Struggling with trading once max. daily loss is reached

[Stew1e]

Hello traders,
I feel like I'm really close to become a profitable trader after almost 4 years.. There is however still one (mainly psychological) issue which prevents me to turn the corner.
Basically there are days when I make quite reasonable amounts of money (by following risk management) and then usually I'll give it back the next day(or few days after). The "simpliest" solution is to have own capital and ask a broker to set max daily loss for you and once you reach it you can not trade anymore that day. However this does not apply when it comes to prop firm trading.

Unfortunately when it's THAT day when I'm "supposed" to lose money and my max. daily loss is reached I have troubles to go away and return back the next day. Sometimes there are days when I reach my daily loss by lunch(I also trade london session) and I guess I also do not have patience to not to trade the rest of the day and WAIT for the next day. Simply said there is kind of strong urge to keep trading and also not to miss those trading opportunities(FOMO)

I went through my trading journal, look at all my trades and I looked closely at days when I kept trading after max daily loss was reached. I found out that my trading performance would be much better if I had discipline to walk away when the market is not that kind to me.

Could you guys please share your thoughts on this ? How do you battle with this issue ? What made you to "flip a switch" and walk away from screens once your max daily loss is hit ?

 

[Zvi_WholeBrainTradin]

Hi,
Thumbs up for the openness. This is a problem many traders struggle with.
The "simplest" solution is NOT to ask the broker to be in charge of your mindset.
It is to figure out how to be able to walk away on your own.

No sugar-coating here: you are self sabotaging. It's a perfectly normal human phenomenon.
Unless you dig this up from the root, any "mechanical safeguard" you will put (like broker limits, apps that shut you off etc.) will be no more than a bandaid, and your mind will just find a way around it.

Just as an example, I've had clients struggle with this which had an app shut them out after hitting the daily limit. Guess what - pretty soon they started overriding the app... Once they faced and dealt with the root of the problem - they didn't even need the app any more.

Your goal is to NEVER, EVER do it again. period.
And that means changing the way you think, feel and act in the market. Figuring out why you're doing it - and change your approach so you don't NEED to do it.

Why are you self sabotaging? I couldn't possibly guess that over a forum without knowing you. But ask yourself these, for starters (the answers will be painful and embarrasing, but you must face them):
* What are you gaining from this behavior? what "lights up" inside you on those days when you tumble down? What need does it satisfy, that is missing/lacking in daily life or normal trading?
* What are you protecting yourself from? what would you have to do/face/accept, that you would rather avoid, should your profits accumulate?

Best of luck!