I only daytrade NQ with 2-5 roundturns per day. I'm observing that as I make my trading rules more concrete and not open to any doubts, I have a smoother and consistent P/L curve. My earlier rules had conflicts between each other which used to lead to "I could have..." or "I should have..." type remarks from myself after almost every single trade. The doubts that were caused by my own rules lead me to trade inconsistently and react differently to almost identical set-ups. The worst part was with profit taking. Now once I have a position, I rigidly trail it with stop order and also have a separate profit taking order at a specified level. Now I feel much more comfortable. Also, the excitement/stress that I get from the markets has diminished. I now think that the excitement/stress was mainly caused by unconsciously knowing that I will act in an unpredictable manner NOT the market itself. Anyone had similar experiences?
Yep... that's how I started until someone showed me the benefits of having strict rules for trade management (entry, exit, initial stops, trailing stops, profit-targets). Few traders can trade successfully without such. I wasn't one of them and realized my initial needs for excitement which also brought on more stress... the ups and downs. was some sort'uv way of feeding an unconscious thirst. A friend (non-trader) and I were visiting another friend (new to trading) awhile ago... the non-trader made this comment about trading after 3 days of observation... "Traders could be easily misdiagnose as being bipolar" That comment stung a little and brought back memories of when I first started trading and I wonder how many other traders went through the same experience... before realizing that some of us need to feed that unconscious need via another method...via something else in our life... while sticking to a discipline trading plan that's often very boring but a lot more profitable. NihabaAshi
I'll bet most of us have had that experience, I know I have, a few times, until I was convinced. And the more exciting things got, the more money I was losing. Now, in all honesty, the best indicator I have that my trading is going well is that when things are really clicking, It's boring, but I'll take that any day. Jessie
I gotta agree with the other Brethren on this... although I have a discretionary element to whether or not I enter a trade, once I am in a trade, I am a robot...