Bad trading day

Yeah, it's "Should I throw in the towel?" guy, back and a lot calmer. Things are mostly going better, but...

Yesterday, I was trading away, and whatever I did, the market just didn't want to work for me. After a while of this I figured I was having a bad trading day, gave up and got on with something else. No great loss, carefully placed stops and all that.

So, question. When you have days when it just doesn't seem to be going right, do you give up and take a break (on the assumption that something is negatively affecting you and/or the market), or stick with it and trust statistics to balance things out in the end?

normally take a break for an hour or so, wait for the next trade, recompose etc

then regardless of how bad the day was i come in the next day and proclaim

"today will be my best day ever i always make money on whatever day it may be"

you just have to stay positive

GJ,

First time I've seen reference to physical exercise in the context of trading.

Will exercise and improved fitness make you a better trader? Difficult one that. I would suggest exercise and improving your physical fitness makes you feel better physically and also mentally. If you feel better mentally, your psychological disposition when trading must also improve, even if it's only feeling less wretched on a losing run.

Sitting in front of a screen all day is not going to combat potential heart disease. Do you know the difference between a six-pack from a party-seven?

Grant.

Great point GJ;

IMO the two compliment each other very well; during periods when I have been trading alot, I would often nip out to the gym for an hour, in lieu of b'fast or lunch, twice a day - there is usually a squash court free during office hours, I found that was particularly good to beat the sh!t out of a squash ball, even better play competitively (I'm cr@p and usually lost, but that wasn't the point - it's to take out some of the tension and frustration on something that doesn't matter, rather than a tricky position you're in). If not I used to splosh about it the pool, whack the iPod in and get on the treadmill, or just sit in the sauna for 40 mins (if I was lucky, there was some nice young lady to flirt with too, bonus).

Once I was back at the desk, clean shirt, tidy desk feeling fresh and invigorated, you can almost treat it has a whole new trading day - getting away from the desk and coming back to catch up on the news means you don't get married to a view, you can take a fresh look and act accordingly. Too much adrenaline, testosterone, aggression etc... aren't usually catalysts of good trading to be honest. I've never understood the guys who are bashing their phone on their desk or screaming profanity at a newswire, always seemed to be that the pressures of the job were getting to them and compunding the problem. Everybody's heard the expression "healthy body, healthy mind", and of course you don't need to be physically fit to sit down all day, but you can be sure a healthy mind helps.

FWIW, I have tried substituting going to the gym for cooking when I'm at home (bit of a hobby chef), cigarretes, drugs and alcohol, and neither were as effective; I have been told by a few people that a Dog is good to play with, but I havent got one.

Slightly - well, totally - off topic, but I have often thought that "rent a dog" would be a great little business for someone.

GammaJammer said:

Hope that helps. Oh, and without knowing a single thing about your trading, and at the risk of being told I'm talking cr@p, I bet I know what you're doing wrong;

I bet you're trading off a far too tiny timeframe and therefore massively overtrading, based on technical analysis that is flawed, sloppy, and in any case is nowhere near robust enough to trade on charts that are really just tracking noise.

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Hi GJ,
Agree 100% with everything in your post - until this final point. Having read most (if not all) of your posts on T2W, I'm very aware that trading fast timeframes is your bete noir. I agree that it carries additional risks than trading slower timeframes which may catch out unwary and inexperienced traders. That said, surely the timeframe one chooses is governed to a greater or lesser extent by the objectives of the trader? Ergo, it is utterly appropriate for a scalper to use a 1 minute chart just as it is for a swing trader to use a daily one. 'Noise' to a swing trader is food and drink to a scalper. Indeed, the extra granularity offered by a fast timeframe can aid a trader by confirming or negating a signal generated in a longer timeframe, thus keeping a trader out of (potentially) losing trades and enabling them to fine tune their entries into (potentially) winning ones.
Just my 2p worth!
Tim.

i think diet is a key thing for trading. sounds a bit gay but work with me on this....youn have periods of ups and downs in terms of concentration depoending on what and when you eat. believe me i have been through the bacon and egg sarnies at breakfast, burgers at lunch and your amount of booze on a night and i have found that exercise and a decent diet throughout the day has helped immensely.

GJ,

Rent-a-dog does exist in London (Radio 4 last week) and the weekly rates are crazy - cheaper to send the dog to Eton. But let's not start a thread about dogs, OK? (Unless someone has a point re the mental state of a greyhound - "which dogs would make the best traders".)

Grant.

