Mindset and tech problem? maybe I can't do this

[CDG]

Honestly looking for peer help here...

I have two recognized confidence problems holding me back.

1) fear - I strategize on daily and 4 hr, but try to enter on smaller time frames to start as green as possible. This can lead me to getting stopped out or playing small as a scalper when I'm intending to be a Swing Trader. I hate losing money on green stocks from this!
2) TOS has issues at times - my pre-programmed exit got ignored the other day, so did my various stops in other trades. That shook me up.

Anyone else having or had these issues and grown out of them somehow?

 

[2187Nick]

Hola. The answer: Reduce your size.

 

[Mr_Wheeler]

I like looking for a set up before I enter a trade.

I found that if I trade for the sake of it such as haven't made a trade in a week or two and I want to get back into the action, then most of the time I lose money.

When I trade I focus 100 percent of my energy into a single trade.

 

[Trader Raider]

2) TOS has issues at times - my pre-programmed exit got ignored the other day, so did my various stops in other trades. That shook me up.

Anyone else having or had these issues and grown out of them somehow?

I went through a spell of poor fills that was so bad it prompted me to switch to TradeStation. TOS is one of my favorite tools for analysis but I do all my trading on other platforms now with no regret.

A couple other thoughts:
1- Are the instruments you trade sufficiently liquid for your strategy?
2- Would adding weekly (perhaps monthly) timeframe to your analysis help you avoid stop outs?
3- I notice several emotional words in your post: fear, hate, shook up. My trade plan calls for a day off when I don't feel at my best physically, emotionally, or even if I feel fine but have elevated stress from various life events. Would it help to include similar boundaries in yours?
4- Are you keeping data such as a trade journal or spreadsheet? Analyzing numbers isn't fun. And it can be painful to look at losses...especially when there are a lot of them. But over time it can reveal patterns that show components of a trading plan (strategy, preferred instruments, order types, etc) that can be changed to increase profitability.

Best wishes

 

[Mr_Wheeler]

I went through a spell of poor fills that was so bad it prompted me to switch to TradeStation. TOS is one of my favorite tools for analysis but I do all my trading on other platforms now with no regret.

A couple other thoughts:
1- Are the instruments you trade sufficiently liquid for your strategy?
2- Would adding weekly (perhaps monthly) timeframe to your analysis help you avoid stop outs?
3- I notice several emotional words in your post: fear, hate, shook up. My trade plan calls for a day off when I don't feel at my best physically, emotionally, or even if I feel fine but have elevated stress from various life events. Would it help to include similar boundaries in yours?
4- Are you keeping data such as a trade journal or spreadsheet? Analyzing numbers isn't fun. And it can be painful to look at losses...especially when there are a lot of them. But over time it can reveal patterns that show components of a trading plan (strategy, preferred instruments, order types, etc) that can be changed to increase profitability.

Best wishes

Funny thing is that TDA's support is very friendly & helpful. I wouldn't switch because of their support. I once had a nightmare with an Options spread because I bought a bunch of vertical spreads in different price configurations, with some prices matching others which split up spreads.

The support told me what spreads to sell in what order and I got out of a potential multi thousands dollars loss for something like only 100 or so dollars of trade loss. I ended up making back the loss very quickly.

 

[CDG]

Hello Mr. Wheeler,

I can certainly relate and have been guilty of those same issues in your first reply. Thank you for sharing that! I've experimented with doing multiple trades, but that was not as well executed as doing just one. I could set up multiple entries, but multiple exits were impossible for me to do well unless they were pre-programmed, and because I was working from lower time frames that required more monitoring. I've wondered if my view of doing multiple stocks at a time would change over time once I moved to higher time frames consistantly.

Hello Trader Raider,

Thank you for the excellent reminders. I also want to try out TradeStation, so thank you for the encouragement in that direction - though, like you, I really like TOS.
To reply:
1. not sure what is meant in this question by "instruments." Are you asking about the studies I use or general strategy or platform? I use only a few studies - EMA Cloud, SMAs, MACDwithSignals, RSI, Stoichastic, and BTD. I trade on a new laptop. Currently using TOS.
2. My strategy is daily, 4h, or 1 hr, but as mentioned I'll drop down to lower time intervals to optimize the entry and I'll be darned if I don't get ****ed in to scalping habits that lose more money than the swing might have garnished. I've heard of weekly strategies, but the drawdowns are massive on the ones I've seen.
3. Yes, a day off is a great idea. Sounds very self care-aware. Taking it today, actually!
4. I started out doing the journals but when my discipline slid, so did tracking the losses. I definitely will get that back in place.

