Another year gone & still not profitable

[advfntrader]

I will try again after a few weeks of demoing, I need to manage the risk better and setting a stop of say 100 points (£10) per trade may just be what I need to stop these large losses wiping out gains

 

[JRP2891]

well 2010 is gone and I am reviewing my trading. I demo traded for the first 6 months of the year as I had to get my losses under control and develop a strategy, things were going well and every month showed good profits.

so then I opened a micro account and started live trading, the first month was excellent, I doubled the account....but I knew that I was lucky as I must have been over-leveraged. then the next week I lost the lot trying to short Gold, somehow I let the loss run and then I turned to "hope" hoping it would drop. It went to $1350 and I thought "it must pullback" so I added another short ....game over

Account almost wiped out, I added more funds, again determined not to let losses run I tripled the account over the next 2 months, this IS IT I thought, I have got this now....then somehow I ended up in a DOW short, a massive 200 point spike and I didn't close it out...I thought "its OK as I have tonnes of margin now as I am only micro lots" so I added...doubled down. Well I ended up in the short for 6 weeks hoping it would come good.....= wiped out again.

My main issue is I keep running losses, I just cannot seem to get it into my THICK SKULL that I need to cut them.

also adding to a losing trade....it is JUST STUPID

so for 2011 my new rules are...

1. Never ever add to losing trade
2. Cut loss at set % or amount of pips

at least I can see clearly now that money management is my problem, right ? - but why can't it SINK IN ???!

Advn,

It's been almost 2 years ago since we first spoke, and from what i've noticed in your posts on T2W and messages to me over that time, is that I still think you're chasing your first and most expensive (near fatal trading-wise) loss. Your desire to multiply a few hundred or thousand quid into a realistic trading stake is completely unrealistic, and therefore your focus is not on your trading, but rather the money. This often doesn't end well...

In my opinion, you need to forget about trying to make up that £10k hit you took, scale down your % risked a couple notches, and learn to mechanise as much as possible about your strategy, or change it completely if it's not working or you can't execute it. For what it's worth, i believe any strategy which you can't quantify and be exact in terms of how it makes it's money is not worth bothering with. Airy fairy pins and 'feel' is not what you need at your stage, you need something tangible to follow.

All the best,

JRP

 

[Chartsy]

Advn,

It's been almost 2 years ago since we first spoke, and from what i've noticed in your posts on T2W and messages to me over that time, is that I still think you're chasing your first and most expensive (near fatal trading-wise) loss. Your desire to multiply a few hundred or thousand quid into a realistic trading stake is completely unrealistic, and therefore your focus is not on your trading, but rather the money. This often doesn't end well...

In my opinion, you need to forget about trying to make up that £10k hit you took, scale down your % risked a couple notches, and learn to mechanise as much as possible about your strategy, or change it completely if it's not working or you can't execute it. For what it's worth, i believe any strategy which you can't quantify and be exact in terms of how it makes it's money is not worth bothering with. Airy fairy pins and 'feel' is not what you need at your stage, you need something tangible to follow.

All the best,

JRP

you dissin' pin bars bruv

 

[Ross Spur]

I will try again after a few weeks of demoing, I need to manage the risk better and setting a stop of say 100 points (£10) per trade may just be what I need to stop these large losses wiping out gains

Still sounds like the sort of stop that can wipe you out.

 

[Masquerade]

I think you should refer to something you made in December 2008. There are better things to do with your time and money.

Good luck with it whatever you decide to do.

 

[forker]

Stop trading real money...... Get your methods and most importantly your confidence in your methods rock solid before you throw money at this. You won't see the woods from the trees while your focus isn't where jt should be..

 

[geewcee]

Which platform allows 10p per point positions just out of interest?

 

[shadowninja]

Metatrader via Alpari.co.uk.

 

[DionysusToast]

ADVFN - this is so simple.

Right now, you can not be confident in ANY method.
If you do not follow a method religiously, you cannot possibly know if it works or not.
To be confident in any method, you have to follow it religiously and track the results.

So bite the bullet - pick a set up/method. If you are daytrading, follow it religiously for 30 sessions. Do this regardless of how many wins/losses you face. Do not paper trade it - just go in with small size.

Log every trade you make. Write down your thoughts at the time as well as a rating of how well you followed your plan. Log how much your winners go against you which will help in setting stops later on.

At the end of 30 sessions you will know if your method works or not, you will learn a whole bunch of other things along the way too. You may even come up with a whole new method over that time based on your observations.

 

[Chartsy]

yeh i agree with DT. i jumped from this to that, over the last 6 months focused on my own method, which does combine other setups which aren't mine .

