You can think about it this way: I'm right x times out of y. I was wrong this time, hence I'm that much closer to being right next time. I know it may or may not be accurate depending on the system and how correlated the perfomances are on diff. days, but thinking about it this way generally helps. Come on man, you are making around 0.5-2 grand a day on most days than lose 1800 and get upset? That's just being too greedy. You need to relax. It's only money. You made 2200 yesterday and lost 1800 today? - think of it as having made 400. Better now? ...the glass is <b>half full</b> not half empty.
It's the money... try trading one-lot and you won't feel a thing.. as the size of your win/loss gets bigger in monetary terms it 's going more and more stressful beause pusing your pain threshold.. my biggest lost in ONE DAY (actually 15 minutes) is $80,000...and I still remember my hands literally shaking as I try to get out of thge position... after that incident...I found that it's no longer stressful to take a lose of $10,000 at all...or even a consecutive small losess I have about 17 losing days this month and it adds up to about 100k but I acutally feel ok... because it's within my pain threshold... I am also 24 and I know exactly what you are talking about... I have found that It's no matter how cut it, the stress is still going to there...I curse at my broker for a bad fill and bang the head on the table after a stupid trade... unfortunately..that's the way it is.. p.s. I passed 500k this year just last month...It really could be done..
I am 20, and play baseball at a top 5 program in the nation. I am all about competition and winning. That is why I love trading. Nothing more gets me up like the market does. I see it as a new challenge every day, and one that will never be mastered. Just looking at the competition and intensity of trading, makes me want to do it even more. I dont trade for a living, but I will when I am done with baseball and school. I can relate to you about having high goals, like 500k a year and more, and getting pissed off at losing money, or a setup failing. (i do swing trade) I want to suceed at this more than anything. So many people tell me that it is out of reach, or not a reality to make a great living doing this. They want me to just go get a solid job with some investment bank, and work my life away. I say no way. I want to wake up each morning with a passion to come to the market and compete against the best in the business, and smash them. Is this just a fantasy that is easy to live out in my head, since I am not in the trenches yet? I want to hear from someone who is doing this battle everyday and winning. But not just winning, someone who is dealing with adversity, stress, and overcoming tough challenges that the market presents. Someone who is real, and loves the fight.
when i was going through my divorce, my hair fell out in patches. kept clogging up the shower drain! then, when the divorce was settled, my hair stopped falling out. so obviously, the hair loss was my ex-wife's fault. seriously: like alot of things in life, its not the "event," but our reaction to the event that impacts us. so saying that stress causes hair loss is not absolutely true - it is our reaction to stress. but, that's kinda "splitting hairs." in trading, once i "accept" the stress and stick to "manageable" positions, im not really as stressed, im somewhat detached, although not quite bored. its when i get into "no man's land" that i start to "experience" stress. that's not a bad time to close a position.
I too am a young trader (22) and am simply afraid of ending up in a life of mindless work for another person. I went to a top business school and the very notion that one wouldn't go directly into a firm, start brown-nosing your way up the ladder, and retire still being told what to do by a boss was never challenged... I don't think that way, and I wont live my life that way. Trading presents the flexibility and income goals that I have and I actually enjoy it. I plan to trade full time as soon as possible, and the stress of trading and losing large amounts will play a significant role in my life. I have been advised to simply not trade on days where I don't feel 100%, and I think that is another way of avoiding stress related health problems. I assume a condition would only get worse given the added stress trading brings.
work out. just got back from the batting cage myself. Paul Tudor Jones says, "you have to be able to turn it off."
You cannot trade on emotion. I remember the mistakes that I made on one of my first trades. I bought thougtlessly before the stock dipped, and as it dipped I panicked and sold out. It later came back up and over what I bought it for. Remember stocks go up and down; you cannot always get in at the day's low; what ever price you buy for, there is a chance it can go even lower, so just wait till it bounces to a profit for you. Dont buy if your intuition tells you not to. Smashing others is not a strategy, because the market is too big for one day trader to influence it, you will only smash yourself. Judge your perofrmance by how you achieve your own trading goals. If making 500k a year is your goal, it is pretty pathetic. Suppose you get there and then what? 5M? Money is not the goal, it is the means to financial freedom. My goal is to live comfortably and never to work for anyone ever. Do you want to kill yourself chasing numbers? I agree that when you lose it feels harder than when you make a profit, but then it is you most of the time who is to blame. I believe if you set realistic goals you should be able to achieve them most of the time. This is just my personal opinion, so dont take it close to the heart.