Most Difficult Trade

What is the most difficult trade for you?

Basic assumptions:

You're a discretionary trader.

You have a setup or collection of setups you trade that present a profitable edge (if setup X presents, then profit Y follows more than 50% of the time).

 

Casting the first vote, I selected the trade that's opposite my bias. I will trade it, but it's never easy!

 

The most difficult setup for me is when I am close to my daily loss limit and know that I only have one setup left to choose wisely. The question then is, if I win this trade and am back to breakeven on the day, do I keep trading or do I quit at breakeven.

 

I vote for trading a bias. Oxymoron? I know i should not have one, but lets understand how a bias can be good or bad.

I traded CL today also, but i knew it could be whipped around so i had to have a bias toward the technical situation and not fight whippy action.

Many bars were flopping around with 30 ticks without any rhyme or reason. Mere mortals that try to bar trade that will be chopped liver before the day is over. 35 tick stops just are not gonna geter-done-bubba.

So i had to come up with a bias (plan) to just trade a couple range failed breakouts that reentered the previous range and slid back through the range like Owl-crap through a silver lined tin horn. I missed the first one because watching Es, that one was the false breakouts above 98.00 up to 98.20 and failed when finally gave up the ghost and broke below 97.70 for a missed easy 50 pennies.

Ok, the bias continued at 97.90 ish to 98.10 ish, false breaks up, a false breakdown to 97.78 which also tested the 20 ema..........went back up into the range, streaked through it and broke up.......... , ran up 50 ish, retraced about 40 ish and made a hook up to finish the job. The last bias trade of not getting beat up in chop-chop wide bars was the same deal as before (keep the bias) but this time it was down after the consolidation from the big ass bar down to 98.50, faked out some longs by a couple jabs down to 98.40, back into the range, suckered in some longs up to 98.88 ish, BOOM....whistled back through the range as the new longs got creamed..............

PS: rebuilt the pc with the replacement mobo...........works like a charm.. it ROCKS

PSS: I was only interested in RTH pit hours to trade CL. I am not really focused before 0830est. Old ES habits of waiting for 0930.

One more tidbit..........me and this CL can really be pals, i am in Nod's camp now..............this baby can get some action on .. I like that, it is not for everyone though so.............. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!!

 

I voted for trades where I have a bias – let’s face it some days I do – those are the most frustrating


The most difficult – are where I’m suffering the human condition

Sick
Hungry
Distracted
A case of the I don’t wanna’s
Irritable
Tired
In need of a bathroom break
Butt’s stiff
Eye’s tired/ burning
Crap I didn’t finish the day/ night before that I’m thinking about


Yeah I know I should take those times off – all I can say is; human is, as human does... Or a redneck in this case

RN

 

RN,

Be like a professional poker player and H.A.L.T. (Hungry Angry Lonely Tired), don't trade until you can put those needs/issues on the back burner. A really big issue for many is lack of quality sleep. There is reserach that shows a correlation between sleep derivation and risk seeking behavior....sorry can't find the link.

NoDoji,

this is one of the more interesting polls on ET, thanks for doing it. I voted for "Setup after you attained a minimum daily profit target", but it wasn't truly accurate for me, but is next closest among the choices. I don't have a daily minimum, but if I've had a big winner and am very green on the day, it's always more difficult for me to take another trade the same day. I'm highly aware of a pattern where I give back much of my profits after a great first trade. Nowadays, I either reduce my size, or stop trading. It's helped out my P&L and smoothed out my equity curve.

 

Thanks X

I’m going to post that on my wall as a reminder… (H.A.L.T)

And I agree – ample sleep goes a long way – I don’t get enough



Ammo

Man if only – on the overseer

Handle123 hooked me up with a shock box – it gets my attention

But a second set of "unbiased" eyes would be a wonderful asset at times…

eta - And yes the hardest trade is alway me - I'm a WIP (work in progress)

RN

 

add on to being an overseer,came from a big family and my mother's most echo'ed saying is /was it all comes out in the wash...philosophically God thinks this way,he send's you down here with free choice,blesses you with a soul,gives you a chance to experience the warmth of the sun,euphamistically,and if weather prevails as in present day japan, he takes ya back, and recycles you and gives you a 2nd.3rd,50th chance,the latter chances you come back as an old soul and enhance your previous ability to bask and the chances of those around you,...bottom line..trading is just a job,and the money you make or give away is just a means of a lot or a little exchange,so to over sweat it ,takes away from your chances of getting the warmth,and limits your ability to oversee the big picture,as an aside,while on the floor ,no trader ever talked psyche ,it's a blog phenom,like ,tattoos,etc..

 

Could that be because on the floor – you’re surrounded with like minded people, and able to talk shop (air it out as it were)

Being retail – we’re left with our thoughts, a computer screen, and this forum (at least in my case)


Never been there (the floor..., or a prop shop) – so it’s only a guess on my part

And I can relate to a big family - 13 siblings

RN