Nobody likes losing trades, but successful traders before putting on a trade fully accept that each trade has uncertain (random) outcome and can turn out to be a losing trade. Those traders who don’t trade of this mental state of acceptance, won’t make it long term. They just want winners, and are fearful of taking losses. Losing trades are part of the business, that’s why risk management is critical. I have bad news, to become a good trader, you must become very good at accepting losing trades. Forcing discipline is just a temporary band aid. Discipline needs to be automatic and effortless, not forced. You cannot fix lack of acceptance with discipline, at least not long term. It’s like breathing, you cannot just 'breath in' all the time and being uncomfortable and fearful of 'breathing out'. Just as 'breathing out' is part of the living process, so are losses part of the trading process.You need to accept that, and become obsessed with risk management. Work on acceptance and other things like position sizing, reliable edge with positive expectancy, etc., so when you trade you learn to automatically flip into a detached perspective so you can observe yourself from a third person perspective (instead of being fully associated with each trade).
Very well put, losses are basically a natural occurrence in this business, I understand. We can only limit them as best as possible with risk management. Appreciate response.
When I am not in a winning position and have 2 stop losses in a row, I stop my trading and analyze my losing trades. This allows me to find mistakes and gaps in my trading strategy and try to improve it.
What if your strategy is extremely simple, like mine? Not much to check out. What will you do then? switch to an entirely new setup?
If the strategy is extremely simple and it works poorly, ensuring that losses outweigh profits, then of course I would change it to another one. After all, what's the point of trading with a losing strategy and continuing to suffer losses?
Trading is all about adapting and finding what works. I’ve learned to adjust my approach when needed, rather than stick with something that’s not profitable.
That is a very rational response yes, it is in profit but very small profits, nevertheless, I do intent to change the entire thing.