Thanks for the good words guys. By chance, my wife saw the year-to-date loss last week. All she said was "that's OK" in a loving tone. I think she understands how important this is to me and believes in me as much as I believe in myself. That is priceless.
Update for week ended 2/29/2008. Nothing to report this week - relegated to paper trading. For the foreseeable future I will trade the smallest positions allowed by IB (25K) - and I have been looking into Oanda in case they don't want a piker like me around! "Trading to Trade Well" is my goal for this year. January was OK, but February has hurt real bad. It has been a painful slump and I have pissed away too much of my trading capital. I'm not looking to hit a home run everyday, but I sure as hell can't be falling off a cliff like this. I will shake off this bad mindset and trade my strategy well - I can't focus on making up the losses.
Hi Datamerc, Cutting down your size isn't a bad idea at all. Trade small and once you're consistently profitable again your confidence will surely return. Good luck!
I second you looking into Oanda. The variable lot sizes are crucial to my money management and I think it's definitely something worth looking into for you.
How long have you used Oanda? I don't trade the news at all, but have heard (rumors) that the spreads at Oanda widen dramatically at times, regardless of news. I've been with IB so long that I forget what it's like using a MM. Thanks.
Good Morning, -Sorry for the late reply Merc, I took the weekend off. I've been with Oanda (demo) for seven months now and live for the last four weeks. Yes, I've experienced some spread moves but I'm usually swing trading and not scalping so I'm not too concerned with it. Also, I'm more of a tech guy and so playing off the fundies is not as important as making sure they don't screw up my entry or run a stop. And IBâs spreads widen with news as well, correct? Now, that being said, Oanda is the only broker I've used for live trading. Nothing else. So as far as telling you that I've tried them all and Oanda is the best, I can't. But I know for money management, which is absolutely crucial for my trading, it cannot be beat. They have a pretty active user forum as well and it seems a majority of the users seem to be happy with the service. Let me know if I can help with any other questions.
Thanks for the follow-up. I began the process of opening up an account with Oanda yesterday. It's tough on my ego to be pulling in the reigns as tight as I have and making such drastic changes. I'll have to get acquainted with an entirely new setup - but I feel it is the right thing to do in the long run.
Update for week ended 3/7/2008. I've come to terms with my situation and opened an account with Oanda. This will allow me to trade with much smaller size - I expect this will allow me to focus on trading well and not trading for the money. Very light week between being sick and just experimenting with the new platform. Code: Date P/L Pips Range Size W L S Monday, March 03, 2008 - - - - - - - Tuesday, March 04, 2008 $14.83 15.0 24.0 10,000 1 1 0 Wednesday, March 05, 2008 -$6.73 -7.0 20.0 10,000 1 0 0 Thursday, March 06, 2008 - - - - - - - Friday, March 07, 2008 - - - - - - - --------------------------- Total for the week: $8.10 8.0 44.0 - 2 1 0
Update for week ended 3/14/2008. I'm in a rut, no doubt about it. And it is bothering me more than ever before. I am doing so much introspection and coming up with feelings of not being good enough. Being a failure. Feelings of being scared - look at how quickly profits can disappear. I seem to have lost a respect for risk; or was it ever there? I was looking back to see how much this "education" has cost me. Since 2005 I've slowly pissed away about $40,000. It's really a shame that it has cost this much, but some people don't learn as quickly as others. Some people take different paths. I won't let that money to be spent in vain. I don't want to let this opportunity to go away. I was sick most of the week. The one day I did trade I was actually doing well, moving in and out like a boxer - but then let a single loser get way out of control, staring at it in disbelief. Next week will be more serious - no more playing around. Code: Date P/L Pips Range Size W L S Monday, March 10, 2008 - - - - - - - Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - - - - - - - Wednesday, March 12, 2008 -$141.46 -138.2 201.0 10,000 8 2 0 Thursday, March 13, 2008 - - - - - - - Friday, March 14, 2008 - - - - - - - --------------------------- Total for the week: -$141.46 -138.2 201.0 - 8 2 0