You need to backtest your strategy until you feel virtually certain that it will work. When you get there, just obey it. It has proven itself, you haven't. If you get to that point, you will know you have something of value, and won't have any rational reason to fear trading anymore. You will be tried on your road back, but if your strategy is sound, what should happen will. Wilt
Thank you for the replies thus far. Taking time off is something I should have done 5.5 months ago; I would be much more financially comfortable right now. It is something that I personally should have done...I don't think my firm had my best interests in mind when they told me to keep trading (would've disrupted their commission structure I imagine). Another lesson learned there. I have reduced size, but not enough. I was trading roughly 10x the size I am at the moment...I'm convinced that my strategy flounders when volatility drops, so if I perceive that volume is available, I "push it". Those days are over for awhile I imagine. The past is the past, which is why I am hoping this is the bottom for me. I need some drastic change to move on, and I think a good place to start will be with a break.
Nothing surpasses the thoroughness of your methodology and its reliability. A professional depth of knowledge and experience adds the polish. And also needed is a robust and relaxed temperament to match your complete amoury of trading savvy. No offence is intended to anyone but it must be plain to ET readers that most or many at ET are skating on thin ice even when they manage to become net winners over time. It is only when you finally know what you are doing and you can trade day after day as an accumulating net winner, that you are in all relevant aspects an assured player in markets. Loss of confidence follows a series of losses. Stupidity and panic have deep down become your controllers, even if you cannot admit it or even recognise it. This phase is frequently referred to at ET as 'lack of discipline'. Its a primeval return to your real rank in the human herd as a loser, fit to follow maybe but not to be the master.
so he started with 32k....built it up to 350k then lost 315k. Damn! I hate that when that happens. Es
"Know thy enemy but not yourself, wallow in defeat every time." "Know yourself, but not your enemy, find level of loss and victory" (does this describe you?? ) "Know your enemy and know yourself, find naught in fear for 100 battles." ~ Sun Tzu
count the number of i 's and me's in your post,this would be a well written story for any magazine, but (no offense)there is no room for "you" in your daily trading decisions,there is a market and there are millions of accts, so you are just an acct,not a person ,while trading..making money fast, getting pumped up and foolishly giving it back,happens hourly in vegas,..vegas ,like the market ,is happy that you came ,won't remember your name , "I Don't Exist" should be the name at the top of your acct,put that down as requirement number one in your list of requirements to take a trade, the market is like a pinball machine , a mechanical box that you play games on,all the feel good ,feel bad stuff will just get in your way
It's not easy to start over. I had a similar experience to yours back in 99-01 (as I'm sure many others had). It took me about 6 years to go through the cycle of a) realizing what once worked had stopped working; b) starting over from scratch; to c) developing workable "edges" (for lack of a better term) through endless trial and error through a number of markets and time frames. Note that going from a) to b) can cost more time and money than most would initally imagine -- but it's just what is required to break you down completely until you realize what is necessary to start over. It may be that whatever you were taught was the perfect setup or attitude towards that particular moment in market time, of course now things are much different. But the market hasn't changed that much fundamentally, the players may have changed names or faces but the same psychology underlies them all. If you're clever enough you may be able to go back and distill what it was you were doing that made you profitable before, and apply the same principle yet in different forms, adapted to present market conditions. And if you happen to find something that does work, don't stop there. Keep looking, keep searching, the name of the game is to be able to play as many variations as possible, to be able to wear many different hats when the time requires, so that a single shift in market conditions (volatility, bull/bear, macro forces etc) cannot hobble you completely. That's the key to longevity. You're learning the hard way now what makes this game as a career so damn difficult, don't let that lesson go to waste.