Did you lose 20 trades on paper or LIve? All I can say is you damned well better be in sim only right now. You said your looking for 5 trades a day. Make it 3. It will force you to only take the BEST setups. Best setups are the ones with the lowest risk highest reward. Go through all of your charts and circle three areas on your chart for every day where the lowest risk and highest reward scenario would be. Go back and look at TE,s charts and look for the lowest risk highest reward trades also and connect the dots. Stay small . Stay small , Stay small at first after you've proven yourself in sim. Too many people lose way more money than they have to. People overtrade because they feel they have to "work" and taking multiple trades is their idea of "working". Part of the work is waiting and scanning for the best oppurtunities. Swing trade stocks for a few days at a time using the weekly and daily charts as your reference if you want some action in stocks. NQ is good for the undercapitalized also.
Surely it is not illegal for a US citizen to have a CFD trading account with a non-US broker. Earlier this week I lost a few trades and decided that, in future, it would be a good idea to wait a period of time between trades, get away from the screens for 10 or 15 minutes, to let the emotions settle and start thinking logically again. Yesterday started well (for me 7pm UK time), S&P 500 started to drop at about 2pm US time, shorted CLF and started making a few $. At the first wiggle I covered as I decided that CLF along with the S&P 500 was changing direction. So I went long on CLF and saw the drop then continue after a pause. Big mistake as I gave back what I'd gained and then lost a bit as the falls continued until close. After that experience I'm very much bothered by my error and trying to grasp why I did what I did. With hindsight the error is obvious but its understanding why I made the error in the heat of the moment. The point is that I can't just let it pass and move on to the next trade, thought is needed to avoid that behaviour, to reduce the liklihood of it occuring again. So MA think very carefully about what you ar doing and make some changes before continuing. Regards, R
Lost $4 today. Trade 1 was a short that I exited quickly; just didn't feel right. (small gain). Trade 2 was a short; stopped out right before the big move down. (breakeven) Trade 3 was a buy; stopped out. (small loss). Trade 4 was a buy; stopped out after being up 6 points. (breakeven) Trade 5 was a buy; stopped out after being up 4.75 points. (breakeven) Had a target of 1852 on the last 3 trades; so much for that. It's on it's way there as I type this. Hard to hit a target when you are stopped out of the trade. So I guess I need to look into stop placement. In this case moving my stop order to breakeven was a bad idea. But if price would have reversed to make new lows the breakeven stops would have been good ideas. I thought I had them pretty far away so price had room to move, but obviously I was wrong ! Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Okay yes, but what is "natural"? Even though it's "natural", it still doesn't take away from the fact that it is made up of a complex system of subsystems. Everything in the entire universe is made up of systems, none of which are entirely perfect. You have to dig deeper than the macro level to understand systems, natural or not. Please refrain from stacking your argument with issues such as 'good or evil, right or wrong' as that is neither here nor there May I suggest some reading material - Work the System Sam Carpenter
WTF are you waffling on about!!? Nature creates, mutates, evolves, etc etc, it doesn't give a flying f*ck about YOUR right and wrong! Go and have a f*ckin sleep for christs sake.
I used to use automatic stops when swing trading UK stocks as the duration of the trades could be anything from a few days to a month or more. I wasn't able to monitor the trades when I was at work so automatic stops were essential to protect myself against a catastrophe. Daytrading US stocks though is much different for me as I keep watch over the trade until its over. So I don't see the need for an automatic stop or an automatic target, I prefer manual control over the trade and will exit if the loss exceeds what I'm comfortable with or if the gain reaches an acceptable amount, or if it just stalls for too long. Thats the approach that I prefer and no doubt some will criticise it. I'm still perfecting the process though.
I'm not taking sides IB, just stating what I believe. A long time ago I read the following books, which gave me a better understanding how nature operates to perpetuate genes, without regard to individuals: The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker. I never got round to reading the GOD Delusion, but will when I get the time. "In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that belief in a personal god qualifies as a delusion, which he defines as a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence. He is sympathetic to Robert Pirsig's observation in Lila that "when one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion."
Hawkins, Dawkins.....Darwin. 90% of all species that have adorned this tiny planet have become extinct....right or wrong? Nature does not do right or wrong, it just does.
The main purpose of religion is CONTROL. At first, people worshiped individual GODS in their search for answers to what they could not understand, aka, ignorance. Most of these GODS were worshiped for the GOOD that people experienced. Then, some being more clever than others, saw that by introducing DUALITY, aka, GOOD and EVIL, it was possible to CONTROL the masses, as they were already brainwashed thru their own ignorance. You might have heard the expression, "Put the FEAR of GOD in YOU". This one act was, and still is, the greatest calamity that has afflicted mankind since he evolved from a swinging monkey. Weak minds are easily led, and, to be strong minded one must first accept the reality of the way things are, no matter what others before you, including your parents, have said or done. It is so OBVIOUS, if you but STOP and THINK about it:eek: TE