Doing the Opposite - Looser Becomes Winner

[jeremyjohnolson 19]

In the way of back ground, I am still a newbie to day trading, so be nice.  I have only been doing it for about 5 months now.  I have noticed a consistent pattern.  That pattern is that I loose and I loose big every single time, without fail, when I go off the rails and just start taking trades because I think it is going to go a certain way (not based on any real strategy, just basically gut feel).  Then I get angry and start over-trading and trading emotionally with too big of size, etc...

So I had a thought today, the fact that I consistently (emphasis on consistently) loose when I go down that road, doesn't that mean that something other than random chance is happening here?  I mean, if it was just random chance, then wouldn't I win some of the time and loose some of the time?  But yet, I consistently loose big when I go crazy like that.  So I was thinking, what if I just set up some hot keys that did the exact opposite of what I want them to do.  When I click buy to go long, it sells to go short, or visa versa if I want to take a short position, it does the exact opposite and takes out a long position.  Wouldn't it stand to reason if I did this that I would then consistently win every time?  I mean, I would have to trade like I was really trying to win and really trying to go long, like I really think it is going to go up, I mean really and truly, but then I just go against my gut and take out a short position just when I think it is about to explode to the up side.  Of course I would know that I was going to take a short position, but I can't think that way, I would have to truly trade against myself.

Today in my training account I started over trading and taking too large of positions to try to "win back" my losses, etc...and of course I ended the day with a $5.5K loss (in my training account).  Had I take the opposite of every position, then I would have made about $2.8K - not exactly $5.5K because of commissions, but still, I would have ended green.

Is it really that simple?  Just trade against myself and all of a sudden the looser becomes a winner???

[Brendon 146]

You have to be able to identify patterns and price action with proper risk management. Although a lot of the time the stock does the exact opposite of what we think, I have never heard of a trader who is successful simply by doing the opposite of his gut.  

In short, don't ever do that   , btw I would lower your risk to $25-$50 per trade and take no more than 5 trades a day until your consistent. Also try sticking to going long vs short. I find short trades a slightly more difficult to identify. 

Edited February 20, 2020 by Brendon

[jeremyjohnolson 19]

Thanks for the advice.  I am sure both of you are right.  But at least I thought of a good name for my suggested strategy, it's called the "George Costanza".  And just like everything he ever tried he ended up failing at, I am sure the "George Costanza" is also probably a catastrophically bad trading strategy too lol!