It's weird, but everytime when I do well, I notice my PL indirectly and just not want to trade when an opportunity arises because I don't want to hurt the PL when in fact I could add to it. How do I correct this feeling? I trust my trading plan 100% but it's just those times when you look at your PL and opportunities arise but you are kind of reluctant...
This is one of several common problems we beginners have. The only way out I can see is the oft repeated: "stick to your plan". You should know when you start the day: do it get out at a predetermined profit or do I take every setup. I dont think it matters too much which one you do but I think its important to know beforehand what you are going to do and do it. Changing the plan on the fly is what has held me back for so long, I am certain.
I currently scalp so it makes sense to take every hgh probability setup. Whereas in trend trading...it may be get out at a predetermined profit.
If you see that this is holding you back, that's all you need to know. No one can push you into getting beyond this but you. We all have our psychological blocks of one sort or another and the one you are mentioning is fairly typical. You're the only one holding yourself back. Period. To me that's a big part of being a successful trader is first recognizing our blocks and then moving beyond them. If you hesitate enough and keep letting good opportunities pass and realize all the money you left on the table, you'll probably change your trading. Maybe try some smaller trades at first so it sinks in that there's no need to freeze up just because you have some profit already. Also this is similar to not letting winners run, but grabbing a quick and smaller profit while remembering losing trades and thinking, "Well at least I made some money on this one." And this in turn is the oppositie of letting losers run and saying, "Well, I'm down $200, as soon as it comes back to down only $100 or $50, I'll get out." We all learn this is a very costly mistake. Babysitting a bad trade. While you're "hoping" your bad trade will get better, you're maybe missing a potential good trade that would have easily gotten you your money back and made more if you had only just taken a small loss and moved on. These are the lessons we're all trying to learn. And the more we do learn about ourselves and our own psyches, the better traders we are and the more money we make, in addition to just having our trading be more enjoyable. Good luck.
Are you sure its everytime??? If it is everytime...your solution is simple. Directly ensure your unable to view your PnL window while trading via removing it from either your default settings or removing it from your custom settings in your broker platform. Further, you used the word feeling and its possible even if you take the steps to remove the ability to view your PnL window while trading... Your going to know when your doing well in your trading regardless if the PnL is viewable or not based upon that feeling and experience. Another solution, you could just reduced your position size substantially as soon as you get that feeling your having a very good trading day until you develop the same hunger for in comparison to when you first begin your trading day. I myself often call it quits for the day regardless to the time of day when I lose that hunger to continue trading after having a good morning of trading. Further, I have no regrets about doing such because there are many advantages and I keep reminding myself of such: * Less chance to go through a burn out phase. * My trading day is done early and I can now do some rest/relaxation while knowing others are still hard at work (possibly losing money). * If I choose or have some important things to review...I can now research, study and analyze the remainder of the trading day via realtime trading action to help me be better prepared for the next trading day. * It really becomes a 8 to 5 job because by the time 5pm est arrives... Your truly done with trading via having spent the remainder of the trading day wrapping things up sort'uv speak. * Other advantages I don't have time to mention. Of course there are disadvantages. However, personally for me...the advantages greatly outweigh the disadvantages of calling it quits early when having a great trading day. Simply, try to focus on the advantages instead of the disadvantages. I've just seen too many traders that burn out like a super nova after hitting the markets hard every trading day in their efforts to exploit the entire trading day. Psychologically only a few can handle that type pressure while keeping that type of trading pace year after year after year. Mark (a.k.a. NihabaAshi) Japanese Candlestick term
calling it quits after a good day isn't necessarily a bad thing but I just think it's not the way to go. I mean. there are opportunities right in my face, solid strategy, and there shouldn't be any to leave all that cash on the table.
That's the problem...your unable to capitalize on all that cash on the table or else you would continue trading. Until you find a solution...your going to need to make good use of the time your not trading during the remainder of the trading day to make it useful and productive. With that said and since you said in a way as if you know how much your missing out on... What specifically do your stats say when comparing a good trading day that you continue trading versus a good trading day when you start seeing your PnL window results??? If you don't have any statistical numbers...now is the time to get such so that you will see hard facts (no feelings) on why you should continue trading the remainder of the trading day. As I said before...its a simple solution if this is all about the viewing of your PnL window... Remove it (not minimize it). However, if the issue really isn't your PnL window and you can't find a solution to keep you trading for the remainder of the trading day in your hopes of capturing all that cash instead of leaving it on the table... Keep a positive outlook on this and make your remainder of the trading day very useful via planting seeds for tomorrow's profits. Mark (a.k.a. NihabaAshi) Japanese Candlestick term
keep telling yourself if you are done for the day then you can look at it. So you start by making 1 trade then count it as 'day done', gradually you can extend this 'day done' to the real end of day. Then you can start 'accidently' missing looking at it for 1 day, then 2 days and so on. Eventually you don't even bother looking at it for week.
well, today I told myself that it's either I'll pick a target net profit and once I reach it, I'm done, or I take every high probability setup. Today, I chose the latter and stuck to the plan, so I'm gonna try that route. It's like a decision you make and you HAVE to stick to it.