Feb 2018 Go-Live Support Group

[Robert H 455]

A realistic daily goal is 1-2%. When you continue to trade past goal, you risk giving some back. That usually ends in over/revenge trading as you desperately try to chase the money that was once in your pocket. The chance of that is enough to scare me into stopping at goal. Also, midday trading can be tricky with less volume and sideways movement.

[Robbie Williams 12]

Thanks for the insight everyone - I'm not live yet but I'm glad I found this thread. Lots of useful information from you all.

 

@ Robert H  - I will have to check over your charts again lots of information there to digest and amazing documenting.

 

@ Stanomatic -  I had the same dread of having to monotonously journal all my trades when I was taking 20 trades a day, so now I only trade a max of 6 times.

[vic 11]

 

Just my two cents…

 

Being consistently profitable in a simulator is a necessary but not sufficient skill for being consistent in a live account. If you find that you trade differently in sim and in a live account, that seems suggest that you need more practice in a simulator to get a handle on your emotions, not less.

 

 

I understand what you're saying @dima but sim doesn't fix anything about my emotions when there is money on the line, so sim is completely useless for me.

 

Looking at the number of people who are kicking it in SIM and then see them  blow up their accounts and logging bad trade day after bad trade day with real money confirms my belief that SIM Trading is basically useless in this game.

 

SIM trading is to learn the software, not to learn how to control your emotions.

 

 

 

 

[vic 11]

I am a break even trader for the last 2 years.

 

Meaning my account fluctuates between small loss and small gain, no matter how many trades I make. That is already a huge win for me, it used be blowing up accounts after accounts with the only reason is not following plans, revenge trading and over trading on bad moments of the day to make something back.

 

I kinda have fixed that issue.

 

My current issue is that I do not let my winners run. It's easy for me to take the loss at a right time but it's very hard for me to stay in the trade to reach my profit target once I see that my trade is 50% in the green away from my target.

 

I fixed this a bit by taking off half and moving my stop to break even but I'm not there yet.

 

Trading must be the most difficult way on this planet to make money, I wish I had never started HA.

 

If I would count up all the courses and books I bought, count up all the hours I have put into it, and count all the blowing up accounts i did, plus the missed opportunity cost of not working professionally I have a huge sum to make up to. Life must be easy if you're not bitten by the Trading bug, because oh boy, how fun this Trading bug is!!

 

It's a nice hobby, it's just a very expensive one ;-)

 

Yeah and i know I know, consider trading as a business etc... well, that's a very losing business for most of us, calling it a business doesn't make it a profitable one ;-)

[Robert H 455]

June 22 Update: Today I violated rules and paid the price. My 11-day green streak is over. The good news is that it wasn't max loss. Took some low quality setups trying to finish big green, rather than small green/black. That desire and greed ended up in the opposite result: a red day.

Next week I will focus on the patience and mindset that started the winning streak in the first place. No relapse.

Here is my equity curve since I made psychology my #1 trading priority.

[Robert H 455]

On days like today, I like to do a personal video recap to give my frustration/guilt/sorrow a voice. I find that it helps to 'let it all out' and speak openly about the mistakes rather than bottling things inside. This way you can get the negativity out of your system; don't ignore it--face it head on. Also, the video is a record which you can re-watch to instill the "fear as motivation" approach that Dr. Brett Steenbarger speaks about.

I would like to share today's recap with the community. A public shaming, if you will. Don't mind the tone--I'm just being melodramatic 😀

 

 

[nassarsyed 82]

Thanks for sharing @Robert H This is immensely helpful to everyone.

[Joseph Fisch 5]

Just came here from the latest Robert’s Rants. Everyone of your videos are so relatable. It’s nice to see (maybe not so nice for you...) how the emotions can still take the better part of you and how you deal with them. I just keep on learning so much from videos. 

Thanks Robert!

[Robert H 455]

Public Shaming II - Peak Regression

 

[Dinesh 1]

Thanks Robert for sharing this video. I feel that showing what you went through during this trading day is important. I can understand how it feels. I can hear the frustration in your voice. Yesterday, I had reached my daily goal of $100 after much struggle, but for some incomprehensible reason, I had over-traded, broke my rules,  lost all of my gains, blew past my daily max loss and was down $300 at the end of the day.   I am deeply disappointed with myself.  I just wanted to let you know that you are not the only regressive "crackhead".  Thank you for this video and the awesome psychology rant videos that you do. Your invaluable contributions and work help a greenhorn like me become a better trader in control of my emotions, just like my favourite sci-fi character Spock. 😉  

[Robert H 455]

I've been neglecting this post since beginning the Robert's Rant series and doing daily recaps. I thought it was about time for an update.

As much as we all love the thrill of being in trades, remember that our goal is to make consistent profits--not actively being in every single setup. Day trading has a lot of similarities with gambling. I use to think I was trading, but I was just a gambler who chose stocks as my preferred game.

Now I take a much more serious approach. Be patient and selective so I can hit my daily goal with the least amount of stress/effort required. This means waiting for those A1 setups to fall on my lap. React rather predict.

Let's compare my trading from 4 months ago.

BEFORE - EMOTIONAL OVER-TRADING GAMBLER

May 10, 2018
Trades: 12
Tickers: 8
Shares: 12,800
P&L: -348.02
Commissions: -55.95

AFTER - PATIENT SNIPER RUNNING A DAY TRADING BUSINESS

Sep 18, 2018

Trades: 1
Tickers: 1
Shares: 1,000
P&L: +335.49
Commissions: -4.46

[BrianS 5]

Thanks for the update, Robert.  I was literally reading this thread when you posted your update.  I found the thread when looking up the word "quitting" after so much frustrating trading.  From the month or so that I have been watching the chat, I would never have know the depth of your psychological trading struggle because you seem so calm now.  I appreciate your statistical method and how you came up ways to measure something so elusive.  I am going to take a stab at building some statistics and see what truths flow from those.

[Rick Lee 10]

Thanks for sharing your battle with the psychological aspects of being a beginner trader Robert. I just read through and am wondering how it's going now, 2 years later? Have an update for all of us still learning the trade?

And have any advice to your less experienced self re: the psychology of trading or just trading in general?

Edited August 13, 2020 by Richard Lee

[hailchaser2 185]

4 hours ago, Richard Lee said:

Thanks for sharing your battle with the psychological aspects of being a beginner trader Robert. I just read through and am wondering how it's going now, 2 years later? Have an update for all of us still learning the trade?

And have any advice to your less experienced self re: the psychology of trading or just trading in general?

I believe Robert has went his own direction and is no longer an active BBT member.

[Jesse 8]

I feel like I need to do something like this. I feel like having a mentor or posting on a thread like about my trades and emotions will make me be more accountable on my rules and prevent over trading/max loss days. I will reciprocate the feedback to anyone else that wants to join in. 

 

Who's with me?