You might want to consider focusing on a single instrument rather than trading multiple markets. I suspect that you would be 'up' on some markets and ''down' on others and end up taking profits (small) on the 'up' trades while letting the losers run. This is the exact opposite of how the game works. Find the 'best' market and trade it well. Trading multiple instruments is simply siphoning off your attention.
I certainly hope the other person learns from me, just as I hope I learn more about exercising more discipline from him/her. However, I think it's a little harder to pick up and walk away with someone else's discretionary style than it is to pick up a purely mechanical style. If it happens, then I'll deal with it.
Ask yourself why the above is the case...It seems like you are more suited to be more of a mechanical trader. Being a discretionary trader is just too much thinking for some people. You know how to identify the entries just place your stop AND your profit target(s) IMMEDIATELY after you execute your order. Then just sit back and put your feet up because there is nothing else for you to do and just let the market action play out. So your entries will be discretionary, but your exits will be mechanical. You'll find yourself nice and relaxed after you enter the trade.
I am great at picking winners too, and if you just subtracted all my losses id have a 100% profitable trades rate so far this year. Anyone want to team up?
You've gotten some great advice here: 1) incorporate automatic stops/brackets 2) focus on one/limited instruments but the biggie for me is that you're escaping addressing your failure to jump out of the losers, when you *know* they're losers. You're married to the trade. But, WHAT WOULD YOU ADVISE SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IN ANY GIVEN TRADE? You say you're good at making money, but in fact you suck, because it's the *totality* of your trades that determines whether you're "making money" or not. And 10 base hits with one monster loss means your back to square one -- if you're lucky. (Understand, my brother, I'm writing to the guy in my monitor's reflection as much as to you.) Brett Steenbarger ("Enhancing Trader Performance" Wiley 2007) has a great little video over at Trader's Library (you can eBay it for <$20) that describes a framework we make to split ourselves off from actions/behaviors we *know* to be rotten. Holding bad trades would certainly qualify. The thing he focuses on is to identify the trigger, and then derail it. For me (think I speak from experience?), the solution was two-fold: 1) Realize that I no longer focused on dollar return in a trade, but simply that the trade went positive. 2) Being thus "married" to a 100% or 19 in 20 win record, I took a bath in "the one that got away". FOOL. If good trades are "like picking dropped change up off the ground" or like the lion who goes after not the biggest antelope, but "the newborn, the lame, the *lame* newborn[!]", then sitting around sweating for a trade gone awry to come back IS NOT GOOD TRADING. Nor is it "making money". It is losing. So: -- Don't lose. -- GET OUT of losers. -- Take note of your trades: start a diary, and enter your thoughts when a trade turns; note when you first think "Ooops"; note when you think "Damn! Shoulda gotten out then, too!" -- Show this diary to your wife. Explain the losers to her. -- Section off your account to where you can only trade close to an account-closing level -- to where you can't *afford* to lose, else you stop trading entirely. Confronting your trigger behavior, diagramming your exit failures, and (en)forcing [failure] limits should each lend a hand. But the bottom line is to realize that you are NOT "good at making money" but are only good at jumping into a trade. You don't *care* enough about the lost money. Get a mechanism around that one so that you realize that good trading is *finishing* with a basketfull, not an empty basket. Think: "WHAT WOULD I ADVISE SOMEONE ELSE TO DO?" Very best wishes, brother. TMc in Indy, IN
Have you thought about daily profit targets? Its an indirect solution, but from the way it sounds, you have been doing this a while, so perhaps a strategy like that will be easier to incorporate into your routine than trying to "rewire" yourself. Also, perhaps you should stay out of extra volatile times like the open and close and trade in between. This will lead to you jumping into trades less, and your losers may not hurt as much if the market is moving slower and you don't have concrete stops. Also, why don't you use brackets and then walk away from your computer or turn the screen off and wait for a confirmation sound? Those are just some ideas. Good luck. roy
seems you dont use targets like someone else said, you should in order to get consistency in your trades. The greed you are talking about comes from the fact that you don't apreciate your money much. What you dont apreciate you dont deserve and what you dont deserve you will not keep. Double your size and change from greed to fear, your knees gotta shake and you will be reborn ready for the way in the middle.
dude.. if you aren't wired right then you need to first do some serious behavior modification. I think a lot of people trade to be independent... do want to always have to trust your "trading partner." Get a good broker or auto stop platform and stick to your guns.. no one is going to "manage " your trade for you. I feel for you, but pleading for a partner on this site is not going to get you where you want to be.. you said in your statement that you are very good at making money? This is a pure contradiction to you letting losses run? YOU are mixed up and frustrated.. get a good broker and gice him a hard stop over the phone! he is required to put this stop in place.. also give him a limit exit and he is required to put that in place.. make it an oco and you are free to do whatever you want with your time. Good luck
it was like deja vu reading your post. its not uncommon for certain traders to be fantastic at generating huge returns but are abysmal at keeping them. sorry to hear that you can't work with your wife, that would have been an excellent partner to have. I have a risk manager that I tend to badger to letting positions run, and I am guilty of indulging in 'averaging losers', one thing that has helped me considerably is to map out not only a financial plan but a behavioral plan , and emotional stop loss strategy if you will. If you utterly cannot control yourself the issue is may not just be hard wired it may be psychological, a hypnotherapist specialising in traders and money manager is worth investigating. Hey I've been where you are, there are solutions.....it just cost a bit in the short-term but will save a fortune in the long run