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Entering a trade seems to be one of the easiest parts of trading - you analyze, assess, define your entry point, hit the entry button and you are in. Hopefully you immediately place your stop once you are filled on your entry.
Now what? I would think the vast majority of time, within a very short space of time, your trade goes into some type of drawdown, the result of normal market movement. If you aren’t totally sure of your entry or maybe your actual methodology, which the vast majority of newer traders usually aren’t, your heart rate might tick up a few beats. Sound familiar? The market slips a little further against your position and you then start questioning? Hmm maybe I should have done this, or maybe that? Your heart rate might increase a little further and from this point, everything else is insignificant.
If you find you are agreeing with any or all of the scenario described above, you might want to consider the most common possible causes and some possible solutions.
Causes:
1) you are not really sure that you have the right methodology. You haven’t analyzed your technique/entry over enough previous data to convince yourself you actually have an edge.
2) you have misinterpreted the current market structure or setup
3) you have been beaten up in’ the market previously due to a multitude of possible reasons
4) you are over leveraged and/or under capitalized
5) you are revenge trading
6) you have unrecognized significant psychological damage from previous exploits in the market (ties in with number 3).
Solutions:
1) ensure you have an edge. Spend the time analyzing your technique/methodology and convince yourself, that over time, it is profitable.
2) before entering the trade remind yourself that this is just one trade in isolation. Based on your edge and known metrics of your system, this trade is insignificant as it is one of many and you know, that over time, you do actually have an edge.
3) if you are over leveraged/undercapitalized - just STOP now. I believe this is THE biggest contributor to all the psychological damage that scars every single trader that trades the markets. Do not go and trade on the sim, that is pointless. Use the new micro contracts that are an absolute game changer, in my opinion, for new and struggling traders. They allow you some actual skin in the trade but they won’t break you financially if you’re wrong. They should help with allaying some of the stress and fear that occur when you have too much money at stake on any 1 trade.
4) consider entering your trade, entering your stop and possibly profit target and then getting up from your computer for the first 5 or 10 minutes of the trade and do anything but watch the screen. The noise of the market screws with psychologically damaged trading minds more than one gives it credit for and propagates the damage even further.
5) if your last trade was a loss, and you are feeling some type of emotional reaction because of it, get up and get away from the computer so you don’t place a rash trade in order to make up for your recent loss. Time away from the screen during the trading day can help reset your thought processes and allow you to analyze the market in an unbiased manner rather than through a confirmational bias lens that constant staring at a screen all day might do.
Interesting to hear from both experienced and newer traders whether they stare at the screen once they are in a trade.
After I take a trade, I normally just wait for the trade to play out and the profit target is hit.
Unlike most traders, my entry and stop are all executed at the same time.
(ENTRY, STOP, TARGET)
Yes, I can take a trade without a target but mostly I don't.
If there is no target, my stop is moved to BE when I can and then manually exit.
My risk is considered before the trade and I don't move the stop away from price.
When I take a trade, I have decided that the risk (stop) is worth taking the trade.
This single trade is just one of many that exploit my edge.
If my stop is hit, then I'm out and look for the next trade.
No emotion, no regret, that happens.
Rejoice in the Thunderstorms of Life . . .
Knowing it's not about Clouds or Wind. . .
But Learning to Dance in the Rain ! ! !
Once I take the trade I try not to mess with it. And I should be able to say emphatically that I don't mess with it, but I do sometimes and I've learned over time that it's usually not helpful. So I try to stick to the plan I made and then when I've exited the trade I take a break to plan the next one so I don't fomo in short after closing my long. That usually ends badly.
By the mere manner in which you attack for no real good reason shows you do not have control of your emotions. This is a fatal personality trait in trading. You need to hone and train your mind to perform at your best when doing battle in the markets. I did not attack your “system”, I merely pointed out that based on the charts you illustrated, your methodology(not system as you don’t have any rules to your trading) would fail under normal trading.
In answer to some of your direct sarcastic questions here are the answers:
1) I don’t have posts of trades, I trade a methodological system that tells me exactly when to enter and exit. If this site had been around when I was struggling to get profitable I would surely have utilized all the tools at my disposal. I see my success( or occasional failures) on a daily basis on my live brokerage account. That’s how I measure my success.
2) How do I trade - I will do a separate post later today here and I’ll show you exactly how I trade. I’m sure it will open your eyes to potential methodologies in the market.
3) I don’t aim for any amount of points, I take what the market gives me for the day. Some days it is so bountiful, beyond imagination, others not so much and then others, small losing days. I don’t trade 1 market, I trade anything that moves.
4) I haven’t done a journal for years - don’t need it now. My trading is so boring now because it has rules that are followed and never broken. My stop is always in place and never gets moved unless it is simply to decrease my risk, not the other way around.
5) I don’t trade anything like that size - my size is determined by the equity in my account and the amount of risk I am placing in that particular market at that particular time. If I’m trading a number of markets at once, then less equity will be allocated to that particular market compared to if I was trading that market exclusively.
Hope that answers some of your questions. Look for my brief post on how I trade later today or latest tomorrow.
Ok great. Id like to see. It all sounds great on paper. I still don't believe you but who I'm I? Nobody. And neither are you.
Sounds like you've got it all figured out anyway. Great purposeful rule based entries with perfect exits and of course you ride all the winners all the way. And your so good you trade anything that moves... Oh and of course you got money management down pat with the whole size of account divided by the volatility of the market divided by the size of the contract. Wow your amazing.
Lets see the pudding. I dont care how you trade. Im here to learn and Ive said in almost every post Im no master but if someone can learn something from me Im not going to just attack them.
I have been a member of FIO for a number of years and unfortunately have not had too much time to spend on the site contributing until the last couple of months. Even now, I drop in to the site whenever I can, but it isn't as much as I would like …
I give you what you so desperately want and asked for. Maybe you should eat a little humble pie now.
Your post just goes to prove my point. Im not going to get into your indicators because like you said you mastered them and thats ALL THAT MATTERS. I could not trade that for the life of me. I wouldn't trust them. So what. You NEED to trust your system otherwise you wouldn't follow it.
Below is a screenshot of MY FULL SCREEN. I have posted this very chart in my journal. I only posted my charts but I use time and sales and volatility as a guage of your "power" and a higher timeframe line chart of closes for a bit of a bigger picture for perspective.
And I guess in this example, if you were to trade it, you'd have bought all those pullbacks in the raging bull?
You still have not proven anything but I am dropping this. I wish to play no more. This is not why Im here.
The discussion between you and @TraderDoc007 in this and another thread has heated up enough. Personal remarks and outright rudeness, no matter the cause, are not permitted. If you object to someone's remarks, you can reply in a civil manner with your objections, or simply ignore them.
I have read through all of the discussion between you in both threads. Some of @TraderDoc007's comments were critical and could be seen as disparaging up to a point, but did not break the rules. On two occasions you made personal remarks -- called him names -- that clearly violate our policy. I have removed those two posts.
It is fine to disagree with another, and there is no problem with strongly-voiced disagreement. There is a problem when the exchange becomes personal and descends into rudeness, as it has.
Any repetition will result in your being banned.
Please conduct yourselves with respect for the community's standards, and there will be no further problem.
Thanks.
Bob.
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Note: this post has been edited to better reflect the situation in both threads.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote