Interesting distinction. How do you differentiate between a re-entry point and a new setup? Would a re-entry point be a point where you would otherwise add to a position if you already had one in place? If so, I understand your distinction. If not, please explain.
if you play poker the set would be when you are dealt two aces. would you fold two aces? if you drive a taxi your set up is that a customer is ready to hire your cab; would you say no? if its night time the set up is to turn on the light. would you not turn on the light? nothing is certain and aces get beat everyday but there is no way anyone in the world would fold two aces preflop. this is never ever done. so when you see your set up u must take it; you must or its like folding two aces. in poker if you have two aces and someone goes all in would you call? anyone will call no matter how big is the bet so dont be afraid of wider stops. chase one extra bar to make sure you get in; if your set up is good it will hold if not its cost of doing business. your set up is your baby; your creation so you must be committed to it otherwise wtf are you doing;lol. sitting out watching and reading charts can be done in between set ups. the real problem is we are human and the set up is mechanical. so you have to tell yourself "i am going to be momentarily mechanical while i take my set up" lol
i don't have a number where i'll stop trading. however, i know that if i have a lot of really good trades, i'll get greedy on future trades and be more likely to have poor risk/reward. therefore, i WILL stop trading if i feel that i might start to mentally slip. there's no way for me to change this unless i went automated, which i really can't do. as an aside, there was some trader, i forget who, who would stop trading a setup on a specific stock if it didn't work the first couple times in a day. the theory was roughly 1) he might revenge trade it and 2) maybe the setup just isn't working well that day / that stock.
What OP suggests is after you have been dealt 2 aces... and won, you might say: "I am done with poker for the. I am leaving the table and am gonna enjoy the winnings"
I think thats a great idea NoDoji. With this volatility, my goal should probably be upped to 4 points per day. I might think about doing that for the time being. Also, statistically if all my entries are good probability entries in the long run, then I should be taking every setup. In the back of my head though, I'm thinking "well this trade could be the one that fails" Thats a stupid mindset b/c part of trading is taking losses. You have to 'gamble' for the winners. SInce I lost so much $ in 2008, thats partially to blame. I'm still thinking in my head, well what if. As long as I dont blow up, I'm a fairly consistant winner. How much $ i can make....I can only imagine if I took every entry.
This still haunting me, too, every day. Believe it or not I always have the thought "this will be the trade that fails", and I have to look at my bar-by-bar analyses again and again to prove to myself that my setups have edge and just because I actually trade them doesn't suddenly invalidate them!
the mentality of stopping early on a good day is the same mentality of cutting winners and letting losers run. this at its core is the reason why people struggle at trading. you need to PURGE this mentality from your system to become truly successful.