Well for me, I feel safer with stops. And yes, I've gotten stopped out. But some of my WORST trading experiences have been trading without stops. Because once a massive moves goes against me it's hard for me to get out. I let my losses run. Had I put on my stops religiously, I would be OK. That's what I've been doing. yeah, my stops might be gunned. But for now they are like trainer wheels. It's good u r 6'. 23 is a little younger than me. I'm in my late twenties. Oh well. *hugz* But no kisses. LOL! Well, the market seems so fascinating to me. You can just sit there in front of a computer and just make money. Very appealing idea. I know I'm one of hte few gals into trading. I know it's a tough game but I'll get there someday. Hopefully soon!
Age is just a number. I feel what you do with your life and how you live it that counts more. *hugz* right back at cha, Where from? Yeah the idea of playing the worlds largest multiplayer computer game and getting paid for it totally has its appeal. Also you get to play with the best of the best so it feeds the competitive soul and the need to achieve. That and the fact its like golf, steep learning curve, but once you get it you can play it until your senile. Also, its awesome your a woman in this field, I grew up with three sisters and I always encouraged them to do what ever it is they are called to regardless the percieved barriers to entry.
AMT4SWA, OK. I don't want to get any more personal on this website. Just about trading. From my reading ofyour postings, you seemed to be a really good trader. Perhaps you can help me out...
LOL AMT Whats life without a little pleasure with business, Work hard, play hard.. Can't be a shy Stoic in todays world, one life to live, so live it as an outgoing Epicurean is how I was brought up. "Eat drink and be merry, for tommorrow we trade"
Make 10 small (like 1 contract) all LONG trades tomorrow. Enter when you see any type of situation where you feel the price action will rise. Next, focus on trade exit management for each of the 10 LONG trades. Do a "enter like a monkey and exit like a pro" type of trade operation tomorrow. Enter all LONG trades and challenge yourself to exit with small profitable base hits. Do not try for big hits with these 10 LONG trades, just go for small but consistent profits with each trade. If you want to cure your problem quick, then jump into the market and take action. Have a set plan in place to exit trades at a certain profit level and focus on this as your primary concern...do not focus your thoughts on the direction of the trade, but on precision exits. You will cure this problem, but it will take direct action on your part combined with very focused after trade review of all trades made in this plan. Good Fortunes! Chris
My personal opinion is that you suffer from a need for instant (and significant) gratification. One reason that you prefer the short side is because markets tend to fall quicker and more deeply in a short period of time than they rise. A rising market is usually like a slow gradual steady increase in P/L (of course with some exceptions like the short covering rally of Tues.). The other evidence that I would point to in support of my theory is that a number of pages back, you said that you started trading larger to get out of the hole faster. This shows me that you needed some instant dope. Just my 2c. FYI, i probably suffer from the same syndrome. The market is overvalued, everyone knows it, everyone knows it's going to fall sometime, we all want to catch that big score when it does, however, it probably won't fall until most people have been stopped out or have given up.
NeedHelp, Listen to trade-ya1. He has some very good points. Not that I'm totally unbiased in this respect. One should try NOT to have a long or short bias in the market. Trade what your plan is. I've been caught short in a squeeze before. But that's because I was respond to a multi-day signal and thinking in an intraday time frame. I think what you need is a plan. A systematic plan. Do you have a strategy that you have backtested? Do you have defined Risk/Reward Ratio? 1) Entry Rules (10% of your entire trading plan) 2) Exit Rules : 1) stop loss 2) Profit Exits (account for 40- 50%) 3) Position Sizing ( 50%) 4) Money Management I'm not saying sometimes I don't become lax about these rules. I did lax the position sizing rules recently and paid dearly. But normally, when I run a systematic portfolio I adhere to these rules. I'm still working through the mechanics/technical issues on this new platform/system. You sound like a really nice girl. We all want to help ya. Well, I gotta get ready for the start of trading now. good luck! quantpatterns
NeedHelp, How are you doing today? Market is finally coming down?! You liking 'em now? HAHA! Great irony of life huh?!