Yes I agree, the outlier wins make your entire year. It's not easy buying one back after it runs away, and it's not easy watching a tank of avgas go up in smoke either. I'm not an elite trader, and I'm intimidated by hot women too. Nerds need to book wins once in awhile, for self esteem.
Post some trades, ese. This thread is for anyone with issues cutting winnerz. I understand if you're shy, or perfect already, but it's fun showing the world how good you could be if you just fixed that one weird problem you have.....
Did this today. I was holding some TLT going into the open from yesterdays session. Instead of getting the entire move higher in bonds, I bought some lots of yield futures near the open. Still getting used to trading treasury ETFs. Previous losses affecting my psychology.
If trading were easy, everyone would be printing money. The better I get at doing what used to be, and some days still is hard, the more profit I make. And that in spite of always giving back some profit when I finally close a position. Finding out you sold too soon and then buying back is hard. Very hard. No arguments from me. If this were easy, I'd be working on my second billion instead of stuck here still chipping away at my first.
Darvas has quite a story. Makes the case that successful trading can happen anywhere on a more relaxed timescale.
Thanks everyone for helping me with my psychological problem and offering insights. I will be continuing live trades in one of my old journals in the appropriate forum going forward, since I think we met our objective here.
Trust me, it is still a danger, and I just recalled another problem that comes up after a few months of consistent wins. After steady gains I always change somehow and start getting reckless, taking tips, engaging in office talk, and completely lose my edge. All this and more will be in the journal, since this thread is more for the psychology of the problem, not the ongoing trades.