How do you stop trading on a losing day?

My biggest problem as a trader is my discipline and my patience. I can get the good trades and this is not a problem. Sometimes I jump into things out of impatience and i'm working on this.

But today, was shocking - I just couldn't stop trading and it got pretty ugly (at least for me) so my question is this: Do you set a number of losing trades/day or amount you can lose before you stop or you just figure so long as you're thinking logically and taking good trades there's no reason to stop?

I think I need to impose 3 losses and i'm done for the day. My discipline is so bad at managing trades i've now resorted to shutting the screen and placing a few alerts so I know what's going on. I know my losing days are hurting my progress the most, but I'm too compulsive at times - hopefully this 3 loss rule will work for me at least.

jus turn dat screen n whole compter off bruv.
phone ur gally up, or ur brehs, n go out n jam
hav sum drinks n jus cruise round town bruv

do u hav, or ur m8 hav a convertibel bmw m3....trus me bruv, cruise round in dat wiv da top down n music up den u know uv killd it...myt b bit cold sumtym tho
n spend dat dollar, dun woriz bout newfing

Masquerade- It is hard to know when to stop- i try to be very harsh on myself but still struggle with this sometimes. You've got to set a rule and try to stick to it- whether that is quitting when you have 3 trades in a row, when you lose 5% of your account, whatever it is. You have to imagine that you are working for someone else and trading their money, they are your boss and if you make a certain loss/number of losses they are going to turn your computer off and tell you to quit for the day and go read some trading books instead. No arguing with the boss.

UKtradergirl said:

they are your boss and if you make a certain loss/number of losses they are going to turn your computer off and tell you to quit for the day and go read some trading books instead.

Click to expand...

reed sum tradin books instead....bahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
hahaha lol shyt boi haha joks

do wot i sed abov bruv...u need ur mind off stuff, da abuv stuff wil giv u a fresh mind bruv, a helfy 1, so u can cum back n be lyk fuk dis, im gna rob dese markets 2day...reedin books lolz ul kill urself wiv stress lyk dat bruv

Woah woah! We don't need to go to the extremes of reading trading books It's just a case for me of getting up and walking away and I find it very tough. I'll have to physically distance myself from a computer.

Only thing is i'm a short-term/scalper so 3 losers in a day isn't that much, but I don't average x number of trades/day it depends on what opportunities present themselves and also if I happened to have a losing trade (in which case I may go off on one and start trading like crazy)

Masquerade said:

Woah woah! We don't need to go to the extremes of reading trading books It's just a case for me of getting up and walking away and I find it very tough. I'll have to physically distance myself from a computer.

Only thing is i'm a short-term/scalper so 3 losers in a day isn't that much, but I don't average x number of trades/day it depends on what opportunities present themselves and also if I happened to have a losing trade (in which case I may go off on one and start trading like crazy)

Click to expand...

Helps to take three trades - long/short - if kicked out of the three trades then call it a day and do something else.

Sounds to me like you were revenge trading,we've all done it,but as you trade more you will become less emotional,if it's not your day,so be it,you will learn from it.

On your good trades do you get the most out of them that you can? or maybe trade a 30 min chart instead of a 3 min chart ? so you are not trading as often,I can take the losing trades no problem,but when I get a losing trade that makes me want to throw up,I call it a day,and go for a walk in the forest.

martingale

sebby2468 said:

Sounds to me like you were revenge trading,we've all done it,but as you trade more you will become less emotional,if it's not your day,so be it,you will learn from it.

On your good trades do you get the most out of them that you can? or maybe trade a 30 min chart instead of a 3 min chart ? so you are not trading as often,I can take the losing trades no problem,but when I get a losing trade that makes me want to throw up,I call it a day,and go for a walk in the forest.

Click to expand...

I guess it's a combination between revenge trading and just taking opportunities which are slightly more marginal and which may deviate from the norms in which I would use for an "optimal" trade.

You can never get the most out of the good trades and i've had a tendency in the past to move stops and mess around with my trades but i'm trying to become more detached from the trade management process and I try to let it run it's course. I do slice a little bit of the trade - but if i'm sitting in big profits and no data coming out i'll let it carry on.

Choc - Martingale sounds interesting; but I use a reverse martingale strategy at the moment. I may switch later on

We're all agreed it makes no sense trying harder and harder just to come out with a positive day. Ending the day up isn't an objective.

But if you have a well-defined winning system, with objective entry signals and clear stops (that you obey), with a fail-safe in terms of good money management, so that if your capital decreases, so does your relative cash at risk, then it makes no sense to reduce your number of trades on any time scale. Put another way, if you have a system that wins 70% of the time, and you get 10 losers in a row, it doesn't make any sense to stop trading for a day. Statistically, it will happen eventually that you get 10 losers in a row with a 70% system. Just because that happens, it doesn't mean your system is wrong.

So if you have a good system, trade it more, not less.

If you don't have the sort of system I have outlined above, you shouldn't even trade once. And if you find you are disobeying your own signals for entry and exit, don't even trade once.