Over-trading idiot - needing help

[Mogli]

Hi all,

I am reasonably new to T2W, but I have had an interest in the markets for quite some time. I left employment at a mutual fund house (of which I worked my way from the call center to the front office {I made it to performance analysis but was sat on the trading floor with the fund managers and the trading desk}).

Even before being in this environment I had a huge interest in the markets. I left the company in 2009, with the hope of trading my own money (the company had a VERY strict trading policy), since then I have been paper trading and trading on and off since then.

Standard newbie learnings, making money, blowing up my account, back to the drawing board, review the strategy and tweaking (repeat a number of times) until finding more about myself and finding out what works for me.

More recently I have been making consistent results with (what I think is medium term - for over six months {I know that this is only a short period and does not make me a true trader}) holding positions for a week or so.

The problem I am facing is I have got more adventurous and started day trading. Eeeekkkk - more newbie mistakes! DOH

The medium term trading fits my life style as I work 9-5, the day trading I have started is on the US market after work.

Even though I have read many forum posts (and I know that I am a car crash waiting to happen) some part of my brain ignored the advice and what others have written.

So I had some short term success and made some quick returns. Then the inevitable happened, a few quick losses and then I am chasing the market and made a pretty big dent in my account.

The problem I have is I would like to walk away from the short term trading, however I feel this is the next step in my progression. Is that what others feel (or have done) or should I just stick to what I know?

After taking a few losses this has dented my confidence which has resulted in me missing a number of perfect set ups for my medium term trading. Have others experienced this?

So I am looking for some help/advice – should I be trying to push myself to the shorter time frame trading or should I be concentrating on what I know?

If I do look to move to the shorter time frame what do others do to protect themselves from over trading?

I get that each person has their own challenges and some will read this and dismiss this as it doesn’t affect them however at this point this is a real challenge for me right now and I am at a cross roads as to which direction to take.

So any advice or guidance is gratefully received.

 

[tomorton]

The problem is, what works for each of us won't work for all of us. That in mind, I would (personally) suggest -
- move to longer time frame using weekly and daily charts
- plan entries on trend-following set-ups on the major forex pairs
- enter trades between the London Close and New York Close
- avoid stocks and indices
- use TA only, restricted to price candles/bars and up to 4 MAs to confirm trend direction and consistency
- set stop-loss and limit orders as you enter, trail both as price moves in your direction

I accept though you have outlined what won't work for you, I can't tell you what will, but happy to say I never daytrade any more and this approach works alongside employment.

 

[Mogli]

Thanks tomorton great advice - do you still work and trade?

 

[tomorton]

Yeah, work 3 days a week. Can't look at any prices during work but screenwatching makes me dabble with my trades so was never advisable anyway.

 

[Atilla]

Hi all,

I am reasonably new to T2W, but I have had an interest in the markets for quite some time. I left employment at a mutual fund house (of which I worked my way from the call center to the front office {I made it to performance analysis but was sat on the trading floor with the fund managers and the trading desk}).

Even before being in this environment I had a huge interest in the markets. I left the company in 2009, with the hope of trading my own money (the company had a VERY strict trading policy), since then I have been paper trading and trading on and off since then.

Standard newbie learnings, making money, blowing up my account, back to the drawing board, review the strategy and tweaking (repeat a number of times) until finding more about myself and finding out what works for me.

More recently I have been making consistent results with (what I think is medium term - for over six months {I know that this is only a short period and does not make me a true trader}) holding positions for a week or so.

The problem I am facing is I have got more adventurous and started day trading. Eeeekkkk - more newbie mistakes! DOH

The medium term trading fits my life style as I work 9-5, the day trading I have started is on the US market after work.

Even though I have read many forum posts (and I know that I am a car crash waiting to happen) some part of my brain ignored the advice and what others have written.

So I had some short term success and made some quick returns. Then the inevitable happened, a few quick losses and then I am chasing the market and made a pretty big dent in my account.

