It was so frustrating today, almost every trade i placed, it went against me immediately. I wasn't prepared for a losing streak like i had today. funny thing was - i stopped at 9:50, and if i just kept trading i could have been able to make up most of my losses. this trading is so difficult, i spend every minute thinking about it and learning and improving and just when i think i am getting the hang of it - there is some other obstacle on the way. i am going to think about this mess all the time over the 3 day weekend, darn it. did anyone else have trouble trading today? how often do days like these occur? and how do you deal with them psychologically?
Trading is a game of recovery! I got whacked early on as well, trading the indexes, but I just take a few moments to get my bearings back, watch the market, start to anticipate trades, and then execute and make it back one trade at a time. (Shorted near the low!) Take small losses quickly, it's crucial in these markets. Have a maximum daily stop loss, fairly large, but not so large that it blows your entire account.
Hi Samuelg, Out of curiosity, what index are you trading? I am new to this place and don't know what everyone trades. I trade the Russell 2000 e-mini's and had good success yesterday (2-14-08). If you don't mind me asking, what strategies are you using. Just trying to find out what everyone is doing. I am excited about being a part of this community. Good Luck and don't give up. Trading is the most frustrating and rewarding of anything I have done in my 53 years. Hang in there. Ron
OEX? options expiration? hmmm, i remember people saying that options expiration dates are choppy. thanx for the reminder, i need to look up previous expiration dates. yea, i am still looking over my stops and trade management - i knew a day like today would kill me, since my stops were bigger than my profit targets - but that's the only way to deal with volatility as i see it. but i never thought i would reach my max risk for the day, in 5 trades and in less than 20 minutes.
hello, well i trade the YM. and congrats about your success yesterday, you might be on the right track and just keep doing what you did yesterday - it sounds simple but that's the only way to prevent yourself from getting off the track and getting distracted from other strategies, indicators, charts, etc. and i don't want to reveal my strategies on a message board yet, no offense - noone really does that, besides i am not even sure if they work - i am still a beginner. But as far as trading style goes: i scalp mostly and i don't use indicators that much, i prefer price action - although i do have an oscillator to get a visual of where the market is trending.
How many trades did you make? I ask this because if you are trading too frequently, you can bet you don't have an edge. There are a few good trades every day, focus on finding those, trading them well, and staying out of the market the rest of the time.
I got chopped up nice and good during the first 45 minutes myself. One reversal after another (trading ES). To make matters worse, I failed to execute on two obvious setups, one at 9:20 (CST) and the other at 10:15. I'm down on the day, and I have no one to blame but myself. I've also heard traders say to avoid the market the day before a exchange holiday. I don't normally trade the US markets, but since I had the day off from work, I decided to try it anyway. I might take that advice to heart in the future.
Geezus! When will ET at large get it? Number of trades without knowing the style of trading has nothing to with "overtrading". And since when is the successful edge determined by number of trades? silly! What if the OP is a scalper. It's possible he placed 40 trades or more during the first 20 minutes. None of which, without knowing strategy, can be considered "overtrading". (OP said he stopped trading at 9:50). OTOH, a multiday swinger may not have made any trades. Maybe the multiday swinger is "undertrading". Maybe he doesn't have a successful edge either. So, please explain what "a few" means. And while your at it, a define of "good trades" would be helpful too. To the OP: at least the moves came quickly. Dampens the pain, at least for me. I prefer to be proved right or wrong as quickly as possible. NEXT! Osorico
Yes....Please tell me how to get it! Please tell me how to trade O great one! Better yet, why don't you show us you can trade by posting a few blotters on the P&L thread? Let's go over what we know, this guy is obviously a newby who got whacked pretty good, at least in his world. Further, he said he got chopped up, which tells me he's a daytrader. Further evidence, he said almost every trade he placed instantly went against him. Do you think that perhaps I might have an idea of his trading style based upon these facts? IMO, the only way to consistently make money trading the indicies, specifically futures, is to trade less and not more. (To be clear, I am talking about discretionary, non automated traders, that's an entire different game altogether) If you continue on your pace and make 20 trades per hour, as a discretionary trader, you will end up losing money on most days! You might come out ahead the first hour, after that, your toast. The more you trade, the more often you will give up the edge to get in and out of trades, the more you give up the edge, the more likely you are to come out on the losing side. There's my theory, A conclusion after 7 years of successful trading and constant study of the markets. Let's see if we can find some other real world successful futures traders that have a similar belief, similar style, and are immensely successful. Traders that have made money for years, the survivors of the game, the big Locals in the pit. Have you ever Studied how they trade the market. Most days, they trade they trade the first hour, and the last hour? Why do you think this is? Because they know their chances of getting chopped up, and giving back their profits increase with more trades. Good trades are rare, great trades even more rare. The fact is, they know that there are just a few good opportunites every day, and they focus on just capturing those. What is a great trade? A higher probability set up! One that you know is likely to come up a winner. That's all! Will I share my great trades of the day? No! I will share this, if you study the market, if you study your trades, winners and losers, you will know the better trades and opportunities when you see them.