When the market is set-up for a decent reversal, I can't trade it, and it's killing me. Sometimes it's better to fade,.. and other times compete on price breaking-out,.. and most of the time I can see what's going-on and where the traps lie. I can call the "bottom" or "top" of most ranges correctly so I haven't got "reversal syndrome" by any means !! I have loads of screen-time (4 yrs full-time) and don't rely on any dubious indicators except price ;-) However; I always have the same problem when price comes into my "value zone"... I think to myself "what do these sellers know that I don't, down here, offering at this cheap price?" So I lose my willinness to be a buyer. I often get convinced it's a trap to buy *right now* -despite waiting maybe hours for for this moment. I've never really traded demo. I can't justify spending days for a few swings in a paper account when I could be trading a funded account. Then again - I spend all day *watching* but not making trades - so I'm still wasting my time. Has anyone here been in this hole? How do you get out ?
Can't pull the trigger? Tends to relate to money management or some sort of fear. Do you know how much to buy or sell? Have you figured how much to risk? Could also be related to fear, fear of losing, fear of success even.
Do you have a consistently-profitable trading plan? Apparently not. And without one, you're wasting not only your time but your money.
you need some kind of statistics here imo, write these 'decent reversals' down somewhere whenever they happen , see if the outcome is favourable than add to it what Visaria says / don't bet too much/ and you are good to go
What helped for me was understanding the trigger to enter. I 'd watch set ups waiting to place my market order and always freeze. I then re-wrote my plan to include the specific triggers that would get me in; TL break, bar/swing break, test of S/R whatever. Then I started using buy/sell stop orders and let the market come to me. That helped a lot but didn't solve the problem. I was seeing the set ups and triggers and still freezing. (I recently discussed this in my journal and received some very helpful advice) ) Trading from a calm state of mind is crucial. Noting the trades missed actually helped my confidence and showed me how much money I should have been making. To me that was an incentive to get in there and take the trades. For me there's not a quick fix .Knowing it's my weakness and working on improving it is where i'm at. And I am improving. I accept this is what I need to do to get to the next level in my trading. I accept I will miss trades on occasion and that it's OK. good luck
1) You could be afflicted with perfectionism. You're more concerned about being "right" instead of being profitable. To be profitable, you will make AND lose money to be consistently profitable, not perfectly profitable. 2) You could be afflicted with hindsight bias. On a conscious level, you believe you are looking "forward" when in fact, you're looking backward. Subconciously, a part of your brain will not let you trade the set-up. 3) Be willing to go on a demo/simulator and take the set-ups that you're supposed to take, according to your own rules that you have created.
Trade smaller ... much smaller. Get in the habit of pulling the trigger for some money and stop telling yourself you know where to trade. Trade.
You are thinking about the money too much. You need to concentrate on percentages, what percentage are you going to risk if you take the trade, what percentage is your target. Break down all your signals into percentages and which show highest winning/losing percentages, which show best returns percentages. This has worked for long time for me and others.