The problem I have is I would like to walk away from the short term trading, however I feel this is the next step in my progression. Is that what others feel (or have done) or should I just stick to what I know?

After taking a few losses this has dented my confidence which has resulted in me missing a number of perfect set ups for my medium term trading. Have others experienced this?

So I am looking for some help/advice – should I be trying to push myself to the shorter time frame trading or should I be concentrating on what I know?

If I do look to move to the shorter time frame what do others do to protect themselves from over trading?

I get that each person has their own challenges and some will read this and dismiss this as it doesn’t affect them however at this point this is a real challenge for me right now and I am at a cross roads as to which direction to take.

So any advice or guidance is gratefully received.

Sounds like you're what is psychologically referred to as being anally retentive.

You need to relax and learn to let go a little.


Try reading "An End to the Bull" by Gary Norden

or

"A Mathematician Plays the Market" by John Allen Paulos

Both books have lots of psycho stuff and obviously some numbers... Gary Norden's is likely to be better for you if you're starting out as you really need to know what you are getting into and how to approach it like running your business and not some hobby.

Book was reviewed here... http://www.trade2win.com/boards/educational-resources/203012-end-bull-10-free-review-copies.html


Good luck

 

[Mogli]

Atilla - thanks for the advice. Books order this evening shame I didn't get them before the bank holiday weekend

 

[Atilla]

Atilla - thanks for the advice. Books order this evening shame I didn't get them before the bank holiday weekend

Well done Mogli for not reacting to the initial comment and investing in the books. You certainly have the right aptitude not reacting to my tasteless swipe.

You are not alone on the road you have embarked upon. Finally seeing some results after 9 years having suffered the worst in the first year.

Enjoy the festive season

 

[davidcraigson]

I admire your truthfulness Why not read up on the basics again this weekend to reaffirm what you know?

 

[5%Luck]

My opinion:

Stick to the weeklys unless you ave active data on bids/asks in multiple feeds from each active exchange along side a solid knowledge of indicator graphs. Anything else is gambling on the daytrade side of things.

Personaly I like to time out 5-15 day trends of 3X ETF that follow an index. I pull between 4-16% per cycle.

 

[NVP]

hey dude

follow my thread and you will see that I transitioned my strengthmeter trading approach to scalping in the last year or so and then proceeded to overtrade ..................mind boggling volume of trades ..............and actually a pretty high win rate but I was running far too hot

I was writing it off to fast learning and transitioning my techniques into the scalping arena ......the more I trade the more I learn ............but that can only last as an excuse for so long

working with some mentors (including forexperian here on T2win) I have been weened off the trigger...........reduced my trading by probably 90% .......yes 90%........much more selective now and I wait for the absolute sweet spots to trade ...............instead of firing of 4-5 scalps in trading areas I will perhaps do 1 max..........or leave it for a better entry

its just practice mate and getting some decent mentors ........write a journal here and expose your entries to scrutiny ...........its a real educator as you have a history to look back on then and relive / commit those stupid entries to the mind and ban them forever

we all still make mistakes ...........but the real pro's make fewer than others .............

N

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=42&v=iI9Hfqbuzso

 

[Mogli]

Thanks all for the advice.

The books have not yet arrived - it appears that Amazon Prime is also affected by the Bank holidays.

davidcraigson - while I have been waiting I have been re-reading a number of the sticky's and some of the books I brought a while ago - what is interesting is how much I have learnt and now re-reading the same information with a different mind set what now jumps out of the pages is very different to the first time round.

5%Luck & NVP - I think that in the short term I am going to continue with the longer term trading. However like learning the basics of the longer time frame trading I really enjoy the mental stimulation of understanding the markets and how I interact with them. So I will be reading your blog and looking to find a way of making the shorter time frames work for me. After reviewing my approach I did not undertake any paper trading - I was an over confident idiot and traded with my own funds.

 

[MajorMagnuM]

i am still trying tofigure out why h4 is the oracle.

