Human make mistake. In order to learn from our mistakes, we have to look at our past actions. Keep calm and move on. Don't dwell on them. Sometimes, followed the rules to dot and still lose money.
In trading there will always be missed opportunities. The important thing is to have an edge by taking profits and losses when you do. Then the aim is to focus on trading size rather than catching every tick. You can trade one contract, make $500 bucks and leave $1000 on table because you booked profits when you did. That might cause regret. You got bills to pay and might have projects that need funding. And that extra $1000 would have been really helpful. In other words you really needed that money you left on the table. But if you can trade 100 contracts, you make $50,000 on the same trade. Then why care that you left $100,000 on the table. You still made a shit load of money. Another thing you can do is scale in and out rather than buy and sell all at once.
It is pointless to dwell on a trade after you have exited. If you happen to notice that the equity is still going up, you can always get back in again. And there is always tomorrow. To commiserate that you lost profits because you got out too early is futile and a drain on productivity.
Guess that it is similar to fear of missing out... In trading, it is the fear of missing out when you see a stock or market start to rally and you get a strong desire to join in. It's an impulse trade and is a common pitfall, especially for newer traders. However, your example is another one. You start regretting that you didn't wait a bit more to receive higher income? I think it's for nothing, You will just blame yourself that you exited the deal so early. It will never lead you to something positive you know. Try to abstract from this feeling. I know it;s kinda difficult, nevertheless you have to be positively set up.
Hello expiated, I agree. If everyone "just created a trading plan and followed it", we all be rich right? There would not be a "high failure rate" in trading if everyone just simply created a trading plan and followed it. The phrase or suggestion "Create a trading plan" is more like start a Research and Development project on how trade profitable for the next XX years of your life. The research and development project will take X to XX years. After the research and development project is completed, then create a trading plan based on the conclusion of the research and development project.
Hello Millionaire, This is the best comment I read on ET in a very long time. If I can not eventually trade big contract size, then my efforts is pointless and I eventually need to find a trustworthy business partner that works for Sinaloa cartel and join his business. The goal in trading is one thing only. Get Rich and Hurry Up.
In this years volatile markets, i had 100 micro lots in mind when writing that, which is hardly a big deal. In reality you would not go from 1 micro to 100 micros, you would go from 1 micro to eventually trading 10 minis. But I didn't want to complicate the sentence or concept in my original post. With the idea being to scale up trading size 100 fold (with no reason to stop at 10 minis either, keep going to 100 minis if your account and stomach is big enough to take on that much risk)