Most likely psychological? It is amusing, I am only trading for a Big Mac every day so it shouldn't be a big deal but it is. @toucan, I answered your questions in red in your quote.
thanks for your response. i trade futures so my answers might not apply to your questions.. i daytrade 3 metals futures and 2 energy futures and usually make about 5 to 10 trades per day over the 4 hours that i trade. i only look at if i am profitable over the month, anything green is good for me. but my "expectations" are: >=50% of my trades will be profitable (i run 40-60%) and my profit versus:loss ratio will be >=2R profit versus 1R loss (i consistently run about 1.6R profit versus 1R loss) percentage profit on your trading account isn't a good metric because it changes with the amount of money you use to trade with. for example: if i trade with $10K and make $1,000, thats 10% profit, but if i trade with a $100K account and make $1,000 thats 1% profit. i trade futures so my account is sized to the margin that it takes to trade my 5 futures. cheers toucan
Thanks. Those are very helpful perspectives. It is interesting live tests, even with a small size taught me more than 10 x paper trades.
@Jzwu2017, I do want to come back and thank you for one of your prior responses: I didn't believe it but you were right.
^^^ so true. ignorant asses like me who started out completely new to financial markets with a $100k live account...lol...
Once again, @Bad_Badness has offered good advise. MFE/MAE are excellent metrics for helping design setup and trade plans. Tips and/or gotchas... MFE/MFA are PER TRADE metrics... You WANT maximum MFE and minimum, or 0 MAE. Maximum MFE can be attained by exiting profitable trades while they are running. For instance, a scalp trade where you "expect" 10 ticks with a limit order exit in place will produce max MFE even if it continues for another 1000 ticks. This is where type/style of trade fits. As a scalp trade the job is done, and done perfectly according to plan! But as a swing trade, did your system/plan get you back in? Did you second-guess? etc etc. OTOH, MAE teaches about stops... there are 5 types of stops... 1) Chart structure stops. 2) Money only stops. 3) Time stops. 4) Catastrophe stops. Think circuit breakers and black swans... Is this the trade that wipes you out? Or will you be able to trade again tomorrow? 5) Ad-hoc stops. Also known as "feel". This has potential to create very bad trading habits. One other nicety of MAE, it teaches about "give back". Which includes BE. I also want to mention paper trading. I am from the camp that paper trading is best used for "how-to" use your platform. Today, with all the micro, nano, onesie, and fractional instruments, there is no reason NOT to have skin in the game. Further, as Ai pervades, the more you NEED to understand YOU and what YOU do. It's like the TV show "Undercover Boss"... It takes a human to see the human costs and stupidity of highlighted cells in a spreadsheet, and the effects of policies written with a Pilot G2 pen over a bagel and a shmear in the c-suite lounge. Good trading to you.
So on average how many trades do you try to make daily and do you have a profit target per day/week/month?