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How do you guys feel about "leaving money on the table"
Mostly failure, but now finally starting to see consistency and the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel"
Just one thing that keeps bugging me...
There are days where I finish on profits and see the markets going further in my direction after I've exited, like "damn I could've made X much more today had I widened my target"
Or maybe just an extra trade that fit my system that I didn't take because I decided I've had enough for the day.
Do you think this is a bad type of mentality?
I mean, making money is better than making no money at all (or even worse losing it)
I just feel like on some days I'm not maxing out the profitability of my strategy.
Maybe it's because after I've made my "usual amount" I feel like I don't want to risk giving those profits back.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
PS - I know the worst thing you could do is attach yourself to your P&L...
I've probably not fully gotten over that hump yet.
Great topic. Congratulations on your building success and all the best to you for sure.
Each WEEK I review the bottom 20 % of trades. I usually do this Saturday morning. the purpose is to isolate and root out areas where I can improve. Trading is NOT a game of "perfect"...let that shit go. In your specific and segregated review time determine if a weakness is systemic or situational. Systemic is "target price". Situational is a beautiful girl or best friend Facetime call. Situational issues are distractions. Systemic issues are weaknesses. Improve on both, but don't fret or sweat it out during production time...just focus and move on to the next opportunity.
Years ago I reviewed each DAY...and I still could, but now most of the bottom 20% are winning trades or missed opportunity.
I agree that P/L is off screen during production time. Make trades and the P/L is the result.
Market Mind Games by Denise Shull might be an interesting read for you. She has legit credentials in both trading and psychology, a who's who client list and an interesting approach.
I agree with Dan. This is one of the hardest things to get over. Just realize Historical charts make all your trades look bad. You can see the perfect entry and perfect exit. In real life it’s just not possible to make those entries and exits. My approach is when I make a trade, it is the best decision at the time. If the trade goes against me then I try to figure out what I missed otherwise I don’t look at it.
Great topic, and I recognize my own behaviour / attitude just like I'd be looking in a mirror.
I've got exactly the same 'issues' (if you like to call them issues at all), and since I'm an all-in and all-out trader, I face these thoughts on a daily basis when I work through my journal at the end of the day.
More often than not I leave money on the table, sometimes more, sometimes less. Approximately 35 percent of my trades end up not going further than my fixed profit target was, the rest went way further in my direction...so should I eventually adjust my targets accordingly?
So, as a result, every time I try to shoot at a bigger target while trailing my stop, more often than not I get stopped out at a LOWER profit target compared to my origin fixed target at best, or worst case eventually at break even...
So I learned, and finally arranged myself and got used to the fact that I'm almost always better off by sticking to my fixed target...at least these are the facts my stats telling me every day, every week and every month...
"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." - Jim Rohn
I'm still struggling with this. My current solution is to trade with at least 2 contracts, and scale out. But I'm still struggling with scaling in without going all in.
In addition, I imposed the habit of strictly walking away from my charts when I hit my profit objective for the day, no matter what the market does after that.
Maybe that's not for everyone, but from my experience that's the best way to avoid giving it all back and staying away from overtrading.
"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." - Jim Rohn
