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One trade and done for the day. I didn't quite make up for my losses on the 9th, but I covered a decent portion of them. I consciously exited the trade early. I just wasn't willing to risk losing $ on a potential whipsaw or straight-up reversal. While the gain at exit was more than my initial risk, I know that trading like this, exiting early due to PnL, doesn't seem to be sustainable long-term.
My original analysis of the trade turned out to be right, and price continued in the direction I entered after I exited early. Or, it could have been due to luck rather than analysis. I'll have a better grasp on that after I've made some more trades.
There was some stress in the trade. It's always hard emotionally when price comes within a tick or two of my Stop. I start wrestling with "Should I exit early? No. But the fact that price has reacted strongly enough to reach this close to my Stop could mean that my analysis was wrong, or I missed something. But I should let the trade play out rather than exiting early out of fear. But what if I missed something?" Then the Stop is hit or it isn't, unless I exit early like I did today.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Have you considered setting a target and a stop with a bracket order and letting the market decide if you get a profit or a loss.
Exit at the end of the day if one of your exits isn't hit.
"The days when I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, I have really good days" RW Hubbard
I've used bracket orders in the past and I like them. I still use the Stop-Loss half of bracket orders though. My issue is that I don't know where to set the profit target. I try to catch trends and hang on until the trend terminates (keyword is try). There are areas that, when price reaches them, I watch the price action very closely for signs of buying if I'm short, or selling if I'm long, and then exit if my exit criteria are met. That's not what happened today though, haha.
I like the idea of exiting EoD. I don't have the nerves to hold a futures position overnight. Stocks would be fine, but not futures. 2 risky 4 me. Thanks for the helpful suggestions, yo.
Well... I did it. I blew up the account (again) last Friday.
Starting account balance on 1/12/24: $10,248.56.
Ending account balance on 1/12/24: $390.16.
Loss ($): ($9,858.40).
Loss (%): -96.19%.
I don't feel like rechecking the math on the percentage, so my bad if it's wrong.
Basically, I thought that I'd discovered an edge. I manually backtested, SIM forward tested, and then went Live. Was hovering around breakeven in the results. I got impatient and decided to take a shot at the ES, as if increasing the amount of risk was going to magically change my results. That didn't happen. I didn't have an edge. I had a string of random luck in the SIM account. To be more specific, I had 4 days of profits out of a total of 6 trading days, and I thought that that was enough evidence to greenlight Live trading again. Nope.
That first trade with the ES was unreal. It was the first time I'd risked that much money on a trade. I honored my Stop, which was hit, and when I looked at the PnL, that's when things started to go haywire emotionally. I thought I'd dealt with the desire to revenge trade before, but never like this. It was like a switch just flipped, and everything was panic. There were some trades that were green, but I closed them as soon as I saw green, so they only served to delay the death spiral.
It's weird. The mind is adept at creating the reality you want to see, and sometimes it's really out of sync with how things actually are. Honestly, I'm probably not psychologically stable enough to be trading in the first place. I also get way too emotional after a loss, which from what I've read, is a trait that has to be overcome to succeed in this field.
I read through some of the threads in the Psychology and Money Management section of the site over the weekend, and while I think it's admirable that some people have spent so many years trying to make money from the markets, I personally just don't have the time or interest to persist for so long without knowing whether or not it'll have been worth it in the end.
In summary: No Edge + Poor Psychology = Blow Up.
So, yeah. I'm done.
I've learned a lot about myself thanks to trading, which is something that I desperately needed. You can't change the character traits that you aren't aware of. I still have a long way to go before resembling anything close to functionally normal, and I'll keep on walking the path.
Okay, wow! Really sorry to hear the news. I was going to ask is you are done for good or only a couple of months but I reread your post and you sound like your walking away for good. If so, good luck on your future stuff!
Thanks for your honesty and self-awareness...from personal experience I know how hard it is for men in particular to admit to failure in general, especially financial...no free advice here, just keep on keeping on...be well, and above all, forgive yourself...
Sorry to hear that you are currently down and feeling the pain of it all. Many of us have been there and have done that many times.... Moreover, whenever you decide to not let this get the best of you, then consider a prop account with someone like Apex Trader Funding. In that way, you can still trade your system and work out the issues of risk and psychology at a reduced cost for both market data and the funding of your account. Since trading a $50,000 account for only around $50 is not a bad thing. However, it is not ideal with the draw down rules, but it will allow you to develop your trading system without breaking your bank. Thereafter, you can fund your own private account again with the success you will deserve from your hard work and patient dedication. At least it is something to consider?
