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based on what you are writing, I dont think you would have taken any profit when it was +15 given you did not when it was +7 on two prior trades... so continue to work on your mental state to aid you going forward.. or set profit targes..
you do well by trading real money... simulator is not a good teacher or aid for trading, only to learn a platform...if you are going to trade 6E though, I would recommend to trade using the 6E charts but to enter the spot market instead... look at OANDAfx... put in there $500 and then just trade very small amounts... with the same stop, etc...
once you have your psychology down, then moving to the futures contracts wont be that much of an issue and scaling from there in terms of contracts... the quotes wont be 100% the same, but you will find the action is almost exact.. I dont know your Timeframe, but at least on the 15M+ timeframe they are pretty much the same from my experience..
I might get flamed for this... and please know I do not endorse gambling or support its adictoin.. but...
there is nothing wrong with being a gambler, as long as you are a smart gambler (not adicted to gambling, but rather being willing to take risks) it is perfectly fine IMO.. the most powerful, and rich, men and women in the world are all gamblers..
allow me to elaborate.. gambling is no different than taking calculated risks(same as trading)... every poker player is a gambler, yet only good players will win at poker because they are able to calculate their risks and play by the rules of the game while trying to understand their opponents...
I am a gambler, and I gamble with life overall... whether it is real estate investments, job opportunities, trading, having a family and kids, traveling overseas, etc... everything we do is a gamble because it carries risk.. the trick is being able to size the risk and then determine what is acceptable to you...
sometimes we bet on the wrong things, even if all the factors and conditions were right at the time, those conditions might have changed after we made the bet... imagine taking a job with a total compensation of $250K, leaving your $180K job, and then 2 years later you never made the $250K annually you were expecting because of the CDO issues in the market and regulation limiting the bonus pool of financial companies..
was the bet to change jobs wrong? no!... you had no idea of what the market would do, and as such conditions changed from when that decision was made.. the opportunity presented itself, you evaluated it, sized your risk and took the job.... but in the end, it did not worked out as you expected it.... it could have well have worked out and instead of $250K you made $350K because of great market conditions and huge bonuses...
you see, life it is no different than trading... as I said, we gamble(trade) daily in our lives with the decisions we make...
what you need to figure out is why are you not confortable with your decisions, and if you are trading the right method/style for you.. what kind of trader are you? that is what you should ask yourself... find a method (and I dont mean a system) to trade that suits your personality...
for example, I scalp and swing trade for a reason.. it suits my split personality of wanting immediate rewards, while knowing that wealth building is a long term process and involves the accumulation of assets across a plethora of asset classes...
therefore, focus on finding out what kind of trading you are... and dont worry yet about finding a method that suits someone else until you know what will suit the trader in you...
I truly need to use a simulator to learn a platform, as you indicated, as well as to establish a methodology, which will enable me to regain my confidence. Just knowing this has lifted a major weight off my mind. I need to start from the beginning.
Plethora, take a read at webster definition of a gamble.. and not as to what popular culture defines it as... you will have a better understanding of what a true gambler is and does..
respectfully, I a disagree that a gambler believes he will lose... the most confident people I know, are gamblers... and they always know they will win... they dont just play poker, but craps and other card games; and they have discipline as their foundation... they actually approach their gambling as a job, not an addiction.
As to your doubt of me being a gambler... I have played blackjack now for over 10 years, got started on my 21st birthday by my uncle and cousin... and I am still up.. not because I have not lost money to the casino's, but because of my money management which took me about 2 years to develop and understand ... also, the example I put forth about the job was a personal one.
I took a gamble to increase my personal job income, and it didnt worked out. I did put my family at risk when I did it, just as everyone else out there does when they take a new job, but I did not blindly gamble on my new job. I was able to adjust my plan as I saw the conditions unravel. I changed my mind about relocating the family for me to be closer to work and save on the 3 hours rountrip commute; I looked at my budget and spending and started to control it and manage it more closely to a baseline; those were all things I did when I quickly realize the gamble did not worked as expected when I was told that my year end bonus would be 20% of plan and to pick between cash and stock options, that I could not have both. Believe me, considering the savings I had delivered to the company from their operating budget, I was rather pissed off about not being properly compensated, but nothing much one could do as I had plenty of friends that were laid off and did not even get a bonus thanks to the whole financial crisis we faced in 2008.
We are all gamblers; we all play and bet on uncertain outcomes, we all play the game of life for property or money, we all take chances, we are all exposed to risk and hazards on a daily basis. There are differences betwen those that see that simple fact of life, and those that dont.
Primarily, those that see the gamble in life will learn to exert proper risk management... those that dont, will just blame others, conditions, etc. and hope for hitting the lotto and get rich quick.. which is also why so many enter the futures market, and why those with skills take their money every single day.. and luckily, there is never a shortage of those that dont understand the simple facts of life and trading the markets... you need proper risk and money management for everything.
How you get into a trade (your "setup") matters less than how you manage that trade once you are in it... of course, a setup will increase your probabilities of success, so one gambles with common sense and a perceived edge to aid on the success... but that is all a setup does... once you are in a trade, your psychology kicks in.. and fear and greed tend to take over, and without a plan.. winners turn into loosers, and you end up averaging those losers and cutting short your winners and never adding to them. I've paid tuition to the markets, and as such I made all those mistakes as well; but those mistakes stopped when I started treating my futures trading no different than how I dealt with Black Jack, and how I traded options, after all they are just another derivative and nothing else.
as usual, I will disclaim... my beliefs dont have to be your own.. I formulated my beliefs from my life journey, those that mentor me, from friends and acquantainces experiences and plainly put, from others mistakes... so it is tailored to me and my personality, and it will more than likely not fit you... take what is of value from it and apply it to your own if any value exists for you. I dont profess to know it all, and I still have lots and lots to learn about trading and myself in general given that as complex beings we change all the time.
You should not follow anyone's advice directly, but rather listen and understand their challenges and then draw from the experiences based on how you think and your personality. Trading requires you to know yourself, as one faces all of ones demons at the same time when trading. IMO, without knowing who you are, you will fail.