Jack Schwager asked Ed Seykota, Don't all traders want to win? from "Market Wizards" by Jack Schwager
He is a "Forum Wizard". He has become a star in this forum and his threads are big hits. He reminded me of the trader described by Ed Seykota. If he was really really concerned about losing money would he write poems about it? He wants to make money, but not bad enough. The day he'll stop posting here, and snap out of this character that's become so popular and likable (because many of us have been like him), then he'll start making money. There are too many people here who know him this way, as a trader who loses money. In a sense, this stops him from changing, because we often behave the way people around us expect us to behave.
Good post gordon, You are starting to think right no doubt. You got it on another thread when you said, "If I can easily lose this much everyday, then I know it is possible to make this much everyday." Think what you are doing, you religiously take every small loss. And when the bigger move comes, it doesn't cover all your small losses. I like you gordon, because you are honest with yourself. You were stuck in a mire, and now you are starting to think your way out of it. I think you've made the getting your head straight transistion, now just look at what you're doing and turn it around. That's why they call it turning around. My only purpose in replying is just to encourage you. You are obviously very determined to win. And I am quite certain that when you are ready to win you will.
I know this, because I have been through it. When someone brags about losing money, it means he's not concerned about it. You have the right risk control only when you are afraid of losing money as you'd be afraid of getting beaten up. GG, do you feel pain when you lose money? No, you don't, or else you couldn't write a poem about it, like you did recently. I remember how much I've changed. I used to tell my relatives about my trading, and enjoyed talking about it, whether I had lost or made money. Now that my life depends on my trading, I don't want to talk about it with anyone (except on financial forums) and I don't even want my relatives to say "good luck" to me. It really pisses me off. If they ask me how I am doing, I say "I'd rather not talk about it". If they ask what I am doing, I also say "I'd rather not talk about it". A loss to me is too serious to joke about it. Even a profit is too hard earned to pretend it was easy and brag about it.
I say this because, earlier today, I went back and read a lot his posts from the summer. Nothing has changed, it is the same thing over and over. There needs to be some sort of learning curve. He hasn't demonstrated one. Taking some time off would be the best thing he could do. He's flushing money down the toilet. Why? One of the most important things to being a good trader is knowing when to step away. I have been there. I was forced to take time off permanently by my boss because I was a jackass. It was completely deserved. GG still has money left, I didn't. He needs to step away.
When you buy something, you have to have a very good likelihood that it will go up. If your entry system sucks (let's say whatever you buy has a 50/50 chance of going up or down), and you take a loss as soon as it's there but have a higher profit target, then you'll end up with lots of little losses and a few occasional good trades, which is what you seem to be getting. What I'm saying is that if the way you take profits/losses is asymmetric but the chances of something you buy/short to go one way or the other a close to equal, then you will continue to incur losses. Having a smaller stop loss and a higher profit target works only if what you buy does tend to go up more than it tends to go down. In other words, as Nitro pointed out repeatedly, the reasons for getting in matter. If you got in without odds in your favor, then you get what you got. Just b/c it's so easy losing money, doesn't imply it's equally easy making it if you reversed your trades.