Only taking losers

I spend all day watching charts and calling many great trades that would be very profitable. However I only take 10% of my calls at most, and the trades I do take rarely win.

For instance today I called 6 trades. 5 of them would have given me a 36% increase on my account in total, 1 would have lost 2% (i risk 2% per trade). Guess which 1 of the 6 i actually took?

There's nothing wrong with these trades, they fit my system well, just seems like they're guaranteed to fail if I actually click the Buy/ Sell button. i know a good trader shouldn't let it get to them but it's been happening for a while now and it's starting to **** me off.

Any advice?

You know what the problem is...make yourself take every trade. Cut down on size for a few weeks if you have to.

Trade 10p a point then you'll be able to take every trade.

It's a problem every trader faces at some point. It's a matter of confidence which isn't an easy problem to overcome. Figure out what is the common factor in successful choices and try to consistently replicate that. Some trades are just losers and there is no getting away from that. It also sounds to me like you are rushing into a trade after you fail to enter which could be the cause of your failure.

heh, i know that problem. You're lot size is to large and therefore your stops are getting hunted out. Reduce your lots size so you can increase the stop size. Keep your stops out of reach of hunters. Stay off the pivot and fib markers as well as major institutional prices.

Just my two cents anyway.

Wow...36% increase in account in a few trades. Sounds like you're on to a winner

You might want to read the disciplined trader by douglas it addresses this and many other pyscological issues,its a must for any trader imo.

I don't understand why you would not take the trades if you have called them and they fit your criteria. Why did you not take these trades? Was there something you were unsure about? If you are only taking the really obvious ones that stand out and they don't work, maybe that means something? If they are so obvious they might be open to more manipulation by those who can?

Sam.

thanks guys. my reason for not taking the trades today was I mistakenly presumed the fx market would be dead on a uk bank holiday in london hours, and full of false signals... saw how wrong i was all day long so decided to take a perfectly fine trade that turned out to be a loser.

that's just bad luck, but has been happening way too often. I'm halving my risk to 1%. hopefully that'll encourage me to take more trades.

davidc123 said:

I spend all day watching charts and calling many great trades that would be very profitable. However I only take 10% of my calls at most, and the trades I do take rarely win.

For instance today I called 6 trades. 5 of them would have given me a 36% increase on my account in total, 1 would have lost 2% (i risk 2% per trade). Guess which 1 of the 6 i actually took?

There's nothing wrong with these trades, they fit my system well, just seems like they're guaranteed to fail if I actually click the Buy/ Sell button. i know a good trader shouldn't let it get to them but it's been happening for a while now and it's starting to **** me off.

Any advice?

Click to expand...

You spend all day looking at charts!?

You must be a professional?

What kind of idiot spends all day looking at charts...unless they are making some serious money?

Gamblers? Losers? Nothing better to do? You tell me.

davidc123, try doing this. It may sound weird, but it's totally the same (now no drinking AT ALL whilst doing this).

Go out in broad daylight by yourself (no one to prop up your confidence, as you must learn to give that to yourself). Go up to a girl that attracts you and initiate conversation. If you get shot down immediately don't worry. Keep wandering around doing this. Your goal is to get as many phone numbers at the end of the day. Aim for 5. Once you get the phone number move on, you took a winning trade.

You may find the minute you get shot down, your ego will take a hit, maybe a touch of self induced shame. Now your "physcology" is effected. When you go up to the next one, you will find you harbor negative internal energy from being shot down from the previous gal. The one you are talking to will sense it, and you may get shot down again. It's actually quite difficult to do. But if you can master it, your well on your way to mastering the markets. When you get shot down, you must learn to walk away and focus your positive energy on the next one.

The markets are just the same. Cut your losses quick and move on to the next, but LEARN not to carry negative energy into the next approach.

Stay Focused, no drinking and do it alone... just like you would trading.

kimo'sabby said:

You spend all day looking at charts!?

You must be a professional?

What kind of idiot spends all day looking at charts...unless they are making some serious money?

Gamblers? Losers? Nothing better to do? You tell me.

Click to expand...

maybe he is trying to learn ?

davidc123 said:

that's just bad luck, but has been happening way too often. I'm halving my risk to 1%. hopefully that'll encourage me to take more trades.

Click to expand...

If 1% equates to £5/pip, then it's still too much unless you nail your problem on the head. Just a thought.

As for your missed trades, would you really have traded the same way you traded your actual trades?

As for bank holiday, my abrupt post in the bank holiday thread is a definite "told you so".

The question is

Can everyone learn to trade profitable?

I dont think it has to do with how smart you are and maybe successful in other areas but how the brain reacts to the trading

"– Due to lack of ade*quate prac*tice or a dearth of expe*ri*ence in this mar*ket con*di*tion, the trader is synap*ti*cally short-circuited. There is so much going on inside his brain that the cross-talk causes both cog*ni*tive and affec*tive dis*so*nance. This is a state of con*fu*sion and “dis-ease”. The trade is not executed."

http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/06/05/your-brain-on-trading-101/

kalott said:

Can everyone learn to trade profitable?

I dont think it has to do with how smart you are and maybe successful in other areas but how the brain reacts to the trading

Click to expand...

That's a good question. The thing is, why do investment institutions employ top graduates as opposed to GCSE failures? Why do they go through such involved recruitment processes? If anyone can learn to trade, just employ slim, pretty blondes with huge breasts if you're going to be working with them all day.

I used to think anyone can trade providing they had a straight head ie no emotional/psychological issues. I am not so sure, now. You need a level of intelligence that allows you to assimilate information quickly enough to be able to make decisions and the ability to be able to identify patterns of behaviour whether you're reading charts, DOM or tape, as well as a persona that means you can think straight under demanding conditions such as when a major event has taken place and the market is in panic mode.

To me, intelligence is the ability to analyse quickly which, in your words, is how the brain reacts to trading.

davidc123 said:

I spend all day watching charts and calling many great trades that would be very profitable. However I only take 10% of my calls at most, and the trades I do take rarely win.

For instance today I called 6 trades. 5 of them would have given me a 36% increase on my account in total, 1 would have lost 2% (i risk 2% per trade). Guess which 1 of the 6 i actually took?

There's nothing wrong with these trades, they fit my system well, just seems like they're guaranteed to fail if I actually click the Buy/ Sell button. i know a good trader shouldn't let it get to them but it's been happening for a while now and it's starting to **** me off.

Any advice?

Click to expand...

This sounds promising to me to be honest. You should just laugh it off.

The fact that "it's been happening a while now" makes me wonder whether it really is only one loser from 6 trades, or that your criteria gives you more than 6 (and more losers), but that you're cherry picking, and only mention the loser because that's the one you took. It's very easy to overlook the losing trades unless you've actually called them, and very easy to hypothesise about what you might have won with the winning trades, that wouldn't have happened had you been in the trades for real.