 

[sun11]

Hi,

I do intraday trading. In my previous company i was allowed to make only 3 trader per day. So i still have that habit, but with a little tweaking. If see market is ranging, & i lost my 1st two consecutive trade, then i close for the day. But if i keep wining in my trades, then i keep trading as long as market gives me opportunity & without hurting my equity.
From my childhood, i have seen that, if I loose couple of game in early hour, then i keep loosing for the day, that day is a loosing day for me and if i keep wining then i knew, today is the winner day for me. So i maintain same ideology in trading too.

Regards,
S

 

[stockku]

Hi, I am a intraday home trader.

When I first started, I made more than 25 trades a day (Yes you heard me, 25)

That time, 3 trades were probably big (Lets just call it 3 times bigger than the rest too) and the other 5 small more profitable ones. 18 trades are really small little tiny losses. I did not know why the **** did I trade that for (Thinking back of course). That 18 more small little losses become a swarm of bees. And bit my big bulls. Usually that day ends up with either a big ass loss or a marginal win at best, but the stress level was high and I was incredibly frustrated.

Then I came to realize I should focus on just big winners and big triggers. Fast forward, I only launch about between 4-7 trades a day and its only if there is big high probability set ups.

 

[davidwebbthegreat]

You sure can get carried away when youngest start trading, I spread bet a bit there is so much temptation to trade just forth hell of it.

 

[tar]

Open a stocks account - US - and stick less than $25K in it that way you cant daytrade ...

 

[myfxpt]

After 7-years of demo's and blown real accounts, I have settled in to trading the daily timeframe myself, using weekly for medium-long term trend confirmation, and H4 for entry timing. Trade duration ranges from a few hours to a few days for me, dependent on what prices do after I make my entry. I don't know what type of trading you call this, but as long as it works I don't really care. Good luck and prosperity!

 

[DuCaan]

After 7-years of demo's and blown real accounts, I have settled in to trading the daily timeframe myself, using weekly for medium-long term trend confirmation, and H4 for entry timing. Trade duration ranges from a few hours to a few days for me, dependent on what prices do after I make my entry. I don't know what type of trading you call this, but as long as it works I don't really care. Good luck and prosperity!

Swing Trading perhaps.... holding a trade for few days to a couple of weeks maybe....

 

[drtro]

Had the same issue.


Have a daily trade limit. Start with something small like 3. Once you have made 3 winning or 3 losing trades, call it a day. Evaluate yourself every 10 days. If you finished positive on at least 8 of those 10 days, increase your daily trade limit. If you didn't, decrease it.

I do the same with my contract size.

I started with 1 lot size and a daily trade limit of 3. Every +8/10 days, I increased my lot by 1 and daily trade limit by 1. Every 10 days I didn't meet the +8 requirement, I decreased them by 2, until I was back at the minimum 1 and 3.

 

[Lúidín]

Hi all,

(1)
After taking a few losses this has dented my confidence which has resulted in me missing a number of perfect set ups for my medium term trading. Have others experienced this?

(2)
So I am looking for some help/advice – should I be trying to push myself to the shorter time frame trading or should I be concentrating on what I know?

(3)
If I do look to move to the shorter time frame what do others do to protect themselves from over trading?

(4)
I get that each person has their own challenges and some will read this and dismiss this as it doesn’t affect them however at this point this is a real challenge for me right now and I am at a cross roads as to which direction to take.

So any advice or guidance is gratefully received.

Hi,
Here are some thoughts in relation to above.

(1)

I would say Yes. Lost opportunity can be your biggest downfall.

(2)

It all depends on what you know and what market you are trading? If what you know can make you money then you might be best to forget about all else!

(3)

For short term trading you might want to consider limiting your loss on every trade you put on to a very small % of your trading capital and only take trades that have a high chance of winning (knowing which trades have a high chance of winning is of course the hard part to learn).

(4)

Again, if what you know can make you money then you might want to forget about everything else and do what you know works for you. It can all sound very exciting and most people have high hopes that can never be achieved as a retail trader.

Less is More.

Lúidín