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I began to be daily profitable since July. During July, I covered all the lose that I have done since the beginning of my trading.
I have a better strategy and discipline now, but I feel that I'm more nervous about losing money. I want to earn more but afraid to lose.
At the beginning stage, I was prepared to lose money due to my novice. Now with a positive profit on my account, I hate to lose. I become too cautious to miss good trade.
Does anyone had the same feeling or period? How did you deal with it?
Thank you!
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
I'm creating this thread with the purpose of a 'catch all' for any trading related question that futures.io (formerly BMT) members want to ask, but don't want to create a new thread for -- or find an existing thread to reply to.
I've …
But briefly, you are most likely trading too big. You need to trade "I don't care" size, so that you can focus on following your rules/methodology/trading plan, and not worry about the money. But you should not trade sim, as you need to have at least a little money on the line in order to practice your psychological trading response.
Trade smaller. Most people that I tell this to immediately think they cannot trade smaller, because they will never make back their losses if they trade smaller. Well, if you want to stop the losses, then you'll trade smaller. Once you are consistent, you can increase size.
Trading: Futures, spot FX, Energy Spreads Prop Firm
Posts: 61 since Jun 2011
Thanks Given: 16
Thanks Received: 61
hmm that's interesting that you feel more nervous about losing money now compared to when you were not profitable. Mike has suggested sizing down and I think he is right. I also hate to lose, on balance it's a good trait to have. I recently finished a long streak of winning days by going off my plan and having a big losing day - I suggest you dont do this! lol.
The way I am dealing with my 'hate to lose' issues are I am saying to myself 'it's ok to take small controlled losers as long as they are part of my plan'. I think that is where you have to go to get to. So small controlled losers are part of the plan and to be expected.
Maybe you could try some visualisation incorporating small controlled losers. So you could imagine your setups playing out in your minds eye, then imagine the occasional one goes against you and you exit for a small loser.
It would be interesting to know what your maximum loss per trade is as a percentage of your account.
I am guessing you are experiencing kind of a trading shock. You were able to put fear aside while in the battle to get your funds back. Now that you have it back you don't want to go back to war again so to speak. Trading can take a deep emotional toll.
For me a key is to have a statistical grip on expectancy and draw downs. You are going to lose on trades that is inevitable and a part of the process. You have to find ways that work for you in removing as much emotion as possible. Understanding my systems limits and where a system could be breaking down is what keeps me sane. Also important for me to understand when I am losing if it is within those limits it is normal and kind of like turbulence is nothing to fear.
Hey and nothing wrong with taking a break from trading until you kind of get your head back. Sometimes a break can really help you.
"The day I became a winning trader was the day it became boring. Daily losses no longer bother me and daily wins no longer excited me. Took years of pain and busting a few accounts before finally got my mind right. I survived the darkness within and now just chillax and let my black box do the work."
This is the age-old problem of fear playing tricks with your imagination. I read somewhere that fear in certain cases is an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real. If you have a real edge then you should act in your best interest. Always remember, those who avoid failure avoid success too. Is this what you want?
Hello everyone, thank you very much for all your advices!
I should have listened to you!!! I posted thsi thread last week, and after reading all your reply and well prepared my mind and emotion, I did well this Monday~
But I have not reduced the postion I used to trade, and I got a little too confident and even stupid on Tuesday night...After losing around $200, I got a long position and left to sleep (it was mid night here), without place a stop.............
I was too confident and too fear to leave a day with negative result...When I woke up at 3:00AM in local time, I found that I bought the high of Tuesday. Big loss.
I was able to cover parts of loss thanks to luck, FB turned up next day~ Still -$600.
I would like to share the lesson I got this week, and hope no one does the same stupid thing after seeing this post...
Making a mistake is actually a good thing to do -- it makes you think about what you did, and hopefully makes you want to change something for the next time.
As other people have said, you must expect to have losses. For one thing, you are not, and will not ever be, perfect. Sometimes you will make mistakes. For another thing, sometimes you will do everything exactly right, but the market will still not go the way you expected, and you will lose even though you didn't make a mistake.
Over a period of time, you will learn about the percentage of winners compared to losers that your particular way of trading gives you, and will know that, as long as you maintain a certain level of consistency, you can expect a certain rate of return over time. Then you can simply accept the losses as part of what it takes to have winners.
In the meantime, I hope that you will reduce the position you put at risk, and never leave a trade on without a stop....
Also, whenever I start to feel very confident about my trading, I take that as an emotional danger signal and stop trading for the day until the feeling passes, and I can be more calm, and possibly rational, again. Another thing would be, after taking a significant loss (at some level you've defined ahead of time), it's often a good idea to stop trading, rather than trying another trade or attempting to "make it back." You might find that your judgment is affected by the loss, and that, again, taking a break will let you recover and trade well later.
Just some thoughts. I hope your trading goes well with you.
Bob.
Update: I wanted to add that, in addition to taking a feeling of high confidence as a warning sign, I do the same with a feeling of fear or nervousness -- or of any intense emotion. If you can feel the same way while trading that you feel when you are doing a job that you know how to do, with no real ups and downs, then I think your emotional state can be trusted and your judgment will be better.
Again, just my thoughts.... Take what works for you, skip what doesn't.
(Don't skip the part about reducing your position size, though....)
This is a very common issue. Many times, one of the dominant factors as to why an individual cannot reach success is because they are scared of it. They are scared to hit the goals they have set because if they hit their goals and reached new levels they can now fall backwards to where they once were. Climbing up the ladder of success exposes you to the chance of falling down a few levels. The higher you get the farther you can fall and the scarier it can seem.
There is no way to advance through your journey to ultimate success unless you release yourself from the fear of falling backwards. Occasionally on the way up the ladder you may slip, you may fall down a few levels before you catch yourself, but you have the power to stop yourself from falling and continuing upward. I often see people advance up their ladder, starting at their "ground floor" only to run into their first slip, and jump backwards off the ladder in terror. They would rather stay where they are, on their, ground floor, instead of risking the chance of moving upwards and falling back.
It's a normal feeling, so your not experiencing any type of strange and rare issue, but unfortunately, it's a feeling that stops many people from every releasing their true potential. You need to learn how to take control of your mind in order to push adverse thoughts out!
