Look, the thread was written with tongue in cheek, as are probably some of the other threads and posts. This site is really good, and from a newbies point of view if you trawl the boards you will probably find all your answers. Unfortunately, you cant convey tone of voice on the internet which can lead people into a false argument. ANYWAY! good trading everybody!
Being optimist / pessismist is for long term traders or fools.These sentiments should play NO part whatsoever in the day trading game. You have to view each day as it comes on your screen and trade accordingly. Those that hope for better/worse things can and will lose as they hold onto their beliefs.
Boy I've seen it time and time again..... following a lucky/fortunate /skillful play at the market, the person feels invincible and plums for a biggy, only to see it wipe out all before as he holds on for grim death , terrified that he has already lost a huge amount and will risk the lot on a turnaround... Now that's pure gambling. I was almost one of them a long time ago....
Boy I've seen it time and time again..... following a lucky/fortunate /skillful play at the market, the person feels invincible and plums for a biggy, only to see it wipe out all before as he holds on for grim death , terrified that he has already lost a huge amount and will risk the lot on a turnaround... Now that's pure gambling. I was almost one of them a long time ago....
CM, i agree with you totally( not tongue in cheek ), ive not been trading with REAL money for that long, my last entry level was a disgrace ( learned from that!), but the position has come good. All i would say is that sometimes you have got to have a little bit of confidence in your analysis. Im not arguing against you just trying to add another angle.
I have to back up peedee a little here,
chartman I agree with what u r saying....we should not feel emotional about individual trades & all decision should be based on reasoned logic, but to say u shouldn't be optimistic is a bit of a general statement......forgive me if I have misunderstood your point.
money management does play an important part in trading, but surely u would agree we should have an optimistic view on things.......otherwise what would be the point. I am a big believer in 'u get what u expect' .....so if that is true ...if we expect nothing we will get nothing.
it is the people who have a great belief in themselves that accomplish great things so it would be wrong to bury this emotion.
yes it would be daft to increase & decrease size I believe on your feeling of a particular trade...but a steady & planned increase with optimism & logic surely must be a fair idea.
Jay
chartman I agree with what u r saying....we should not feel emotional about individual trades & all decision should be based on reasoned logic, but to say u shouldn't be optimistic is a bit of a general statement......forgive me if I have misunderstood your point.
money management does play an important part in trading, but surely u would agree we should have an optimistic view on things.......otherwise what would be the point. I am a big believer in 'u get what u expect' .....so if that is true ...if we expect nothing we will get nothing.
it is the people who have a great belief in themselves that accomplish great things so it would be wrong to bury this emotion.
yes it would be daft to increase & decrease size I believe on your feeling of a particular trade...but a steady & planned increase with optimism & logic surely must be a fair idea.
Jay
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Another point to add is that surely everybody has different 'comfort zones', so when i talk about increasing or decreasing values i say this with a view to how a particular person manages thier money % wise and obviously what thier own market sentiment is at the time.
jonnyy40
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Grey1 or Oldun wrote a thread about risk somewhere?Mentioning that the 3:1 reward to risk was not the be-all and end-all.How successfull your strategy is in percentage terms is more important?So if I had a strategy that was 80% winning say.I'd quite happily trade with risk:reward maybe 1:1. If you know over a period of time that your strategy is x% winning,then you would alter your stake size to suit?
As a spreadbetter I regularly risk more than 1-2% 
Unfortunately I don't have a lot of choice, my capital is so low. I only trade in £1s usually, use tight stops and trail them to lock in profit even though this does sometimes result in coming out too early. (Motto- better a small profit than a loss). I also keep my eye on trades and try to get out before the stops are hit but am not always successful
Since trading currencies I have been a little more successful at managing my trades and, so far, am slightly on top. I must stress this does not make me want to increase my stake - a bit of sense at last
Unfortunately I don't have a lot of choice, my capital is so low. I only trade in £1s usually, use tight stops and trail them to lock in profit even though this does sometimes result in coming out too early. (Motto- better a small profit than a loss). I also keep my eye on trades and try to get out before the stops are hit but am not always successful
Since trading currencies I have been a little more successful at managing my trades and, so far, am slightly on top. I must stress this does not make me want to increase my stake - a bit of sense at last
Maybe you want to risk more because you want to get rich quick??
If you have a small account, then you need to build it up first until it is a size where by you can happily live off your weekly/monthly returns and also put some aside.
The way to build a small account is to take profit while it is there! Maybe the 1:1 idea suggested by Jonnyy40 is a good idea!
Consider this: You want to double your account size in one year. You are prepared that you will reinvest all profits and not draw any money out in the year. To achieve this, you only have to make about 1.5% a week of your account! Now its starting to look more attractive right! Sure some weeks will be bad, but some will be excellent,
And to think City fund managers get paid £££££££'s for a cr*p 20%. My dog could achieve that!
If you have a small account, then you need to build it up first until it is a size where by you can happily live off your weekly/monthly returns and also put some aside.
The way to build a small account is to take profit while it is there! Maybe the 1:1 idea suggested by Jonnyy40 is a good idea!
Consider this: You want to double your account size in one year. You are prepared that you will reinvest all profits and not draw any money out in the year. To achieve this, you only have to make about 1.5% a week of your account! Now its starting to look more attractive right! Sure some weeks will be bad, but some will be excellent,
And to think City fund managers get paid £££££££'s for a cr*p 20%. My dog could achieve that!
