Hey brothers, I don't know why I am having trouble with this hurdle. Maybe its fear maybe its greed. I will be up nicely for the day only to push it and give it all back and then some. I'm taught to strike while the irons hot, but when the iron get hots I only end up burning myself in the end. This slump I am now in is really destroying my equity curve. What has been other peoples experiences in tackling this, and walking home with something in your pocket consistently. I'm on day 12 of a straight losing streak, and its slowly breaking my will. I need advice. I hate to think my last month was pure luck. How does one handle this or change this course? I feel each day as if anouther bullet (no pun intended) is causing another wound and I'm slowly bleeding to death. Thanks in advance.
Couple of thoughts - If you're "getting up nicely" then giving it back, set a goal tomorrow, whether its 100.00 or 200.00 or whatever....hit it then stop. A few days of a positive P/L in your pocket might just throw the monkey off. Otherwise, why not just take a vacation...tis the season and whatnot, volatility isnt exactly partying here...for me, a week off has always been good to recharge my batteries especially when in a rut. I'm sure many others will chime in with better advice, but the above have worked for me, best of luck in shaking this and getting back to profits!
If you review this part of your statement, you might find that the iron, at some point during the day is in fact "not" hot. How else could you give IT back? Find that point, and avoid it like the plague. sulong
chaos, take the rest of the year off and get geared up for 04 instead of getting frustrated becaus it aint gonna get better from this point out. also rethink that hot philosophy
you been trading sir? less than 1 yr ? what style of trading ? how much d you risk per trade? do you work alone or with a firm? futures or equities only? more info is needed for a better take on your situation .... yes ... time off might help too ps I am guilty of that one .... have not taken a nice vacation in an while.
Chaos, Perhaps your methodology is finished....time to find a new way to trade. Change is hard and accepting that your system is no longer working is very hard. I have had to do it. Taking the year off was good advice from another poster...I take time off from time to time to get perspective. This is part of trading...learn how to take time off. Your post seems to indicate that you are blaming yourself....do you keep a trading log? Go back to last month and read what you wrote to yourself. I find trading logs/diaries very, very helpful and would recommend it to any type of trader. Michael B.
Agreed, give yourself a couple weeks off, enjoy the holidays and take a fresh look at things in the new year. Sometimes it's easy to let losses impair our objectivity and that just compounds the problem -- there's nothing harder than trying to climb out of a hole or trading to "get it back". Good luck!
Rather than fear or greed, you may be having trouble letting go of the loss and trying to make up for it the next day. As the string of losing days has continued, it may be more and more difficult to get it out of your mind and therefore when you push it, you are losing discipline or not determining risk/reward correctly. I used to struggle with the after effects of one losing day because I traded with too much emphasis on a $ amount that I wanted to net each day. If I had a down day, mentally I would think that I needed to make up the lost p/l, plus the daily goal I failed to meet, plus the current days goal, in order to be back on pace. This would invariably lead to poor trading because I would over-trade, and throw on more size than normal. The bigger positions would lead to larger than average losses if the trade didn't work out, and the commissions would add up. Usually one losing day would lead to a string of three or four. I have since learned to take losing days in stride and do not let them influence my next day's trading. I do adapt my trading if I am in the hole early in the day. I find that many people trade worse when they are in the red because their criteria for which trades to take is lowered. They fear missing the one trade that could get them positive on the day and therefore trade everything that looks remotely viable. I call this the "I'll fuck anything that moves", mentality. Rather, when I am down on the day, I adopt an ultra-conservative strategy, where I will trade only the absolute best setups(low risk/high reward). You can't afford to have scratch trades, or even worse, losing trades when you are in the hole, they just increase the hurdle you need to get over to get positive. By being more selective than normal, I can ensure that my p/l is moving in the right direction with every trade I put on. If nothing presents itself, so be it; the loss hasn't widened. If you aren't having trouble getting up on the day, lock a couple of those days in to put a literal end to the losing streak, and to get your confidence back. I find that I make 60-75% of my day in the first hour and a half of the day, then I put in on cruise control and coast the rest of the day picking off trades here and there to round things out. If I don't make my piece at the open, I don't try to force anything just to make my #'s, because the opportunities are rarely there. I should mention that I am a scalper, so the times where volume is heaviest are my best bet. Most importantly, forget the down days/lost money. They are gone. Keeping track of how many days in a row you've lost will affect your ability to trade well. Instead maybe you should keep track of how long you can go without a down day. That way, a down day only signals the start of a new win streak, rather than some sort of failure.