How do you know when you *shouldn't* be trading?

[Brumby]

Simple. When my psychological capital is in deficit.

 

[mpups]

If

Advice regularly given but needs thinking through logically before universal use.

Barring use of a strategy with a 100% win rate, you will get strings of losers even if you do nothing wrong. These will be generated just by the market doing the less probable thing in each trading situation that is a loser. The remedy for these capital losses is to continue trading, to restore win rate to the mean.

Weaknesses in the strategy or errors in execution need careful identification so maybe a break to allow research might be called for. But even then, remedies for these are only proven in actual use. And the sooner the better.

Hi Tom

I was talking in the context of discretionary trading and the emotional challenges. I wasn't clear about that so thanks for pointing out what you did. Taking a break can help get emotions back in check and a rule is there to plan ahead what you'll do.

 

[Flash8]

Hi all,

I'm new here but I've been trading for a bit now. I wanted to get some advice on how to know when I shouldn't be trading. Looking back on past experiences, there are a few times I've executed a trade that just had no reason to be executed. I was sleep-deprived / having relationship issues / stressed / etc... and made a bad call. Sometimes it's just because I was in a fog for that day.

How do you guys assess when you shouldn't be trading? Is it something you do through intuition? Do you have hard rules for yourselves? I have a buddy who doesn't trade if his HRV is above a certain point (heart rate variability indicative - can be indicative of stress).

I'd love to hear any thoughts / techniques!

Cheers,
John

I adhere to the rule that after the big losses you do not need to continue to trade and you need to pause. Also, it's better don't trade when your signals are not clear or you are not sure about them

 

[FXX]

my preference would be Scala over Python with it being a fully functional object oriented language but Python is easier.

 

[Nowler]

my preference would be Scala over Python with it being a fully functional object oriented language but Python is easier.

Hmmm...never heard of Scala...

Can you give me an example of what it can do, that Python can't?

 

[NVP]

If your not on point then don’t trade......it doesn’t matter how good you’re strategy is ......if your entry and / or exit exécution is sloppy and poor you have drastically reduced your capacity to do yourself justice

Sort out the problem and dont trade until your head is back in the game

Common sense guys ......tradingis bloody hard enough without slapping more obsticles on your trading

N

 

[shadyee]

I would agree with your friend who stays off the market when he is stressed out, be it emotions or not. At such points you don't think straight and things are rather done rationally, without fore thoughts on matters.
I would suggest you identify at what point your are weak and stressed out, then you can stay off the market at such times. I believe this is a major factor of loses today!

 

[Delilah_10]

Maybe, when you've had x number of losses in a row within a day etc, its good to take a break for x amount of time

Exactly consecutive losses are a sign to take some break off trading.

 

[NVP]

It’s the opposite of knowing when you should be trading ?

 

[Henow1969]

Always follow the trends of the market and you will easy to trade and you can also know when to trade.

 

[hatemypips]

Hi all,

I'm new here but I've been trading for a bit now. I wanted to get some advice on how to know when I shouldn't be trading. Looking back on past experiences, there are a few times I've executed a trade that just had no reason to be executed. I was sleep-deprived / having relationship issues / stressed / etc... and made a bad call. Sometimes it's just because I was in a fog for that day.

How do you guys assess when you shouldn't be trading? Is it something you do through intuition? Do you have hard rules for yourselves? I have a buddy who doesn't trade if his HRV is above a certain point (heart rate variability indicative - can be indicative of stress).

I'd love to hear any thoughts / techniques!

Cheers,
John

Simply wait for your trading system to generate signal and execute trade if you trade manually (or better code it to be done automatically). Try to eliminate emotional factor because it ruins the system - you can't quantify or estimate was your emotion right or wrong because in different cases they can yield different results (and it can be purely random).

 

[Felix_trade]

When you get involved in revenge trading.

 

[hatemypips]

I prefer to stay away from trading when I realize that my emotions are somewhere overpowering me and making me over trade. I stop then and there.

To avoid that you can simply use a robot which will place trades for you. You have to reduce time you spend before screen if you want to improve your emotional approach.

 

[Felix_trade]

When you know you are getting swayed by your emotions then you should stop for a while.

 

[princess12]

When you just can't read the chart any more due to all the tears...

Hahahaha, your wicked.

 

[Joseph99]

Always follow the trends of the market and you will easy to trade and you can also know when to trade.

Yeah it helps.

 

[xjtorerox]

When you wish revenge for a bad move.

If you traded bad, then stop, emotions will make you likely to make another mistake.

 

[donald55]

I prefer to stay away from trading when I realize that my emotions are somewhere overpowering me and making me over trade. I stop then and there.

I agree,that's a good sign but sometimes its too late to realize that you were over powered by emotions. When you see mounting losses that's when you realise its too late now.

 

[progix]

Actually trading in not for everyone..!

 

[donald55]

Actually trading in not for everyone..!

Can you elaborate more on that ?