I sincerely thank you both.

 

[tradecombine]

I recommend smaller size, like @bobmarley said.

Instrument refers to the equity, future, forex, etc. that you're trading. e.g.: $AAPL, /ES, GBP/USD, etc.

As far as trading psychology, there's a 4-part video series by Mark Douglass, that I recommend every chance I get.
It's about 4-hours or so. might be fun to watch during a day off

 

[Mr_Wheeler]

Hello Mr. Wheeler,

I can certainly relate and have been guilty of those same issues in your first reply. Thank you for sharing that! I've experimented with doing multiple trades, but that was not as well executed as doing just one. I could set up multiple entries, but multiple exits were impossible for me to do well unless they were pre-programmed, and because I was working from lower time frames that required more monitoring. I've wondered if my view of doing multiple stocks at a time would change over time once I moved to higher time frames consistantly.

Hello Trader Raider,

Thank you for the excellent reminders. I also want to try out TradeStation, so thank you for the encouragement in that direction - though, like you, I really like TOS.
To reply:
1. not sure what is meant in this question by "instruments." Are you asking about the studies I use or general strategy or platform? I use only a few studies - EMA Cloud, SMAs, MACDwithSignals, RSI, Stoichastic, and BTD. I trade on a new laptop. Currently using TOS.
2. My strategy is daily, 4h, or 1 hr, but as mentioned I'll drop down to lower time intervals to optimize the entry and I'll be darned if I don't get ****ed in to scalping habits that lose more money than the swing might have garnished. I've heard of weekly strategies, but the drawdowns are massive on the ones I've seen.
3. Yes, a day off is a great idea. Sounds very self care-aware. Taking it today, actually!
4. I started out doing the journals but when my discipline slid, so did tracking the losses. I definitely will get that back in place.

I sincerely thank you both.

Another thing that I've done is stopped trying to look for patterns and let the indicators dictate if there's a potential tread instead of doing glorified tea leafs.

 

[CDG]

tradecombine, Thank you for the video link. The comment section gives high praise and suggests hanging on to this guy's every word. 4 hours though... whew! Weekend seminar!

Mr. Wheeler,
Same here. Indicators > Patterns in my mind so far.

 

[JoeDV]

I'll chime in since I've been trading for a few days now. Some general rules to trade by, especially if you're in a slump:

1. If you're worried about losing the money in your account, and I mean all of it, don't trade
2. Follow no one but yourself. Read, learn (including from others), find a strategy that works for you
3. Learn what risk management is.
4. Re-Learn what risk management is and follow it.
5. Stay away from options and futures.
6. Research your stock and make no trade unless you have a reason, don't rely just on indicators
7. Put no more than 2% of your portfolio into any one trade
8. When putting on a trade, establish your stop-loss (see #4) and your take-profit levels, and enter them immediately (OCO Bracket)
9. While waiting for your trade to play out, go back to #4

Start off there. If you're getting stopped out constantly, then your research and decision-making (#6) on what plays to take needs revision.
Get in the mindset that each trade is its own game. Once you're out, it's over. No dwelling on losses, no getting ****ed you missed some extra profit. The coulda shoulda woulda game will kill you emotionally. If you want a sustainable trading process, pick realistic targets, like 2% a month, and until you can maintain that consistently, don't increase your risk.

 

[Mr_Wheeler]

tradecombine, Thank you for the video link. The comment section gives high praise and suggests hanging on to this guy's every word. 4 hours though... whew! Weekend seminar!

Mr. Wheeler,
Same here. Indicators > Patterns in my mind so far.

I've boiled it down to being an issue of bias, indicators take that bias out of potential entry & exit for a trade.

The one thing with complex chart setups many traders like to display. I don't like the idea of being required to have my hand held to make sense of an indicator. This is extremely important if you're constantly flipping back and forth between a few securities.

Can you really keep track of 10 different moving average lines on multiple charts at the same time 100 percent of the time?

