How do you cope with a bad trading day?

but u feel d losses more esp if u feel it was down to a dodgy decision making process...............at times it's not d loss itself but the manner in which it came about.
 
grubs50 said:
but u feel d losses more esp if u feel it was down to a dodgy decision making process...............at times it's not d loss itself but the manner in which it came about.

In the short term good trading is not directly related to profit or loss.

i.e. you can still trade well and have a losing day, and conversely you can trade badly and still make money (briefly!).

So whether you make or lose money on any particular day, the most important thing is to review whether you TRADED well and resolve to trade even better tomorrow. The profits will flow regularly surely enough.
 
Again grubs i agree, what does my head in if i go into negative territoy is that sometimes it was my own fault for maybe being to hasty, instead of keeping your cool you flap so you dont miss the boat, and all along your telling yourself "dont panic Mr Mannering". Thats a thought 'The dads army day trading semminar', every friday.
 
I think Zow makes a good point there.............i suppose our reactions will always be different to various trading situations but it won't hurt to learn from other ppl's experiences.
 
I think i know what Zow's saying 'in a way' sometime there are external forces that affect the market 'short term' that your methodology cant allow for( that really pisses me off ), in fact judging by some of my recent posts anything less than making a quick buck pisses me off,( self realisation), you cant beat it!
 
How do u cope with a bad trading day?

.....by treating family to meal in an exclusive restaurant....and that is few times a month......
 
peedee said:
Sorry Zow, youll have to explain that one mate........

I think i know what Zow's saying 'in a way' sometime there are external forces that affect the market 'short term' that your methodology cant allow for( that really pisses me off ), in fact judging by some of my recent posts anything less than making a quick buck pisses me off,( self realisation), you cant beat it!


Well that can be part of it, an unexpected event can save you in a 'bad trade' or plunge you into a loss when in a 'good trade', but even on a normal 'no-unexpected-surprise-events' day it is still valid.

It goes back to the win:lose ratio. Say you develop a fantastic system with a win:loss ratio of 10:1. That still means you will lose money once every 11 times despite doing everything correctly.
After one such loss, does that mean you should suddenly abandon the system and do the exact reverse? Of course not. It may well feel bad, but you review the system/timing/signals etc, to see if you could have done any better/different, - as you should also do after a profitable day.
Even with hindsight you may conclude that you did precisely the right thing according to your system, and this is the 1 in 11 losing trade.
So as long as you have confidence in the system and your ability to execute it you can say you traded well but lost money on this occasion - no bad thing.
 
Personally I feel the need to reward myself if I've had a good day. I buy an electronic toy or gadget ( yeap my study is one big toy cupboard! ) buy some books, some dvd's go for a good night out with some mates .

Conversely If I'm in one of my bad periods - I cut my spending back totally- no rewards...

Like playing poker, I believe that unless you feel the pain from a loss you will never be able to move on. It will become too easy to accept your losses. And I hate losing money whether it's £500 or £ 50,000 ( now that was a really, really bad week..)
 
Some people by nature are able to control thier emotions some have to try a bit harder, personally i believe there is no better feeling than making money on the markets, so the opposite applies also, i just have to control my trading the best i can. I also give myself little rewards when i make, and go to the pub when i dont.
 
The most important thing is to avoid being stressed out by the situation, i suppose.
 
Hi,
Being a novice trader means having quite a few bad days - but
no one said that the school of hard knocks was ever going to be easy !!!. You got to pick yourself up, disembowel your mistake to
find out where you went wrong, and carry on.
It's also a big help when an experienced trader relates their
bad experiences when starting out - thanks Rosso - your posting
the other day re: x number losing trades, was a tonic.
 
how you come to terms with a bad day may be dependant on the amount of losing runs youve had. Is it bad, very bad or really bad(im using the term bad as oppose to good by the way).
 
peedee, when you've had a day, good or bad, maybe you can make a useful contribution to this thread. :rolleyes:
 
i've been trading for almost a year, and i know im a small bee when it comes to others in this forum.

but my year has taken me from my first trade of lossing $500 where i almost went to the toilet and was sick and that feel in my stomach. as if i was shot.

if your get that feeling u bettter get over it cos u will get a stomach ulcer!

no one is going to feel happy when they make a loss. but only as time goes on and the more u trade will get u into the mental mindset of excepting what you have done wrong.

im glad my stomach doesnt turn anymore, but i do get very fustrated. i cant be around anyone, i admit this is something i need to get over.
 
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nom
1.don't minimise what you are - things are not always what they seem to be and you must learn to make judgements on what is said on internet boards.
2. everyone has bad trading days
3. everyone has losses - more especially at the beginning
4. Anger can be a useful emotion if kept under control and properly directed
5. Perhaps what you need to accept is that you still have to find out the right things. Do you analyze what happened each day i.e did you keep to your rules and if not why not - If you did why did you get the result you did?
 
i agree with you. when i look back at any losing trades ive gone wrong because ive tried something new and entered an order spur of the moment.

Ive been good this month and i think im becoming to disiplin myself in that way.
 
I only trade small amount, but I don't much like losing £10. But then again Im out of pocket over £250,000 because of someone elses mistake (Not through trading), so any loss pales into insignificance when I think of this.

When I lose money, it is more of an annoyance these days.

2 years ago I was earning a 6 figure salary, drove a Lexus and owned a large 4 bedroom house. 1 Year ago I was officially classed as homeless.

Getting back on track now, I dont have bad days trading - Only Good and not so good.
 
Try and avoid bad trading days by adopting a strategy which provides a low reward : risk ratio ( say 1 : 1 ) and which gives a high hit rate in excess of 80%.

This what I do and it is good for the mind. I rarely have a bad trading day - it only happens when I lose my discipline and then I just kick myself and get back to plan.

BTW, I can't sleep tonight - one of those things - but definitely NOT because of a bad trading day on Friday.
 
Grubbs
if you are trading your plan and your planned stop is hit and assuming you entered to your plans rules then pat yourself on the back, reveiw if anything could be improved, if you entered with no plan and you loose or make money ask yourself. "Why the F*** did i do that?" or words to that effect that will put the question in bold type. look deep into yourself for the answer. scribble notes while you trade, track your emotions, your belief system, therefore YOU mentally, are being too rigid with the fluid environment, learn to flex as the market does. attitudes about your feelings to money itself, sense of work ethics, your EGO all play a part in people putting on trades, not closing them etc..

ive no doubt that trading presents the opportunity for people to look at themselves, like they've never looked before.

The short version for me is, spending time in the garden with the dog,chickens,veggie plot.

above all dont panic, dont beat yourself up, it takes time to learn. have you read the disciplined trader ?

I keep banging on about this book, but it enables you to obtain understanding about the most important aspect in trading, that being YOUR BEHAVIOUR. YOUR BELIEFS. in fact its a good read for anyone trading or not.

jd.
 
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