How good are you at trading - just be honest

How many accounts have you blown so far this year and for how much money? It looks like you're just hoping to get a trade go 1000 points in profit with only a 10 point stop. Give up until you have at least a decent plan and realistic expectation.
 
Doomberg said:
... i don't really understand hedging tbh,. . .
Click to expand...
Hi Doomberg,
Take the chart of the Dow short you posted earlier. The screen shot is around the low of the day. When it started to reverse back up - what did you think? As you watched price creep towards b/e and your nice profit gradually eroded away - what did you think then? If you were sitting at your screen with your fingers crossed, hoping and praying it would reverse back down - then you're likely to be disappointed with the outcome more often than not. You need to be prepared for that to happen. Indeed, expect it to happen and have a plan of action for when it does.

A hedge is just one possibility. You could have neutralized the effect of the reversal back up by taking a long position on the June future (SB firm's version of the YM). So long as IG's spread isn't silly (and they can be with some SB firms - e.g. 6pts with Cap' Spreads!) you'll lock in some profit - no matter what price does. Try it. It might not work for you: you might not be comfortable with it. However, at the very least, it should help to cap how much you lose.
Tim.
 
Doomberg said:
Spoke to soon, i just lost all of todays profits... in fact i blew the entire account (again) :(
Click to expand...

Is this a joke? I think it probably is, but I have zero sense of humour and I don't really know your posting style well, so just checking.
 
Doomberg, why are you trading at such an amount - you seem pretty lucid, so I don't understand what you're doing. This has been really interesting for me because I didn't even know people traded like that - I'm absolutely astonished.

Please stop, you're losing fortunes - please don't keep giving it to the brokers.
 
timsk said:
Hi Doomberg,
I'm assuming that you didn't exit your Gold trade when it was showing a good profit because your analysis suggested there were further gains to be made? That understandable. What I'm struggling with is why you didn't cut the trade when it returned to break even or there abouts? From what you say, it sounds to me as if you need to work on your risk and money management approach. At £40 p/p, you could easily have taken half off the table and moved your stop to b/e on the remaining half. How about trying something along the lines discussed in this post: Phil Newton's Range Break Out strategy Alternatively, hedge your position with another instrument. If you'd done that at any time between the trade being in profit and returning to b/e, you'd have closed out at b/e at worst and, quite probably, with a small profit. Given what you've said, you could even have closed the Gold leg around b/e and allowed the hedge to continue to run.

I understand perfectly that all this is much harder to do in practice than it sounds in theory but, equally, if you're letting good trades turn bad - then you really need to do something, IMO.
Tim.
Click to expand...

controversial. the content manager recommends a vendor. The hare will be licking his chops.
 
cablemonster said:
controversial. the content manager recommends a vendor. The hare will be licking his chops.
Click to expand...
Hardly controversial.
I was recommending he reads a post about scaling out of a profitable trade. That said post is by a vendor is neither here nor there. Being a vendor does not preclude one from making interesting and worhwhile posts choc-a-bloc full of good ideas.
:sleep:
 
Shakone said:
Is this a joke? I think it probably is, but I have zero sense of humour and I don't really know your posting style well, so just checking.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same :)
Obviously, this can't be a post about "trading" if any position you take has a realistic chance of wiping you out.
It doesn't matter how many charts you look at to pick out entry and exit, if you have no money management whatsoever it's still "punting" :)
In which case don't even bother about technical and/or fundamental analysis. Just log in, buy or sell anything liquid, set fixed stops and limits, and hope that time is the one.

:)
 
timsk said:
Hi Doomberg,
Take the chart of the Dow short you posted earlier. The screen shot is around the low of the day. When it started to reverse back up - what did you think? As you watched price creep towards b/e and your nice profit gradually eroded away - what did you think then? If you were sitting at your screen with your fingers crossed, hoping and praying it would reverse back down - then you're likely to be disappointed with the outcome more often than not. You need to be prepared for that to happen. Indeed, expect it to happen and have a plan of action for when it does.

A hedge is just one possibility. You could have neutralized the effect of the reversal back up by taking a long position on the June future (SB firm's version of the YM). So long as IG's spread isn't silly (and they can be with some SB firms - e.g. 6pts with Cap' Spreads!) you'll lock in some profit - no matter what price does. Try it. It might not work for you: you might not be comfortable with it. However, at the very least, it should help to cap how much you lose.
Tim.
Click to expand...

