Unable to pull the trigger

I have thought of some trading strategy, but I am unable to pull the trigger and punch in the order. Somehow I a am too nervous to loose money be it a small amount. I have paper traded for 3 months.

Can it be because I have never done intraday or I am not confident of my strategy or I am an insecure person or mentally weak person ?
i am just too much confused at this point

Jain.er, good post. Keep this thread warm with a post or so at least once a week. A lot of us go through this. I do too.

What kind of scrips do you trade ? How much capital ? What time frame ? Which broker ? What is your trading cost ?

Edit : Dan, how come I missed that thread of yours ?? It's a gem.

A baby will fall many times before it learns to walk.

My practical advise for you would be :

1. Do not expect to make profit on every trade.
2. Have a comfortable level of stop loss.
3. Don't take loss personally. Remember, even best of players get cleaned bowled or go thru a rough patch.
4. Best suggestion for you would be to not paper trade, but take a small position of say 2, 5 or 10 shares, and then try your system comfortably even if it has wider stop losses.

If even this is not possible, then take a complete break from the market till you think you can do better.

There are two books by Mark Dogulas which relate to psychological and practical aspect of trading which I highly recommend to you - The Disciplined Trader, and Trading in the Zone. Have read them twice over myself.

Good luck.

if possible - place SL buy / SL short order so that it is triggered as per strategy, will reduce nervousness

If you are consistently facing execution issues then it probably means that you do not have enough faith in your strategy.

I would suggest designing a strategy which you find easy to execute. Do not worry if returns are less, you will evolve once you are comfortable.

Always be in your comfort zone. Always.

In my case I have noticed tiredness can cause this problem. Tiredness can be anything from personal work or from over doing of trading.

Today I pulled the trigger and guess what I shot myself in my foot.
Went for a Tukka trade and Stopped out at the high of the day

Dear Mr. Jain,

Your post itself reveals why you cannot pull the trigger, and the time you did, you shot yourself in the foot.

I am referring to 'Tukka trade'. Its no better than trying to make money by the toss of a coin, which will never result in making money consistently and profitably. This is surprising as you are member of TJ and have opportunities to read so many threads that can help to improve trading.

My two bits worth.

Good luck.

Lost a foot, eh ??? Ok. In the markets you can manage to grow another foot and maybe more, as long as your head is intact. You can even lose your head time and again and grow it back, such is the nature of the markets. Ask those who have blown up their accounts innumerable times. You can always recover.

Trade carefully.