Let assume we have two winning systems which both of them made the same total amount of profits at the end and executed approximately the same number of trades. The first system has 80% winning rate while the second has only 40% winning rate. Which system you prefer? The first system is not good because lots of small gains but one big lost got killed. While the second has small number of gains and many small loses but one big gain cover almost all loses. The person who choose the first system tends to enjoy taking profit early but will hold loses longer, this is death. And the person who choose the second system has the psychological preparation that loses is part of the game, meaning that he doesn't have much difficulty cutting loses early.
eagle, this is science fiction. Having the perspective to know both of the systems you describe are working the trader would not select one but trade both systems otherwise he is an idiot. Hardly drawdown periods would corellate and that makes the combination of both better than each alone. The OP obviously has NO system nor does he have targets, trade or money management. Well he has a kind of money management because he obviously trades small size and has gunpowder for the next couple of hundred trades, so he claims. Pure gambling on an ego-trip no matter if it makes or loses money and nothing to build on in any case as he is fleeing the scene by switching off the screen. A backtested method can be traded like this but not a strategy. I doubt that meditation can help here unless he stops trading. No insult meant.
Pension_Admin, You need to set yourself in a zone where you will only trade what can be identified as a high probability trade, what you need is a trade journal that will records all of your trading activities with comments that can explain your winning or losses; you'll need to explain to yourself why you'd won the trade and whyâd lost that particular trade and what can you do to eliminate such mistake in the future and improved upon it. As you have refined your skills you will notice that you donât have sweat to trade anymore but only trade the one that you think is stress free and profitable. Good trading, Sg20
Of course, there is no such system which winning is assured. This is the way to know the trader's innermost thoughts. It tells about whether he has a good habit or not for lost controlling instead of letting his ego (=loses) runs.
I absolutely agree with you and that is what I am doing. I am riding my winners and cutting all my losers short. I place hard stops and if it get hits, it's fine. It's just chaos and it's expected. The system I am currently using is not really for trading, but it was indeed paid and comes with MS Office. Through my experience, I have learned it is true that "those who can, do; those who can't, teach." I will never accept the system or the teaching of those snake oil salesmen. Pension_Admin
Thanks for your kind advice. I really don't enjoy all those negative feelings, but I am trying to put those negative feelings to good use and hopefully they will motivate me to become better in some ways. Pension_Admin
I do my best to determine exactly where my stop, targets, trails, and scale-up are. The stressful part is that I have to leave the trades and go to work. My day is like this: Wake up Close & Place trades Work Read ET Close & Place trades Sleep I have absolutely no control over my trades when I am at work and when I am in my sleep. Zen really helps in my situation. BTW: I am just curious: Does Jack really speak like this in person? Pension_Admin
Somehow, I have to agree with you on that I am purely gambling. I have made the mistake of not admitting that before but now I have come to realize that I am purely gambling. Pension_Admin
This morning, my 3 winning trades from last night reached my last target point. I took the profits, but I am still in no way where I was before, but the winners does help offset the losers by a lot. Another 6 trades were placed this morning. All of them looked like top-and-bottom-picking trades. I remember someone once mentioned that trend is our friend and that it's better to go with the general direction. I hesitate for a short moment, but just went along with my system. I am a bad trader and I think the system most likely have more skills than I do. I checked the trades earlier: 2 winners, 2 losers, 1 trailed stop with a little profit, and one is heading to breakeven. Pension_Admin
This is one of my favourite song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKTiwCez6Zs I don't know why, but I got a feeling David Coverdale is a trader.