===== More months & more years of bid prices , trigger pulling in my gut helped me; hardly ever hesitate in rush hour traffic anymore except when there is a good reason. You mentioned 3 years, good point ; BIG difference is most of that was polar bear down-trend; they are known for absorbing firepower!.
Daytraderpete, You received some very good advice in the previous posts. Allow me to add a bit of perspective. You said that you are not trading scared money. That may well be, but you are evidently not yet trading confident money. Since confidence can only be gained by doing and not just by watching, I agree with the previous posts suggesting you trade smaller size. Cognitively, you may know that your method works over time. However, you seem not to have yet developed the faith to take the leap when required. (I know that feeling well.) Faith can only be gained over time and in small steps of actual doing rather than just watching. There is no substitute. Let me give you an example. No doubt, you have seen a show where someone is asked to fall straight backwards into the arms of their spouse (or "significant other"). For a thinking person, this is not an easy thing to do. It requires faith. That faith did not likely develop just by knowing the person. It probably came about in small steps as a result of actual experience whereby the spouse demonstrated his or her trustworthiness in real rather than just hypothetical situations. Eventually, you have enough faith to allow yourself to fall backwards into that person's arms. And that faith probably came about in small, seemingly innocuous steps. So, the idea of trading small has nothing to do with whether you are trading scared money or not. It has everything to do with incrementally developing a real relationship with your method, rather than just an imaginary one. Regards and best of luck, Thunderdog
I was you! And to this day I can't tell you why I needed to create the struggle, before accepting the success. I can tell you I made a decision: I would succeed at overcoming whatever it was inside of me or die in the attempt. Still it took a longer than I could have imagined, a couple more years. Didn't matter if traded money, big, small, paper or whatever, the pattern remained the same. I thought: I don't "REALLY" trust in my method, or else I would undoubtedly follow it, but week after it produced, while I struggled finding some "good" reason not to take a signal or reverse when clearly it was time. No one I knew, including my wife would even look at the method - they knew it couldn't work, why if it did I'd be rich; wouldn't I? But thanks to an amazingly tolerant wife, I pressed on. I prayed a lot for the strength to overcome the "demon" within". Finally, I surrendered, stop berating myself, stop praying for Divine intervention and decided - Succeed or die in the attempt. Anytime after that, when any noise in my head started about "trading", I forced myself to repeat - "that's not up for discussion, I can, I must, I WILL succeed, that is my will and the will of God' supports me" Slowly I noticed I was taking more signals without question, but my stops were being tightened to much and/or to soon. I kept records and reviewed each day seeing where the fear overpowered the reason and slowly let the stops stay broader or taking 0.05 gains or loses when scared. I followed those trades and saw that they were better than 60% winners. I lightened up a little more, and little more, then after the baby steps from crawling to walking, it seemed the marathon would be no problem. It was not easy, it was not pain free, it was emotional until I decided[/] - no matter what - I'd succeed. As the internal dialog began to surrender to my decision my actions to fell into place. I hated the journey, but have never regretted it. As long you truly have a winning system, and can find a way to follow your dream, I suggest you do so. My heart and best wishes go out to you.