I think I finally understood who I was and what made me tick. That was it. Very simple. Just like trading. Funny isnât it?
White I dont know if you are doing very time sensitive trading like using a 1 min chart but if you can spare a minute try making an order ticket for each trade with a few questions you would need to ask yourself about the trade( simple checklist). When I first started futures years ago my broker sent me a load of order tickets, I figured he was nuts, but it did instill a good habit.
White, If you don't learn from your mistakes you are bound to repeat them. Do a thorough, and brutally honest review of your trades, especially those leading up to your "blow out" trading impulse cycle and analyze those times to death. See if there is a common thread - something you do each time triggering a negative response. Maybe it is taking a bigger than expected loss. Or perhaps it is allowing a large profit to turn into a loss that triggers the cycle. Is it missing out on a trade you "should have" taken and then trading opposite that trade out of frustration? Try to remember the feelings you had while trading. What type of pattern did you think you were trading at the time, and compare that against the charts to see what you actually were trading. Find what causes this bad cycle and then set up rules to prevent that type of behavior. Maybe a rule will be to stop trading for X minutes after a certain # of losses. Maybe you will walk around the block when you break your trading strategy. To hold youself accountable, tell someone you are close with about your problem and your strategy for overcoming the problem. Let them be your support group to give you the courage to do what is right. Write your strategy for dealing with the problem on cards and review them before you trade each day, while you eat lunch and after the day is over. Do the same thing with your overall trading strategy to reinforce correct behavior and remind youself of how to stop incorrect behavior. Add up how much money this bad trading cycle has cost you and then imagine how much money you will save by never falling into that trap again.
Also take a look at Seanote's post on the following thread about handling the pressure & keeping things in perspective: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=50640#post50608
What keeps me from overtrading is loosing $400 F@!%ing bucks like I did this F@!%ing week by taking four F@!%ing trades that didn't fit my F@!%ing trading plan but looked F@!%ing good. I haven't done that in a long F@!%ing while and it will be a long F@!%ing while before I do it a-F@!%ing- gain. Love and Peace Rigel
A hint I learned a few years ago... Next time you feel like breaking your rules. Remember if you are disciplined and patient you will make money.If you are not you will lose. Did you hate your job before you started trading or are you trading and still have a job on the side you hate? Continue breaking your rules and loosing your discipline and you will always need the job that you hate. Just a thought. P.S. I guess for this to work you have to be lucky enough to have a job you hate if not hopefully you can find one
$400 seems to be Rigil's button. Must be numbers that start with 'F' I'm so cheap that Forty is my f*&%#@g button.
good one Monee... I often use that as a motivator. I am in dire fear of having to work for the man again!