Ugh!! Get me out of this bad losing streak

matt every trading method I wrote with Tradestation was on fire from mid may to late June.

You hit it right I think when you defined the type of day to day action we have been seeing. When you look at the marke structure then and now, it pretty much jumps out at you.

Good luck man. It isn't you. It's the market right now. No follow thru.

 

Usually when I do this I miss the big run...losses are just a part of trading if you have a good system.

 

It's not a curse... guys here are trying to cheer you up in some sorta way saying it's part of the game.

But... realisitically your trading style has a 15+ losing streak and it is bothering you. Then you should revisit your trading style to where you are not bothered. Let's get realistic... losing streak part of the game... sheeshhhh... that's trading 101.... only way to get out of you anxiety(if it is one) is to trade it back.

You know yourself more now that you don't like 15+ losing streaks... then change it so that the max losing streak is 10, 8, or 5.

F*ckn' stop cheering up this guy with pity and be more realistic... The man has to wipe his own shit off his butt and not wait until some helping hand comes around with some toilet paper...

 

It depends on whether the trades were correlated.

 

WD,

I appreciate your input. You are correct; I could probably retool my strategy so that it would work in this market, but I believe that would just hurt my returns in the long run. I would rather spend my time on my new strategy, and learn its intricacies.


I’m not depressed, or upset about the losses (lord knows I’ve lost much more in the past); mostly I’m just probing other trader’s thoughts to see what they do to get out of long streaks.

I suppose I do appreciate the sympathy (ass wiping as you would refer to it) that I've heard from other swing traders, but most of all I’m just curious if anyone else has been experiencing the similar amounts of draw down that I've seen lately.

Thanks,
Matt

 

I've been an active trader for over 31 years - in that time I've only had 13 winning days, the last one was in '77.

I don't understand what all the bitching is about...

 

Say you're a farmer and you have been a fairly successful farmer as farmers go. Year after year you farm the way you know works, the way you have been successful. Sometimes it's a dry spring, sometimes it doesn't rain for four straight weeks, sometimes the crop is a bit thin, but overall, it all has worked out pretty well.

One year it doesn't rain for three months, the crop is withered and dying. You have done exactly the same things that have brought you success in years previous. But it doesn't matter. Because the one thing that is not conducive to farming is occuring for an extended period of time.

So what do you do. Do you pull up and move on, change your whole way of farming, put in irrigation for an event that has not as yet been anything other than a rare occurence? Do you examine yourself as a farmer and treat yourself harshly because it didn't rain. What.... you should have known this day was coming?

Well you did know it. There is always the worst drought, the hottest summer, the coldest winter, the most this, the least that...! Does it mean that you knee-jerk and make unnecessary changes? No. Does this mean you are spiralling into the depths of hell? No. It means you are on a losing streak. Is there a cogent and valid reason for it? Yes.

You were on fire before, now you are cold as ice. I bet you weren't asking questions when you were hot. But now you're cold and wonder why. The market sucks right now for your style. That's all. It was great for your style in mid-May thru June. It stinx for your style right now.

I'd do like RS7 said and cut back the size. Streaks are a part of the game regardless of what you might be told. And you know it anyway. So stay cool, cut back, preserve your capital, and live to trade another day.

Other than that, have a beer,

 

Well, they were correlated in the fact that they all used the same market timing program as a setup, but the real problem is that this strategy requires at least 3 days (usually 4) to make a decent profit. So in the end, I'm just getting chopped to death.


I've back-tested this strategy to 1995 and the longest losing streak was 8. So I guess 16 (5 of which are breakevens) really isn't unthinkable, just unfortunate

 

So what you're saying is that if I put in an irrigation system, my trading will improve.


Hmmm, If you say so, I've got to go to Home Depot for a bit.

 

LOL!

I found indoor plumbing was a big help for me. It seemed I always missed the best trades when I went to the outhouse.

Maybe that's just "hind"-sight! Lol, I "crack" myself up. Lol, there's another one!