Good discussion and comforting to hear that one is not alone in the failure of key trading disciplines at times, such as taking losses appropriately. Another thing that I think plagues me is constantly thinking about where I was before and measuring myself against that benchmark/level (my beloved March 10 highpoint). I still can't believe that I ever even made, much less lost, that much money. Constantly comparing those and ensuing numbers with one another is a treacherous game that is self-defeating, but hard to stop, particularly when the disparity is so wide.
Despite knowing analytically that I should not be trying for homeruns, I believe too much of my focus was on "getting my money back," which ultimately has sabatoged my trading to a degree ever since. I noticed this again since the market slipped in mid-July -- that I focus on how much I had on such-and-such a date, and how much I have lost since x,y,z. While it's important to keep track of these numbers, fighting to get back to a certain point creates a struggle that can detract from your daily trading focus.
Lately, I have been trying to resist the greed urge and concentrate on capital preservation, making smaller trades that, if wrong, at least don't hurt as much. My trading account is up about 25% since I started this last week, although the market itself helped out as well of course.
Christine |
