A very common -EV trade is the breakeven one. We’re long, The price is down, We move our TP to BE Why ? Because there’s little to no upside, We’re long but don’t want to be wrong. This kind of trade is an account killer. The trade should be closed ASAP. No upside, unlimited downside. Some will average down … Remember, no upside. We shouldn’t even be long, But here we add more to our position. That’s a very stupid trade. We might breakeven but ultimately blowup. Depends what rational we’re trying to defend, Either profitability or something entirely different.
Trading is a boxing match. You step into the ring. Connect on two jabs then run and declare victory. Can you ever become a professional that way.
Rules determine how many trades you take, more rules=less trades. Have limit of either an amount, percentage or number of losses to limit loses. Leave house when you done for day.
I scalp 1 to 8 points in the ES and even in MES. Most are 2 to 4. I call it scalping. Others would call it something else. I do not define scalping as 1 or 2 ticks but some do. That said I generally see 20 to 40 such trades (1-8 points)per session. That said I do not believe in overtrading UNLESS I and I say I; am mentally tired, my concentration is not up to par for the session, or I am just reading the market wrong (like 4 or 5 losers in a row). Then I consider it best to go do something else…fishing…gardening…walking or whatever. But as long as I am “in the groove” then I see no reason not to take 40 or more trades a session if the market gives me the opportunities with setups for doing so. Bottom line the market does not know if I am overtrading or under trading! It doesn’t track me. If I am flowing well with the market and not getting whipsawed around then high FOT is a good thing. (Frequency Of Trades).
I think the concept of overtrading is specific to what product you're trading, what timeframe you're trading and your strategy. Guys scalping futures or forex probably get a bunch of signals and set-ups every day whereas a guy swing trading stocks might only get a couple of set-ups per week.
Overtrading is simply taking trade one shouldn’t be taking. It’s not about the outcome. There are hundredth reasons not to trade. The first one being the trade sucks in itself, Then countless conditions can turn gold into shit. Bad health, bad mindset, bad infrastructure … Bad context, bad timing, bad reward to risk …
It is mostly the right brain problem. Most people will avoid addressing the right brain problem. Instead, most people will ask you to focus on the left brain. Many people will advise you to have a solid trade plan and those things. So you continue to be angry/vengeful/fearful/anxious.... continue to overtrade and overtrade and overtrade, till the end of time. As for yourself this question: when you were overtrading, were you very angry, very vengeful, very anxious, very impatient ...? Or were you composed, calm, and patience? All the jigsaw puzzles must work together.