Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
I'm new to trading and currently SIM trading the ES.
How do professional traders deal with the emotional rollercoaster?
When I'm in a trade, I want out ; When I'm out I want in. I love it and hate it.
This is only SIM and I'm not loosing money, but making much money either. One contract at a time. Still, the emotions are intense. Learning every day through SIM trading and trying to absorb the information on this site. Thanks for all the great info.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Agree with the confidence...if you've built your playbook, taken your "statistically significant" quantity of trades and have a proven edge on sim or micro lots, then you should have the confidence to rinse and repeat on a live account.
I have confidence in my system; to a point. I have confidence in my ability to trade; to a point. I do the research post-trade and do the research pre-trade. However, it seems that when I'm in a trade I:
a) Second guess my trade direction (When I'm in long I think of all the reasons it will/could go short)
b) Get out too quick (I don't let it get to my target. Get out with smaller wins)
c) Let a loosing trade go too long (Start moving stops out beyond my loss tolerance, it works a lot of the time, but I don't think I would ever do that live)
d) Throw my trading plan out the window (Plan says trade with the trend and I see a perfect retracement in the countertrend direction and . . .)
e) Allow distractions (Answered the phone today during a trade setup, missed the entrance . . . would have been a good trade . . always)
f) And last . . . I'm always upside down in a trade. Price always seems to be between my entrance and my stop. It usually will work its way back toward my target, but 90% of the life of my trade seems to be in the red. At least that's my perception. It sure gets my blood pumping.
If there are other mistakes, I'm sure I'm making them. Learning for them? Yes. Until tomorrow at 8:30am CST. Ha!
Trade a size that doesn't matter to you. That will help you see it through. If you are trading too big then impossible to control yourself.
As a temporary exercise only, put on trades for a week where you immediately walk away after you enter the trade, letting you either hit a profit or stop to get out.
Ultimately you want to use discretion but most people at the beginning stage would probably do better by not managing the trade.
Accept that when you place a trade, your heart beats faster, you get butterflies in your stomach, you start sweating, etc. Listen to what your body does. It's normal and ok to feel what you are feeling. Just accept it.
I agree that the ES may be a little too big, but it's the market I want to trade. I've looked at Forex, but I'm not comfortable with it. I don't think it's really about the money. I did listen to your 2 hour webinar for beginners and understand your 1% risk theory. Lots of great information. I will try what you are suggesting and just walk away from the trade. Not sure I can do it. Ha! Thanks again.
Thank you! Very nicely written. Where was this published?
One, of several, issues I have is that being new to trading, I am only using one system. It appears, based on my backtesting, that my system works well on some trading days, and not so well on others. I am now learning to understand the opening, identify the type of trading day, and make necessary adjustments. It's almost necessary to have different systems depending on the trading day (ie: trending, range-bound, etc.). I just don't have multiple systems yet or the one system I'm using doesn't necessarily work on particular type of price action. All part of the learning curve.
In order to keep this post on topic, one thing to note about emotions is that I love the emotions (all of them), I just want to be able to trade well while I'm going through all the emotions. If I have to trade without emotions I think I will find something else to do. It's a major part of why I want to day trade. Thanks for your input.
There are attempts in the works to beginning a micro ES instrument, which would be more affordable way to learn while trading a ES related market. You may want to look into the M6E (micro 6E) to begin with. I too was interested in trading the ES at first, but the more I learn how to trade on the M6E I think I may graduate to the 6E once I am ready, as opposed to going to the ES. I am finding the currency indexes more "beginner friendly" in their price action.