Stupid Stupid Stupid!!!!!

Since you have decided to make this your confessional (you must be catholic), I feel free to offer an opinion.

First, I will bet that you have problems controlling your emotions, particularly when you get filled (just intuition, I could be wrong).

I will guess that you also have problems waiting for a good signal to trade (again, I could be wrong, but that is what I read "between the lines").

Finally, it seems that you "froze" and let your trade run even though you had a rule limiting your maximum risk to 2 points. That indicates simple lack of discipline.

You have some issues.

My suggestion is to acknowledge that, and move on from here.

It may help you to write a new trading plan that takes these weaknesses into account. I am guessing (again) that you may not have a trading plan. If not, now would be the time to write it all down.

Good luck with that.
Steve

 

There is no correlation between emotional control and being a good or even great trader. IMO, emotion and passion go hand in hand. I don't think anyone can become great at anything without being passionate.

I agree with your assessment that he needs to work on his discipline.

My guess, is that he had a bad day, and part of getting over it is to talk about it(a form of therapy), acknowledge his mistake, and create a strategy for avoiding that mistake again in the future.

We've all been there before, and I bet we'll be in a similar situation some time in the future. I believe that these challenges ultimately make us better traders.

Mike

 

Sorry Mike:

When you make a blanket statement like "There is no correlation.... one gets the feeling that you have done a thorough study using a statistically significant sample size.

I am guessing that you haven't done that, as you are a trader not a psychologist. Also I know of no such study, and I make it my business to keep abreast of that kind of information.

So....Where do you get your facts? No correllation? Since when?

I think one has only to look inside to find the answer. There may be no correlation for YOU, but I am guessing that for the rest of us, there is a strong correlation. Speaking for myself, I found that once I was able to control my emotional response to the market ticking against me, I was able to leave a position on long enough to make a profit.

While I appreciate your opinion, I am also interested in hearing a comment from the person who originated the thread. I'd like to know if his experience is similar or divergent from my own.

Best Regards,
Steve

 

I make it a point not to listen to the news until I’m finished trading for the day. I only monitor when the economic reports are scheduled to be release. This helps me to focus on price and not what I think should happen.

 

I am no expert trader but, have been studying and continue to study this day and if you only do one thing----have a "trading journal".
Even Toni Turner in the Las Vegas Expo last Dec. 12-17, 2005 said that if you have a trading journal----your losing trades will not be a total loss because you learned something from them!!! Personally, I have not been aware of committing the same mistakes until, I made myself a trading journal. It may be painful to look at the huge bone head mistakes. The good thing about it is you see a pattern of those mistakes. My last two bone head mistakes cost me $900.00 and $800.00 trading options. Will I pay more attention? You betcha.
Also, if you are just able to minimize your losses without doing anything else----your bottom line will improve!!!

 

As long as you learn from it these types of mistakes will eventually make you a better trader.

 

And there you have it!

As long as you learn from these mistakes.

Well, i hope you are a much better trader for that bit of advice?

 

Therudeboy,

If you are a trader, you cannot be bull headed and arrogant. Once, you are wrong----you have to get out or reverse your position!!! If you let your ego rule you----you are toast!!!
I would rather make money and accept my losses (small ones are the best). For 2005,
I had 24 options trades, 14 winners, 10 losers and win/loss ratio of 1.51. Despite, all the the mistakes----I still ended in the black, $5000.00. A pittance I know but, two large mistakes cost me another $1700.00 in profits. Still learning, but, working doubly hard to correct those mistakes.

 

Even with a detailed trading model, I still plan thoroughly for each day.

This was a 'sell' available to you in the first half hour (YM), admittedly fairly shallow, worth 20 odd points. This is time basing. You would have had to consider your position at 20 points below the Open but if not then clear it latest as a 'wash'. My template for this set of market parameters has early rockets in it. Next for shorting the retracement which was ahead: this produced 60 points off the top starting at 12.20. The last turning point is 12.38 on my template so its an easily recognized peak and spike top. Here you have your retracement. My template said 58 on the 'down' but if you calculated 40 or so off the top and if you still had you early short you would take your stoploss.

The thing is if you do not know your market very very thoroughly and if as well you have not planned all your anticipated moves, then once you were staying with your stranded position your brain is flashing up on your mindscreen 'no signals being received'; go into panic mode and flee. As you are in sedentary pose this translates into catatonic panic.

So its back to a simple favorite of mine: you didn't plan to fail; you just failed to plan.