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Anyone else walk away from the screen... while still in a trade?
So I have a technique that I thought I would share, and maybe there is something you could add on to it, or something entirely different that you have found that works for you!
So in general I trade off of a 5 minute chart, in which once I am entered, my stop and target is placed. So what am I to do? Of course I could stare at the chart hoping, wishing,(yelling?) for it to go in my direction. But experience has dictated that I enjoy becoming empowered with emotion, and I decide that I can navigate the trade better than my system.
Well that's no good, so what's a trader to do? Well I walk away, or at least minimize my trade screen. Let me explain as I have a couple of things that help me with this.
I have a running timer that will repeat on different time intervals, so I will set a 5 minute timer, one minute before the current 5 minute bar closes. That way I will know exactly when to pop my screen back up and see where we are at, and I will have one full minute before the current bar closes as sometimes my exits are discretionary. It's hard waiting for the full 5 minutes sometimes, but that is what youtube is for(or the futures.io (formerly BMT) forum ). I know that once I have gotten a good entry, the best thing I can do is stay out of the markets, and let my system do its thing.
So I also use an alert to let me know of different events that might happen, that I will need to make an adjustment in between my timer going off. Once when the market moves in my favor to a certain point I move my stop to break-even, and another when the market has moved close enough to my target, I move my stop up to lock in gains in case the target is not met.
It has allowed me to be much more patient, plus adds a little surprise to my day. Who doesn't like opening up there screen, and seeing that they are up 30 points? Plus when I open the screen and my stop is hit, it is not nearly as emotional as watching the market bleed right into it.
So just an idea. It has helped me immensely when I couldn't help but interfere with my trades. So maybe it will help you!
The following 3 users say Thank You to lovetotrade for this post:
Actually I came to the same conclusion after cutting the profits of a couple of trades...
I am trading 10' bars and I have 3 timers set up just 3, 2 and 1 minutes before the bar would completely form. This way I have enough time going through all the charts and also inserting orders if opportunities arise.
Since I still have a full-time job as a computer programmer, in the remaining 7 minutes I am programming, this way reducing the risk of making mistakes... I only enter a trade if the setup is perfect and such setups don't require a lot of analysis to do before entering an order. I can almost feel it...
I might add this to what you said:
I saw that from the 3rd trade on the power to control my emotions weakens, so in the long run I made bigger profits while trading less. Generally I don't take more than 1 trade a day. Often, after 1 trade I close the platform and enjoy the rest of the day :P.
N.
The following user says Thank You to nicanorbabula for this post:
I can definitely appreciate taking one good trade and then walking, but if my first trade happened to be a loser then there is no way I could just walk away. Plus I have a daily profit goal, and stop loss limit.
I actually love spending time in the markets all day, and my schedule allows me to do it so why not right? I have had plenty of days where my last trade of the day put me in profit after a few small losses in the morning.
I also like using the smaller charts to get a better entry on my main chart, I find with my strategy it still works with a high degree of accuracy. But I do not see many others doing it.
I only trade one trade (future) per day maximum.
Entry and exit times are predefined on every day
according to the rules.
So setting that trade up with time(s) - incl. stop and walking away.
No need for screen time.
GFIs1
The following 2 users say Thank You to GFIs1 for this post:
I generally just switch to monitoring news and stuff while in a trade. There is a rare probability something could come up on the wires that actually unexpectedly effects the market. It's rare, but it does happen every few weeks or so.