Friday's results: -785 Not much to say about what happened friday, nothing new really. Discipline and mental fortitude broke down and it's a lot to lose on one contract. Down about 1600 for the month of Jan. While its a big loss for me, it can be made back with the right mind set. I know that I will never have a career worthwhile in trading with one contract and anyone reading this understands that. You simply don't make enough to live off of. So the first step for me going forward from here is to get my trading back in order, have a string of winning days and weeks, then step up the size. Trading has to be worth it. A trader needs to make alot more money than he normally would in a regular job, otherwise it's just not worth subjecting yourself to the bullshit that market dishes at you everyday. I'm not exactly going back to the drawing board, but I'm going back to the basics of what I understand about trading. PS. Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!
Small up day, finally. Took some scalps and didn't have the guts to hold on for larger moves because my confidence is shaken a bit from all the losses. Back at it tomorrow.
Happy New Year guys... It has been a while... Sorry a bit of rough going for you lately.. THE only thing that could ever GUARANTEE no excessive down days (which more often than not got worse for me as the day progressed) is a percentage account loss limit for the day. When I was with Global Futures I used Turbo Trader that allowed you to set a loss limit for the day that was great (you had to call in to have the limit raised). I have not found another broker/platform that has such a feature... I would think the health of a Brokers trader base would be enhanced by having management tools to help the trader but such tools probably reduce the brokers take overall, though long-term I think it will favor the Broker. Most account losses I have had have been single day disasters which if managed would seriously improve my results. THERE HAS TO BE AN ACCOUNT DAMAGE LIMIT WHEN A TRADER IS HAVING A BAD DAY/PERIOD OR WHEN MARKETS CHANGE MAKING THE TRADERS METHOD(S) GO BAD. Without this there is NO WAY one can EVER trade for a living since Humans go crazy every now and then, some more than others. The psychological damage is better avoided as well. Only reason I can imagine (was MY reason) not to stick to a limit is we remember the days we have dug ourselves out of holes so think a red day can be righted.. For me these days were the minority. FYI, I have moved on to Forex as the granularity allows almost any account size to be properly managed, risk-wise. This allows swing trading, my old love. There are also several markets to pick from therefore more opportunities. Downside so far is the trading window is much larger unlike the Indexes where traders know they have to trade in a small window. Therefore more monitoring required.. BUT the precision required not as fine as NQ since it is quite easy to adjust risk as needed. Other downside (if it can be called one) is the events that move Forex harder to understand... may not be a downside as this removes the interpretation and bias hell. Still learning but will get there. Always open to educated advice. I do still pine for NQ (10 points=$200!!) every time I look at it but remind myself if I want the huge risk Forex CAN give even more... Hang in there!! Rashid