I know it's off topic but

Greyhounds would make rubbish traders, ours has a frantic few minutes then just sleeps all day and isn't that bright.

Just plug a collie dog in sunday night when asia opens then feed and water him Friday close. Collies will lap it up and still want more come the weekend! Bonkers ,the work rate they have.

Yeah come Saturday ,after they have creamed everything all week, they'll sniff out where the traders live ,go round their houses and lift their wallets. Just for the recreation of it on the collie dogs day off.

Collies rock..

Anyone seen Dog Borstal, nice little quote from that Mick bloke when he was referring to a Jack Russell. He said
"A Jack Russell is like the United Kingdom, It's a hard little b@stard that kills rodents"

LOL you gotta love that one !!

gooseman said:

i think diet is a key thing for trading. sounds a bit gay but work with me on this....youn have periods of ups and downs in terms of concentration depoending on what and when you eat. believe me i have been through the bacon and egg sarnies at breakfast, burgers at lunch and your amount of booze on a night and i have found that exercise and a decent diet throughout the day has helped immensely.

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Very true. Had some sports therapist work with me on various things (for sports and trading) and concentration is enhanced by many factors such as daylight (important vitamins), exercise (blood flow, detachment then re-engagement) and diet. Certain things like nuts and pulses are supposedly really good for concentration (though obviously not for those with a nut allergy!). Heavy food, big on carbs (pasta, potatoes), and fatty food are unsurprisingly the worst. Think about how you feel after a big sunday lunch - just want to sit in a comfy chair and have a nap.

And something else that can really help with concentrartion - keep drinking water. Amazing how dehydration can affect you.

I think so long as you don't trade when too drunk it's all a load of new age crap tbh.

honestly i thought that but it has turned around my concentration no end.

Who wants to live forever?

I have read some study regarding the benefits of maintaining a lower calorie intake than todays suggested numbers.

Hamsters are shown to live 50% longer lifespan with no exercise taken over other hamsters with a bigger calorie intake following a regular exercise routine ( I SH!T YOU NOT)

Something to ponder perhaps and we all know pro sports guys will die younger.

Lower cals. gentle exercise = maximum life span.

that would be worth considering but i am not a hamster.

If you walk around in a see through plastic ball 6 inches off the ground, how long can you expect to live?

Yah goose, but science run these things on the wee beasts first. But the theory seems good, err on the side of correct foods low cal. = Don't over eat and especially not the wrong foods = your body will maintain itself internally extract what (goodness fuel it needs to convert) it needs to maintain it.

*Unfortunately, for maximum benefit, people would probably have to reduce their caloric intake by roughly 30 percent, equivalent to dropping from 2,500 calories a day to 1,750. Few mortals could stick to that harsh a regimen, especially for years on end."


There is a bit of a debate too on these Diet low cal drinks, it contain a chemical (aspartame)from (Monsanto) apparently the body cannot metabolize this chemical and people would be better off having natural sugar which the body can deal with. Some say its a killer.

Sir Ranulph Finnes also reco'd err on the hunger side, no food before mid day and none after 8 pm. Alright so he's ill up a mountain at the mo.. but....

look at americans? whats happening ? somethings not right.

MrGecko said:

If you walk around in a see through plastic ball 6 inches off the ground, how long can you expect to live?

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Half as long as the ones who don't apparently. :cheesy:

rnicoll said:

the market just didn't want to work for me.

It never does, you work for/with it.

I figured I was having a bad trading day

Your were figuring the wrong point (see above)

So, question. do you give up and take a break?

Give up ? no. Take a break? if you feel like one.

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Trading is often (always?) about a process of discovery. The discovery process is unique to the individual concerned. This is your experience. Don't let anyone rob you of it. I see it as a rights of passage. Enjoy the trip!

CB. Still traveling.

Just my own views mate. all the best.

GammaJammer said:

Especially when you're new, I would say take a break. Plus, have larger break levels (e.g. account down 10% stop for at least a day, 25% stop for a week, something like that).

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Account down 10% in a day? Yikes that would be a hell of a bad day...

GammaJammer said:

I bet you're trading off a far too tiny timeframe and therefore massively overtrading, based on technical analysis that is flawed, sloppy, and in any case is nowhere near robust enough to trade on charts that are really just tracking noise.

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Possibly. Have been trying to code up automated trading strategies in NinjaTrader. Making progress, but until I've got it polished enough to be let loose on real money, have been trying to do the same process manually. It's based on minute bars because they show the lowest influence from fundamentals, without having to deal with smoothing ticks. Nightmare to trade by hand, though...