war in IRAQ. Another time.......... Take care. Have a beer.
Well, I had a bad day today. I couldn't do anything right. It was truly amazing. I almost wish I broke my rules of discipline, cuz then I could justify the loss and I could immediately attempt correct the behavior. Losing happens, can't be avoided. There are so many different ways to lose money. I try not to let it bother me, but today, it bothered me!
I have made Mizuho securities site my home page! They post the next day's reports on their home page so no chance of missing any reports... you can also view their weekly and monthly calendar.. http://www.lanston.com/