I don't see his problem as watching the trade turn into a loss, losses happen and have to be accepted. To me the two main problems were he shouldn't really have been going short, and he shouldn't have been trading at a level that would blow his account. I think he needs to address his MM and strategy before considering a hedging strategy, - as hedging can also be costly and complex.
 
timsk said:
Hardly controversial.
I was recommending he reads a post about scaling out of a profitable trade. That said post is by a vendor is neither here nor there. Being a vendor does not preclude one from making interesting and worhwhile posts choc-a-bloc full of good ideas.
:sleep:
Click to expand...

I think it stinks Tim, you must be on commission from that vendor. Does sharkey know you are moonlighting.
:p
 
timsk said:
Hi Doomberg,
Take the chart of the Dow short you posted earlier. The screen shot is around the low of the day. When it started to reverse back up - what did you think? As you watched price creep towards b/e and your nice profit gradually eroded away - what did you think then? If you were sitting at your screen with your fingers crossed, hoping and praying it would reverse back down - then you're likely to be disappointed with the outcome more often than not. You need to be prepared for that to happen. Indeed, expect it to happen and have a plan of action for when it does.

A hedge is just one possibility. You could have neutralized the effect of the reversal back up by taking a long position on the June future (SB firm's version of the YM). So long as IG's spread isn't silly (and they can be with some SB firms - e.g. 6pts with Cap' Spreads!) you'll lock in some profit - no matter what price does. Try it. It might not work for you: you might not be comfortable with it. However, at the very least, it should help to cap how much you lose.
Tim.
Click to expand...

Not only did i do all of what i have coloured in bold, i actually added 3 more positions of the same size, got stopped.... and then decided to risk the entire account on one position with a guaranteed stop :LOL:

Lol yes, i know i need therapy of some sort.... what's worse is that i know i actually do have some talent, but my complete lack of discipline destroys everything, i even went to see a hypnotist... and it did nothing for me
 
As an aside, trading with IG you can hold Long and Short the same market, no need to use the June future.
 
Shakone said:
Is this a joke? I think it probably is, but I have zero sense of humour and I don't really know your posting style well, so just checking.
Click to expand...

Lol no seriously, it actually happened... adding to a losing position :eek:
 
Doomberg said:
Not only did i do all of what i have coloured in bold, i actually added 3 more positions of the same size, got stopped.... and then decided to risk the entire account on one position with a guaranteed stop :LOL:

Lol yes, i know i need therapy of some sort.... what's worse is that i know i actually do have some talent, but my complete lack of discipline destroys everything, i even went to see a hypnotist... and it did nothing for me
Click to expand...

Mate, you really do need to seek some help, you can't keep doing this to yourself.
 
Doomberg said:
Not only did i do all of what i have coloured in bold, i actually added 3 more positions of the same size, got stopped.... and then decided to risk the entire account on one position with a guaranteed stop :LOL:

Lol yes, i know i need therapy of some sort.... what's worse is that i know i actually do have some talent, but my complete lack of discipline destroys everything, i even went to see a hypnotist... and it did nothing for me
Click to expand...

If you insist on continuing trading then extreme measures need to be taken.

You need to be kicked in the @ss and have discipline forced on you. Call your broker and ask if they will limit your account to a max leverage of 1:25. At least that will stop you from blowing your account after 1 or 2 trades. That will give you some peace of mind and allow you to concentrate you an actual method of trading.


Peter
 
Doomberg said:
Lol no seriously, it actually happened... adding to a losing position :eek:
Click to expand...

Then read The Artist's post above. It doesn't help wondering how good others are, it's irrelevant to you. Maybe you want comfort knowing others are failing too.

Decide what you want. Judging by the statement you blew an account on a relatively small intraday move, you don't want to trade, you're not at all interested in good trading.

What is it you want to do?
 
Doomberg said:
Not really made any stats tbh, what type do you mean Lee?
Click to expand...

You must keep stats/records of some kind. How do you know what trades you have done in the past, especially the bad ones. The brain can be very selective in what we believe we have achieved/done and not done. Records (if done correctly) never lie.

You should have a trading history with your broker so compiling shouldn't be too much trouble, but yes it will take time to do if not done along the way.

Stats that are important so you can analyse what you are doing like for example a diary for mental purposes/feelings/moods/beliefs ect can be very helpful but more to the point......

Risk parameters
Risk/Rewards
Stop levels
Target price
% of account used on single trade (or multiples if several contracts)
Number of trades
Number of days
Biggest loss/biggest gain

If you want, throw me across what you have and i'll work backwards from there.

Lee
 
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