I won't lie, I'm at the beginning of my day trading journey, though I am bankrolled and feel my skill is somewhat adequate. I recognize leaks as they happen and fix them. I make profitable trades and use solid and proper positions given risk/ reward. EXCEPT... However, one problem I have seen I deal with is taking a negative day where I end up with a net loss in stride. I will find myself exiting trades earlier regardless if I entered them with a higher equity target in mind. 10 minutes left and I'm down .25% of my 1% bankroll risk for the day? Bump that, I have to find a scalp. Oh look, that bars looks like it has a tiny reversal towards the breakout. I can buy $18,000 worth and set my stop a retarded 2% back with a 4% target. How do you deal with the psychological aspect of ending with a loss for the day? When I know I'm negative I feel like I double down on reckless trades just so I can to stay net positive before the market closes. The worst part is I know it's wreckless and I also know you won't win EVERYDAY, no matter how nice that would be. But on the day I'm down I find myself quoting Arya Stark's sword instructor, but instead of talking to death I'm talking to taking a loss instead.
It seems that you take a losing day personally -- that it somehow reflects on your worth. I can understand that -- used to be something that affected me as well. One idea is to reward good behavior and punish bad behavior -- regardless of the outcome! If you take a reckless trade, punish yourself somehow like making a contribution to an organization that you despise. If your behavior is good -- regardless of the fact that you may have had a losing day, then reward yourself somehow. Envision yourself as a trader that you respect and ask yourself whether he or she would take that junk trade at the end of the day.
You deal with this issue by recognizing that it is an issue, and verbalizing it to yourself out loud when it is happening. Then when you are talking to yourself, recognize that it is time to go back and read what you wrote above.
When you trade the stockmarkets, you will lose monies. That is a truism that you cannot change. Nobody wins 100%. Bernie Madoff claimed he placed 77 trades and all of it winners but, that was a big, fat lie. Stick to your rules. If your bankroll risk for the day is 1%, you should ask yourself, is the trade a losing one? If it is, close it out and save your capital. That is a no brainer. Now, if you are convinced it would be a winning trade, wait till the end of the trading day and close out with a profit or with a 1% loss. That was your rule, wasn't it? Trading is like owning a casino and playing the percentages. Provided your reward to risk ratio is several multiples of the risk, you should come out ahead. Your gains should be several times the size of your losses. So, you let the other traders (gamblers) try and beat you but, they are going against the percentages and will lose out in the longer term.
It did just occur to me something I know others do, that I'd thought of before but was just like, "meh, I'll make a mental note to myself" that would probably be ideal. A trade journal. Not sure why this didn't dawn on me before, but in analyzing every trade I make in the day, and why I made that trade in particular, this would probably be a quaint thought I make prior to every trade, knowing I'll have myself to answer to at the end of the day.
Yeah man. I post my results on Instagram so I stay accountable to everyone who told me I’d lose all my money. Now they see my riches. All this excess...one red day could put that in jeopardy, so I play on the straight and narrow mate.
And just keep in mind, recording / tracking your trades is equally, if not more important (IMO) than just the journal part. I use Trademetria and it gives me my P/L each day and each month (I can look at each trade too). Just seeing those numbers on a daily basis -- I can't hide from that. I got sloppy over the last week and it showed in my P/L. Just seeing that got me back on track. Before, it was easier to hide from my trades. Record them -- all of them!
dont keep looking at daily pnl. Keep a huge bean counter of the year to date pnl and check that whenever you feel like gambling.