Getting more aggressive is how you improve. At some point you have to add to what you're doing to make more money, so its more like 'calculated aggressivenes'. Crying in your beer about how much you could have made had you put that trade on can bring you down like a loser sometimes (almost). I know for me being less defensive and openning up my stops and allowing stocks to go against me more made a huge upside difference in my winning % and profitability. To add to the sports analogies, being more aggressive doesn't have to mean swinging for the fences everytime, it can be more like trying to stretch a single into a double. Here's my question. Two traders average $10k a month. Trader A is more defensive and averages $11k in winners and $1k in losers. Trader B is more offensive and averages $30k in winners and $20k in losers. Which trader would you rather be?
Yes, I believe that to score points the offense has be on the field longer than the defense. This would suggest being in the market most of the time, no?
dvshucks, I would rather be Trader A who has a win/loss ratio of $11 to $1 versus Trader B who has a win/loss ratio of $3/$2. All Trader A has to do is increase his number of contracts and voila, his gains will be huge!!!
I dont think that;s the approach. Losing or failing to achieve one's short term goals is a part of the learning process - you cant expect to be the best from day 1. Once you get to the point of not having a losing day for a year -kudos on that btw- you've probably learned most of the lessons and you're advance in your learning process [though the learning process is never finished as one never achieves perfection] and your lossing days should be the exception not the rule. But when you do have a lossing day you'll have the oportunity of learning a very valuable lesson. Such lessons become more valuable as you become as you advance because they become less and less abundant. On the other hand, you could focus on a smaller time frame, instead of looking only for losing days, why not look for a losing hour? They should be more abudant, and give you many more learning oportunities.