I know it's frustrating to have so much pain dealt to you by trading, and then for it to happen again. but seriously you're doing it to yourself, the thread you made where you lost £10k, you averaged down with no risk management...and again here, your method could well be fine and from what you say it is.

I'm pretty much a noob but it hurts to hear that it's you and you only screwing yourself over...come on, random doubling down? You know better, i'm damn sure that after a few years you've heard it all, but maybe it takes a few times for you to really accept it.

So chin up because if you sort your head out, get your self control in order and get confidence in your method (so hard imo especially when learning from others, but can be done as i'm doing now) , you should have a good year .
And don't feel under pressure to profit this year because you don't want people to think you are really bad by posting another thread like this next year, just focus

 

[amit1986]

ADVFN - this is so simple.

Right now, you can not be confident in ANY method.
If you do not follow a method religiously, you cannot possibly know if it works or not.
To be confident in any method, you have to follow it religiously and track the results.

So bite the bullet - pick a set up/method. If you are daytrading, follow it religiously for 30 sessions. Do this regardless of how many wins/losses you face. Do not paper trade it - just go in with small size.

Log every trade you make. Write down your thoughts at the time as well as a rating of how well you followed your plan. Log how much your winners go against you which will help in setting stops later on.

At the end of 30 sessions you will know if your method works or not, you will learn a whole bunch of other things along the way too. You may even come up with a whole new method over that time based on your observations.

Agree with DT as well, but surely DT, it takes much more than 30 sessions to validate ANY sort of trading system. It takes most several months to really gain any sort of trading confidence...

 

[DionysusToast]

Amit

I think 30 sessions is enough personally. If you follow a method religiously for 30 days and you lose money on each day - that's got to tell you something, right?

Were ADVFN to do this, the 30 days would teach him about a lot more than just his method in my opinion.

DT

 

[leonarda]

my 2cents..
firstly, if you're trying to day-trade, forget it..it's too difficult to pick up for starters, pick longer swing time frames. It will help discipline and reduce over-trading.
secondly, i've just finished my 1st full year of trading a mini-account, and I can only agree with some of the other posters that you need to get your head positively around cutting losses and seeing the good side of doing that. I really progressed well this year when I started cutting those losers and then seeing those securities keep going down after I closed them, which really gave be a "buzz" and a good feeling that i'd really got it right (and it made a "huge" difference to my account!).

 

[Black Swan]

ADVFN - this is so simple.

Right now, you can not be confident in ANY method.
If you do not follow a method religiously, you cannot possibly know if it works or not.
To be confident in any method, you have to follow it religiously and track the results.

So bite the bullet - pick a set up/method. If you are daytrading, follow it religiously for 30 sessions. Do this regardless of how many wins/losses you face. Do not paper trade it - just go in with small size.

Log every trade you make. Write down your thoughts at the time as well as a rating of how well you followed your plan. Log how much your winners go against you which will help in setting stops later on.

At the end of 30 sessions you will know if your method works or not, you will learn a whole bunch of other things along the way too. You may even come up with a whole new method over that time based on your observations.

Whether 15 days or 30 days he won't/can't do it, most part time wannabee FX traders can't/don't..

 

[DionysusToast]

my 2cents..
firstly, if you're trying to day-trade, forget it..it's too difficult to pick up for starters, pick longer swing time frames. It will help discipline and reduce over-trading.
secondly, i've just finished my 1st full year of trading a mini-account, and I can only agree with some of the other posters that you need to get your head positively around cutting losses and seeing the good side of doing that. I really progressed well this year when I started cutting those losers and then seeing those securities keep going down after I closed them, which really gave be a "buzz" and a good feeling that i'd really got it right (and it made a "huge" difference to my account!).

Please explain how day trading is more difficult than swing trading.

This is just another drop of internet trading wisdom.

 

[Scalper_max]

Also I seem the reocurring theme in the OP post about trying to time the market. It is a mistake to do what you feel rather than trade what you see. I would like to short gold, the DOW and almost anything now but I know the old addage that the markets can stay irrarional longer than you can stay solvent.

Personally I am hoping for a bit of a pull back in equities becase I am not comfortable getting in at this level but if the trend continues I will take stabs.

Finally, always put a stop loss you muppet or you will end up like this guy if you ever trade a meaningful sum. Think of this every time you add no SL and use hope as a strategy.

 

[shadowninja]

My hero.

 

[Black Swan]

My hero.

What, a better candidate than this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKAu2cP0aHM&feature=related

 

[shadowninja]

Bizarre. He's a trading coach? Wait. Is this Advfntrader?

 

[advfntrader]

lol - I have felt like these dudes many a time. this f*cking game is just a mind f*ck