Today I had my biggest intraday fall - 2,500 GBP. This is probably something noone wants to talk about. But having suffered it - esp on the back of a string of good trades - I want to know what others did about it.
Some background - last few weeks I have had 2 main trades running. Long oil/ short dollar or vice versa. The dollar crosses have been euro, cable and yen.
Last week my daughter was born, so I halted a profitable run for 7 days. I wanted to get back. So I started again on Tuesday with the idea of geting stuck back in.
I could not. I had the usual baby duties ( a delight, of course) and tending to new grandparents etc. I chose my usual time frame - 1 hour. I look at daily and 4hrs first, try to get the trend and then trade the retracements. I also use fibs. Very simple, and it works. Price is the best indicator I know.
Yesterday,I got the trend right in oil - going up - but despite a 100 point SL got stopped out twice. It was frustrating, ended with 500 loss.
Today, I started at 15.30. I thought crude was nearing 23.6% fib support on the 1hr and 4hr chart. I WENT LONG, DESPITE PRICE BEING 150 CENTS AWAY FROM SUPPORT.
Price duly crashed. Those who have been trading crude last few days will know what a white knuckle ride it has been- even for crude`s usual volatility. Anyway.
15mins later, price was 30cents away from support, I went long again. BUT THIS TIME I TRIPLED MY SIZE. This was unlike me. I am normally a cautious person. Price crashed again. By now, I was checking out 5min charts - this has been following the 21d ema quite well last 2 days. However, I NEVER TRADE OFF THE 5MIN CHARTS.
Next, I examined the 1 hr charts closely. This time I shorted. Immediately made a little bit but did not take profits, as I thought now the trend would carry on to my new target.
Suffice to say it did not - and this time, crude started surging back up from about 131.70. Its now around 135.00. I stopped as all my risk measures had been breachced.
I think it all happened as I was desperate to get back in to trading. I wanted to carry on with the profits I had made - but ended up just givingthem away. In fact,I should not have been trading it all. Goes against my grain, but thats what I should be doing now. I know what I am doing wrong, but still doing it - again this is unlike me.
Perhaps I should cut my risk drastically and spread bet for a while with £1/point. Recently, I have also been thinking about quitting my job and trading full time. I think this added to the pressures, and the need to take the odd positions I did today.
Apologies about the long tirade. A tirade against lack of psychological vigilance. Has this happened to others - and resulted in big losses, maybe even the biggest ever ?
