I just read your plight. A trader will have many times like these that you describe. It's the nature of the business. I had one recently. It is how you handle this adversity that makes all the difference in the world. A couple of things that I do are: 1) Turn off your P/L readings and concentrate on technically sound entries and exits. 2) Watch more than you trade. 3) Take as many small gains as you can until you build momentum in your favor. ie. Hit singles. Every other trade is going to be a loser, it's how you manage these losers that makes all the difference in the world.
I hope you're right - I've never felt such a range of emotions. Anything that is this physically and emotionally draining must be worth the effort!
Update for week ended 3/21/2008. I've cut down the position size to almost nothing - so I am essentially paper trading. I wasn't perfect this week, but overall I'm very happy. Monday I made a ton of trades (compared to usual) because I came out swinging and said "I will love losers" and put on the trades and let whatever happens happen - it worked out well. The rest of the week was more of my typical style except Wednesday when I put on a couple "lotto" trades - I really regret doing it and am working to stop that habit. I will keep using the tiny position size next week and keep "learning to love losers". Code: Date P/L Pips Range Size W L S Monday, March 17, 2008 $7.34 73.9 180.0 1,000 16 14 0 Tuesday, March 18, 2008 $6.63 66.1 130.0 1,000 10 2 0 Wednesday, March 19, 2008 $11.68 117.0 150.0 1,000 4 0 0 Thursday, March 20, 2008 $1.36 13.5 97.0 1,000 1 0 0 Friday, March 21, 2008 $1.31 13.0 60.0 1,000 4 2 0 --------------------------- Total for the week: $28.32 283.5 617.0 - 35 18 0
Update for week ended 3/28/2008. Pretty quite week but wasn't letting trades run too long for some reason. Wasn't feeling real well so that probably had something to do with it - so I cut back. Planning on continuing the tiny position size next week. Code: Date P/L Pips Range Size W L S Monday, March 24, 2008 $0.10 1.0 38.0 1,000 1 1 0 Tuesday, March 25, 2008 $3.10 31.5 68.0 1,000 13 3 0 Wednesday, March 26, 2008 $7.33 72.3 240.0 1,000 3 2 0 Thursday, March 27, 2008 $1.03 10.2 18.0 1,000 3 0 0 Friday, March 28, 2008 - - - - - - - --------------------------- Total for the week: $11.56 115.0 364.0 4,000 20 6 0
Update for week ended 4/4/2008. Quiet like last week, but felt good - and was able to catch myself in the process of some bad trades. Been 3 weeks on this 1K position size, so I will increase to 5K next week. Code: Date P/L Pips Range Size W L S Monday, March 31, 2008 - - - - - - - Tuesday, April 01, 2008 $0.55 7.5 20.0 1,000 3 1 0 Wednesday, April 02, 2008 $16.37 164.5 260.0 1,000 20 5 0 Thursday, April 03, 2008 -$0.07 -1.3 60.0 1,000 5 3 0 Friday, April 04, 2008 $2.53 25.3 90.0 1,000 9 1 0 --------------------------- Total for the week: $19.38 196.0 430.0 - 37 10 0
Hey datamerc, long time no talk. I'm just as inspired today as I was when I started reading your 2007 journal. You are amazingly consistant with a high win/loss ratio the vast majority of the time. Unfortunately your bad days are killers. I agree with the other posters that you are very, very close to making this thing work for you. Do you realize that when you were trading larger lots you were in fact making almost enough to hire that "voice over your shoulder"? Hire someone for $20/hour to ask you: "How do you FEEL about that trade?" when you're about to put on one and when you say: "I"m going to win my losses back!" They tell you to quit for the day or you're going to starve their children! (or whatever you figure will wake you up to the mistake you're about to make). Over $3k in losses to pay for a lot of hours of a "conscience"!