Best Thread Afraid to make a trade after a Loss

I have been trading for a while now but I still can't overcome my emotions. I made a trade today that went against me. I stopped out for a 2 point loss so nothing too disasterous. Following this I spotted what I believed to be another 2 good entries but was reluctant to enter a trade in case I got it wrong again. Both would have been profitable!! I am curious how many other traders go through this? Also, how many traders have gone through this stage and how did you overcome the fear? Is it a case of more practice and experience?

It's a case of having the confidence in your system mate. Get out quickly from losing positions and stay with the winners. Sit out until you can say that, it's not personal. Don't take it that way. Test your system again by just watching what's going on. Ease back in with small positions. Build up slowly, it's not a race.

Keep it up, don't worry you'll get there. Best of luck

1) find a reason not to be in the trade. if you find it, dont trade.
2) once in a trade, find a reason not to be in a trade. find it. is hope the driver behind your reason to stay in the trade? yes. close.

my 2 pennies
j

new_trader said:

I have been trading for a while now but I still can't overcome my emotions. I made a trade today that went against me. I stopped out for a 2 point loss so nothing too disasterous. Following this I spotted what I believed to be another 2 good entries but was reluctant to enter a trade in case I got it wrong again. Both would have been profitable!! I am curious how many other traders go through this? Also, how many traders have gone through this stage and how did you overcome the fear? Is it a case of more practice and experience?

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most traders go through this, the way round it for me was to reduce size to one tenth so that you become blase about the money if you loose so what you wait for the next setup, once the trades become almost second nature as you stick to your plan then you can increase the size

Sadly it does return as your account grows in the form of trading size barriers

Priceman said:

It's a case of having the confidence in your system mate. Get out quickly from losing positions and stay with the winners. Sit out until you can say that, it's not personal. Don't take it that way. Test your system again by just watching what's going on. Ease back in with small positions. Build up slowly, it's not a race.

Keep it up, don't worry you'll get there. Best of luck

Click to expand...

I agree, you can't expect to win every trade and if a small 2 point loss is giving you the jitters then you must look at your trading size and properly testing your system. Before entering your trade you should decide a level at which you'll admit you are wrong and stop out the trade - and you should be comfortable taking that loss.

I know what you mean - I used to chart watch continually and get nervous and stop out positions before I'd allowed them room to breath (so to speak) - only to find my initial assessment was correct and I could have closed the position in profit. I was also over trading and getting annoyed with myself if I'd missed a big move. I've got a tried and tested system now which I'm confident will generate profit over the long term - so I enter my positions with stops and then leave them to run. I come back to see how they're doing at set times a day. Sometimes they've been stopped out, sometimes I decide the price action doesn't look right any more and I close them for a loss, it doesn't matter to me - that's part of trading, I shrug it off and move on, and if I miss a big move - then so be it - I don't try and jump on the band wagon to catch the rest of it. If it hasn't been picked up by my trading system, never mind - I'll catch another big move another time.

normalize your trades

a summary of what u read :
+ It's a case of having the confidence in your system mate.
- Get out quickly from losing positions and stay with the winners.
- Sit out until you can say that, it's not personal.
- Test your system again by just watching what's going on.
+ Ease back in with small positions.
+ Build up slowly, it's not a race.
- find a reason not to be in the trade. if you find it, dont trade.
- once in a trade, find a reason not to be in a trade.
- is hope the driver behind your reason to stay in the trade?

u ve to normalize your trades. u r asking : wat is the meaning of normalizing your trades ?
+++ find the tops and the bottoms. everything else is gambling.
If ur not able to create a thread mentioned "events" (call on tops and bottoms) u will be one out of 90% of all loser of this game.

new_trader said:

I have been trading for a while now but I still can't overcome my emotions. I made a trade today that went against me. I stopped out for a 2 point loss so nothing too disasterous. Following this I spotted what I believed to be another 2 good entries but was reluctant to enter a trade in case I got it wrong again. Both would have been profitable!! I am curious how many other traders go through this? Also, how many traders have gone through this stage and how did you overcome the fear? Is it a case of more practice and experience?

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Agree totally with what DC says above. I think almost all traders have been here in their early days. When we experience this we are either not confident in the method / approach we are using to trade the market, and thus deep down, maybe subconsciously we know we are simply guessing, and / or we are using way too much size so that a loss inflicts too much pain. Both need to be remedied, cut the size of your trades to a point where losses are more or less inconsequential, and address the issue with honesty, do you really have a tried and tested approach or are you simply guestimating.
It is quite common that the fear of losing outweighs the euphoria of winning. But since you will always have losing trades you cannot afoord to be afraid to take a hit.

The fear beats the greed in those moments after I loose ,but soon after I enter again in the market.

I am having exactly the same problem. First 2 Trades made £126 on £2pp and a 4pt spread (controlled risk). Have lost ever since (7 month). Worst loss was only £75 on £pp very early on and now on £1pp.
Just seem to be not able to click the button to buy or sell. I am short term and never roll over.
When I do trade I watch my loss till it stops out and take the profit of only a few pounds. When more often than not I would of made at least £20 if I will just leave it 30 mins to an Hour.
Need to read and reread and study alot harder. This is what I want to do. Never came into this expecting to make millions at all, just wanted to enjoy being at home and working.

new_trader said:

I have been trading for a while now but I still can't overcome my emotions. I made a trade today that went against me. I stopped out for a 2 point loss so nothing too disasterous. Following this I spotted what I believed to be another 2 good entries but was reluctant to enter a trade in case I got it wrong again. Both would have been profitable!! I am curious how many other traders go through this? Also, how many traders have gone through this stage and how did you overcome the fear? Is it a case of more practice and experience?

Click to expand...

nt

Got the T-Shirt and another with the logo don't day trade Never managed to overcome the yips in day trading so only use the play account when I'm tempted.

Otherwise I use the more relaxed eod and hourly where I can put in resting orders and walk away.

good trading

jon

Better to trade too small than too large.
Once you have defined a method so you know exactly what you are going to lose when you take your stop then you have to consider that money lost at point of entry, if it feels too horrible to think about, reduce your size until it isn't. If you are using SB's then I think you can go to pennies with some of them. Stay small until you are comfortable with your edge. It takes time. Once you have positive expectancy you will not have fear with increasing bet size.

Thanks for everyone’s input so far, it has been very helpful. I suppose the worst thing anyone can do is to say to themselves (after a losing trade) is “That was stupid” or “You’re an idiot”, which unfortunately I do to myself sometimes. This ingrains a negative attitude to trading. I appreciate the start off with small lots philosophy and I am actually doing that. I am trading with a direct access broker and the minimum size is 1 E-mini contract at US$50/point [NOT tick but point]. If I am brutally honest I must agree with Rogue trader insofar as I haven’t practised and tested my abilities enough to be 100% confident with my trades but at the moment I seem to get my “was gonna” trades right more often than my actual trades.