In my experience, trading very small until emotions are gone, then adding one contract until emotions are gone at that level, then another, etc. is the only way to rid your trading of emotions.
Thanks, that makes sense. However I am currently trading only 1 contract. Also I am not convinced that trading in simulation will help. All problems reappear when I switch back to live trading. Just started reading "The Disciplined Trader", again. Hopefully that will help. LL
This is in my view the reason for the development of my bad habits. I started trading in january and slowly improved my trading each month. After several months I was a break even trader before commission. So far so good. Then in June I had a terrible month. I completely lost all discipline and took random trades. I ended the month with a serious loss. I was about to quit. But instead I decided to turn things around. I wrote a list of things not to do (21 different points). Then I tried to stick to the list and not care about money. My goal each day was "0 infringements". By sticking to this list my trading results improved considerably because I reduced the number of losing trades. --> Avoid the losers and the winners take care of themselves! I also got rid of many bad habits such as taking revenge trades, trading against the trend, chasing a trade etc. I learned to be patient and wait for a good setup. Now I am overly focused on avoiding losses that I miss many good trades because I am waiting for too much confirmation. When I do manage to enter a good trade, I close my position as soon as I have a small profit. LL
Trading a simulator only delays dealing with what must be conquered before you can make it two contracts. If your system is profitable and changeable to the market, then stick with it in cash. You cannot learn to deal with emotions on a simulator. If you are just winging it without a system, stop and build a system with hard rules to follow. Then follow them. You will not be able to gauge how good your system is if you cannot follow your own rules.
Hello everyone, "Trading is a journey not a destination" I am trying to improve my trading by identifying problems and looking for solutions. However it seems that as soon as one problem is solved, another one is emerging. I guess if I manage to become a successful trader one day, I will have experienced all psychological problems ever written and talked about. My progress is steady but slow. I find it difficult to explain why I am still a break-even trader after 11 months of trading. On the other hand I am satisfied that I am still "in the game". I have my losses firlmy under control and I have some big winners once in a while. I have to admit that I certainly under-estimated the work and dedication it takes to become a succesful trader. Good luck to all aspiring traders! LL
How's it going Lex? Everything going well? You know, I'm still on my learning path too. I'll share some good info with ya... I've got a good idea for your trading..it works on futures, FX, and commodities. Lately I've been using 2 min charts with a 250 weighted moving average and a 500 weighted moving average. If the price breaks above the 250, go long. If it breaks above the 500, add to your position (even if you're use to only 1 contract/1 lot, add on!). Then you exit the trade if you have a sufficient profit...or at worst, you tighten your stops to break even exit. These are BIG trends and BIG moves, which sometimes take 3-8 hours, and sometimes day. The payoff is worth the wait though. It will prevent you from over trading as well. I bagged over 160 pips/points on the GBP/USD on friday, shorting it at around 9.20 am-10am (and might I add, I was late to the trade too). This is not a "scalping" method, and it's for the big-moves. You can make much more money with this than scalping, as long as you follow your charts.
here's another chart... the last short could have been held much longer. This isn't a perfect way to trade, but it should yield a few nice winners. When the market gets choppy, stay out!
Here was friday's data. Personally, I wasn't able to get long, as the signal was going off when I was fast asleep, so I pounced on the short... all charts are GBP/USD...a big mover in london and NYC sesh.
Hi Jaytrade, thanks for your reply and for sharing your strategy. At this stage I prefer to stick to my strategy simply because the main problem is not that strategy but my emotions. Only when I can fully implement the strategy will I know whether it will prove to be profitable over time. Today I got an idea about how to solve one of my main problems, controlling my emotions when in a trade. By using the "chart trader" module in Ninja Trader, instead of the "basic entry window" I seem to be more relaxed because I don't see those numbers flying around. All I have in front of my eyes is the chart. I then proceed to put the stop in a strategically sound place and let the trade develop. I know this sounds obvious but I just haven't been able to let my trades develop (into something meaningful). Thanks again Jaytrade and good trading to you, LL
Hello everyone, I have now managed to switch the risk/reward ratio in my favour! For over 5 months now I have been taking tiny winners and medium losers. I now trade only near support & resitance levels which allows me to keep my losers extremely small. On the other hand I manage to keep let my winners run. This makes a huge difference in my PnL As I said before, everytime I manage to solve a problem, a new one ermerges. I now need to improve my exits on profitable trades. Since I trade only near S&R levels, I find it easy to determine my stop levels. However I have no real plan on taking winners. For example 4 of my last 6 trades had good entries and maximum potential of over 120 YM points. I only managed to take 17 of those. Any suggestions? LL