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It’s very important to get out of bad trades quickly. Always keep in mind that the
market continually presents new opportunities. If you overstay a bad trade, chances
are you’ll miss the next good opportunity. Similarly, when a trade is working for
you, don’t inflate the potential profits. Don’t expect too much from a single trade.
Take your profits while they are ripe on the vine—when the momentum is still in
your favor.
Everybody has good days in this business. And everybody has bad days, too. By
thinking defensively all the time, you can limit the damage done on bad days. When
you handle bad days well, you are on your way to becoming a good trader
The book The Risk of Trading by Michael Toma has been a godsend for me. My number one KPI is trade compliance which includes my Risk level. I wish you well on your journey back to the top. I have no doubts.
I don't use forums but I feel I have to give you my idea. I think that's a problem of all "scaling in" trader, but near it, there is more about personality than other. I have your same problem.
That's what I'm trying to do. More simple to say than to do but it could be a start.
So rules I'm trying to respect are:
-Learn to plan a maximum number of operations per day. Three, four, or five...... but decide it before trading.
-Second don't "scale in" in general.
-Third and surely the most important: work to accept defeats in general. You have for sure a personality that You don't want to lose never.
You must accept there are some days in a year that You don't feel the market. Stop there, accept a losing day but a loss of an amount you have decided before (number of operations per day and consequently the amount via stops). When you have done your number of operations per day let's try, day after day, to close the platform, close the pc, and go outside. Stop trading for the day. If the day before you had a loss never modify the number of operations per day, stops, size, etc to recover the loss of the day before. Try it. It's very hard and boring I know. But it could be very helpful.
I hope that helps you to continue an activity that you love.
Been there, done that....4 times. It took me that many times to learn that overconfidence combined with leverage is the best combo to blow up an account. I have learned to be more humble and not try to rationalize every move in the market. My advice is to start over again but go very small. Another lesson I learned: not making money is better than losing money. So, that means that you have to wait for the big fat pitch to come your way before hitting. It may means not putting on a trade for days at a time. It's okay. The market will give you at least one such opportunity per week. Gains will come by and your confidence will go up. Only then you can scale up but never, never, never put on positions where you can lose more than 1% to 2% per trade. I am an expert in revenge trading . I dealt with it by putting on stops and loss limits for the day. Hope that helps. Good luck. You built up your account once, you can do it again.
Hello, I fully understand how you feel. The problem, from my point of view, is of oneself; It has to do with a part of us that we do not control that leads us to repeat and repeat an act that in trading is destructive. Perhaps understanding well that perfection is not human and that mistakes are part of our nature can alleviate your desire to want to be perfect. Turning off the computer and going for a walk when the market is beating you is very difficult, I know, but it is the habit that works best to prevent it from happening again. The compulsion to repeat will not stop in the future but if you manage to turn off the computer (which is not easy) you will have taken a giant step as a trader.
regards
Don't worry you are in good company. The stories remain the same, only the characters change. Many a man has done this including me. I went from 50k to from 800k to zero I can laugh about it now!
You have 2 options initially
1) cry and run away
2) look at the positives how you got your account up in the first place, analyse where it started going wrong and make changes
I took option 2 in my case. I loved trading, but was wildly swinging with huge ups and downs. Now I find trading boring, because thank God im consistantly making money. So what changed for me?
1) I knew i was talented but I had no risk management
2) It took me many years to learn how to risk manage
3) risk management, in my opinion, is 90% of being successful in trading
4) You can only control what you lose, not what you gain
You can and will make a success of trading but take time to
1) educate yourself with quality posts on this website
2) take the time to read trading books
3) Work to a trading style that suits you
4) have a robust and solid risk management plan - know how much you will risk per trade etc.
Best of luck mate - you can make a comeback. But be postive, and first things first - you need to MASTER how to manage your risk. Making money is pretty easy after that.
It's always hard to hear a fellow trader go from a winning state of mind to a losing state of mind, but it happens unfortunately to 80% of the traders out there, including me.
The best advise I can give you, or anyone who has been there and experienced that same feeling of giving up or not believing in yourself is - search out, find and invest in a trading couch who can help your emotional and psychological side of trading - the neglected and most essential part in anyone's trading plan.
So stay the course, just get the tools you need to build your arsenal so you can become a better trader. Trading is a journey as much as it is a destination we all want to get to.
Blew, I just received an email with your post because of a long term follower of the site although I rarely drop in to see what's going on. I am not even sure if this message will be transmitted to you. I know you have received some supportive responses, and that many individuals will be supportive of you, and will empathize with you with words of encouragement. If you want empathy, I'm not your guy. I have been trading for over 40 years, and I'm a retired medical doctor. I can tell that you are frustrated with circumstances, and I can tell that you are an articulate guy. I'm going to assume that your sincere and that you have accurately represented an accurate accounting with poor results, and that this is not a spoof. There are so many things that are wrong with this story if it is true, it is a red flag and you should immediately stop trading... For a multitude of reasons. I am inferring that you trade penny stocks (possibly digital currencies) since you started with a $7000 account. That's a tell that you are an experienced trader and may be under financed. And while this may not be true, and that my assumptions are not correct, everything about taking $7000 account to a $70,000 account and impulsive trading with disaster occurring over a few days... and what I assume is a net gain of $3000 in a very active year of trading means that you could have a part-time job at a Seven-11 and make more money without risking your capital. The vast majority of under capitalized traders, and traders who have no significant level of training will lose money in the markets. My general recommendations are that you find a mentor, and this will cost you at least a few thousand dollars. The problem when you start trading is that you don't know what you don't know, and you don't know what you need. I know that this forum has featured well-known traders as guests. I believe that Al Brooks was a guest a few years ago. He has a very inexpensive video series which will require a tremendous amount of your time, but is generally good. However, it may not be good for you for various reasons. Andrew Menaker is a PhD clinical psychologist who mentors some of the best traders in the United States, but he is not there to teach you the fundamentals of trading. I have had many mentors including Larry Pesavento who is an excellent mentor, but like every other recommendation, he may not be good for you. You sound like a young, smart guy who doesn't understand the first thing about trading, and if you in a serious way are under financed the probability of ROR is high for you. Trading is a business, it requires an education and the help from people who know more than you do. It's ironic to me because you love trading, I don't love trading, but I treat it like a business and I know that I can make money. You spend a lot of time taking risks, and I spent a lot of time avoiding risk. If I see low probability for whatever reason, including my inability to assess probability, I simply walk away from the trade because I know I don't lose money if I don't take a trade that I have no sense of probability working to my favor. My guess is that you have no idea what that means, but you can learn about it if you treat trading like a business. I am reluctant to post my point of view, but if you get this I must've pushed the send button. ( please excuse the Typos )
I can laugh about it now!