Linkon
Thank you for your feedback. I'm so very glad you shared your thoughts with me. I've been doing this for a while now and I know myself better. What I've found out about myself after taking two consecutive losses is that, it leads to a string of losses when I continue with that mindset. So I came up with that rule two losses in a row I'm done for THAT day. I might not shut my pc off but I do turn off my trading platform and go for a drive, or a jog( I jog daily anyway.). I might come back and check where the market is heading but only in the simulation mode. If I feel the urge to continue to trade I trade it on the simulator and monitor for performance for that day. Executing trades have never been an issue, ever.
A rule is a rule and whatever suits YOu, you have to go with that. This rule alone has saved me so much over the past six months which would otherwise have resulted so many losing days and give up all those wonderful profits. I have other rules too but it might not be for everyone.
Here's another key - your equity curve has to make higher highs and lower lows consistently. Hope your broker allows you to monitor and chart it on your platform. Ultimately who you're as a trader will show up in your equity curve. I might miss a lot of moves because of my self disciplinary rules but I've seen that it keeps me away from trouble which would've resulted in more losses. In fact I've even signed a sheet of oath and commit myself to living it daily. If you are interested in it I will copy it for you another time. You can modify to suit your needs.
Trading Log and a daily journal is a must IMHO. I've developed a set of routines and rituals which I do every day keep me in peak condition physically, emotionally.........you've to be fit emotionally, YES FOR EACH TRADE AND EVERY TRADE regardless of the TIME FRAME.
And another thing which I must add here. Ultimately we do things to make us feel good and how you feel on a consistent basis is determined by the emotions you go through. How you feel consistently will determine what you attract in the future. Often when I get more than average or huge profits I tend to stop trading for the day(I might have positions open for position and swing trading part which I monitor only on an EOD basis with resting stops in place(resting stops for both profit and protection)). Ive found that the feeling you experience when you win will make you do better for you attract even better when you feel good. Why not always end the days with wins and attract more of the same for the next day and beyond? Ofcourse lot of it is based on monthly/weekly/daily targets. I tend not to focus on money made as much as how much I followed my rules, rules related to my trading plan or rules pertaining to self discipline. Because if you have something that works and you continue to follow your rules money must come on its own. Money is only a byproduct of following rules related to psychology of awareness, self discipline, methodology(trading plan)........ultimately money or any PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION is the BY PRODUCT of how you FLOW YOUR ENERGY. How you flow your energy will determine how you feel.......I can go on and on here about psychology, self discipline, trading plans, business plans but more importantly the concept of THOUGHTS BECOMING THINGS(Aalochanakyam Tapaha!!). I've been able to combine the best of Upanishads and the modern term what they call Law of Attraction(its been used for the past 100 years however always mentioned in Upanishads)and apply it to every thing including trading.
Happy trading
Shreenath
More thoughts on this: After two years of active DAY trading and more than a decade of part time swing and position trading, I've realized that Day trading doesn't mean one has to sit in front of the pc all day. My experience proves that more than 90 of my profits do come within the first two hours after market opening and last two hours before market closes(this is for S&P emini;I don't trade Indian markets; at least not yet). These days, I hit the goal within first two hours, often in one trade and I'm done for the day. I love spare time which I use for pattern picking research, back testing and forward testing(oh yeah this could be a new thing for traders in India, but once I develop parameters for a trading plan I can go back years on any chart, on multiple time frames(usually test it on three time frames at once)and test it bar by bar(without looking at the data in past tense; means each bar appears just like it does in real time so you wouldn't be looking at charts in hindsight) and a variety of activities.
I don't know for how long you been actively day trading, but here's something more; big money is made in big trends by holding a position longer say a swing for 5 to 10 days or a position trade. Day trading for me is to put dinner and lunch on my table, it's an income generation tool. And consequently about 30% of my trades are day trades and I do it only on S&P emini, sometimes US treasury bonds. The only exception is if you are able to develop something robust enough so you trade thousands of contracts, even 100s then you can earn huge even with one profitable trade a day. I know of at least three successful traders who have been full time for 5 years now and all they do is trade for one hour a day and often trade only once within first few minutes of open and are done for the day. But their size is huge.....can be done over a period of time.
Shreenath,
I have learnt though experience that if i suffer 2 consecutive losses and i stop trading the setup for the day, doubt about the setup sets in. We start looking for what went wrong and start the process of rediscovering the wheel all over again.
Maintaining a trade log helps a lot. There we can see, if the loss was due to our inability to stick to the rules. Keep a note of what went wrong and area of improvement. But never shut the pc and stop trading. As long as you know that you didnt break any rules, keep looking for opportunities.
Inactivity leads to self doubt. "Execution" is the most difficult phase of trading. Its a mind game and law of average dictates the profit. If out of 4 trades, 2 hits SL and 2 gives profit, we can still end the day with good profit.
