Informed traders profit from uninformed traders. That`s the name of the game. But many of the uninformed traders receive other benefits from the markets than trading profits, which is the reason markets actually exists. So they may not mind losing. Then you have uninformed traders who believe they are informed. And those obviously do not like losing. I`m not saying I agree with everything in the book, but it was very informative and educational for me.
Hedgers don't mind losing because they budget for it beforehand. For them, their trading losses are akin to the insurance premium a good driver pays for auto insurance. Bad speculators, on the other hand, do mind losing. Some of them mind it enough to eventually become good speculators. The rest eventually have to give up trading because of lack of capital. I read a research paper that indicated that one of the best predictors of trading success was the use of limit orders. It makes intuitive sense to me that traders with the discipline to only get into the market at the price they deem "fair" would actually be the most successful. The author of the paper considered limit order users the most "informed" of all trading sub-groups.
Hey man, you should immediately stop the high risk trading method you use. This is gambling what you do. My advice would be to switch to equity options trading using cash only. Here you can plan better, and still have the thrill, and the leverage you are after. Forget daytrading. Instead use some mathematical planning for the trades. If interessted contact me by PM, I can give you a valuable trading plan, a framework.
I can tell you that is certainly the case in forex. Unlike goog ar aapl where as far as anybody knows the price can go to the moon or back down in the basement, people need currencies to be fairly priced to facilitate the trading of goods between sovereign nations. It's very easy to be a buyer if it keeps going lower and a seller if it keeps going higher. You never know if your limit will get hit, but if it does you probably got an ok price. Not neccessarily a profitable price, but just a price where at least one person (you) thought it was too high or too low. I don't really need Japanese Yen, but I will buy them if you sell them to me at what I consider a ridiculously low price.
and that is why we add to winners. It's exactly like an insurance policy you hope you will never have to cash in on.
Too many responses so its hard to reply individually. Basically, I moved to a larger account after trading a very small account and I got hit before I could settle myself. I normally trade ES and FX. My biggest single trade loss came post AAPL earnings release. I miscalculated leverage on NQ without using a spreadsheet and market moved real quick. Lost 25% of my account within 2-3 minutes. I was already down 10% over the last 2 days from other trades. My risk per trade is 3% to 6%, depending upon the setup. This kind of thing would never have happened in an institution. Because one spends first couple of weeks setting up to trade in an institution. However, working alone led me to start trading before I was completely setup - on monitors, spreadsheet, allowed products to trade etc. etc. It is my guess that posting on ES Journal has been detrimental to my trading.
Might I suggest a 1$ calculator from walmart? Seriously dude you've already blown up using other people's money. You should stop trading and start earning the money back through employment . The market will still be there if/when you ever find your niche.
I am doing tightening on multiple fronts, including a lot of points covered in the book "Prince of the Pits" about the trading setup: 1) Getting a new monitor - one monitor will be for research and another for trading. 2) I will unlock my trading platform only when a trade presents itself. This will make sure that no unplanned trades get taken. 3) A buddy is joining me for next few weeks. Talking to someone during the day will keep me balanced. 4) I have setup a visualization and self-talk schedule (wherein I sit calmly away from my desk and meditate and visualize for 5-10 minutes every 3-4 hours during the day. Again, to keep me balanced. 5) Since I will be working out of my home, I have established a dress code and am creating a office like atmosphere around my work-place. This should also help in more responsible and balanced trading. 6) Am setting up a neater, cleaner, more organized desk. 7) As a reward after ensuring 4 weeks of zero mistakes operation, I will get myself a new chair.