 

[Trader Raider]

Hello Trader Raider,

Thank you for the excellent reminders. I also want to try out TradeStation, so thank you for the encouragement in that direction - though, like you, I really like TOS.
To reply:
1. not sure what is meant in this question by "instruments." Are you asking about the studies I use or general strategy or platform? I use only a few studies - EMA Cloud, SMAs, MACDwithSignals, RSI, Stoichastic, and BTD. I trade on a new laptop. Currently using TOS.
2. My strategy is daily, 4h, or 1 hr, but as mentioned I'll drop down to lower time intervals to optimize the entry and I'll be darned if I don't get ****ed in to scalping habits that lose more money than the swing might have garnished. I've heard of weekly strategies, but the drawdowns are massive on the ones I've seen.

Hi again, CDG. By instrument, I meant the thing you are trading. My point was that it is important that there is enough buying and selling going on with whatever you are trading to allow for good fills. For example, I trade futures and recently had a trade with a nice profit but lost most of it when trying to exit. It wasn't the broker's fault. It was mine for not trading the contract with the most buyers and sellers. I had mistakenly traded a contract that had only a handful of other traders. The loss of that profit could have been avoided had I traded the more liquid contract.

Regarding weekly charts, I wasn't thinking of weekly strategies so much as analyzing price action on the weekly timeframe. For example, I want to trade in the direction that price is moving on higher timeframe charts. And I want to be mindful of higher timeframe pivot points. If price is nearing a previous weekly high, do I want to jump in now or wait to see if it climbs above that price? This is the kind of information I find helpful from weekly charts but your goals/strategy may be different than mine.

Regarding scalping, I think we have all been there. My view is that no one ever blew up an account taking profits early.

If you try TradeStation, be sure to check out the auto trading features.

Best Wishes and Happy Trading!

 

[floydddd]

looks like you're a trend trader. it's never worked for me. the second i get a signal, price reverses and i lose. switched to mean reversion and have never been happier or more profitable or less stressed out.
i only trade instruments that i'm 99% sure ain't ever going to zero and if i hold on long enough, i can always break even, at the very least. QQQ is one of em.
my trade size is small enough, and the trades staggered enough, that if i have to wait wait and wait to get whole, i can do so, since i have enough money in the account to keep on trading. 1% is my usual size, though i'm slowly creeping up as i get more confident. (and we all know how that usually ends, don't we?)
the best advice i've gotten re mean reversion is: no stops. no ifs and or stops. they'll kill you in MR. i usually plan on the first buy going negative and the strategy calls for 4 buys total, all lower than the first, according to various rules. that means, roughly speaking, each trade is .25% of the 1% per trade max. after four buys and no love, i just put the thing aside and wait.
i've only been recording my trades recently but, recently, i've made 15 trades. two were losses (tossed the rules, sigh), one for -3% , the other for -.8%. i have 8 break evens (ie, wins were b/ 2% and 5%). had one for +12% and then four for 18-20%.
would have done better had i followed the rules better.
anyway, that's what works for me. i trade on MR, trade only on daily charts, usually hold between 2 days and 3 weeks. point being: you've gotta find out what works for you. and don't think just 'cause it works for somebody else that it'll also work for you. been there, tried that, no go, brick wall.
onward! and good luck!

 

[tradecombine]

looks like you're a trend trader. it's never worked for me. the second i get a signal, price reverses and i lose. switched to mean reversion and have never been happier or more profitable or less stressed out.
i only trade instruments that i'm 99% sure ain't ever going to zero and if i hold on long enough, i can always break even, at the very least. QQQ is one of em.
my trade size is small enough, and the trades staggered enough, that if i have to wait wait and wait to get whole, i can do so, since i have enough money in the account to keep on trading. 1% is my usual size, though i'm slowly creeping up as i get more confident. (and we all know how that usually ends, don't we?)
the best advice i've gotten re mean reversion is: no stops. no ifs and or stops. they'll kill you in MR. i usually plan on the first buy going negative and the strategy calls for 4 buys total, all lower than the first, according to various rules. that means, roughly speaking, each trade is .25% of the 1% per trade max. after four buys and no love, i just put the thing aside and wait.
i've only been recording my trades recently but, recently, i've made 15 trades. two were losses (tossed the rules, sigh), one for -3% , the other for -.8%. i have 8 break evens (ie, wins were b/ 2% and 5%). had one for +12% and then four for 18-20%.
would have done better had i followed the rules better.
anyway, that's what works for me. i trade on MR, trade only on daily charts, usually hold between 2 days and 3 weeks. point being: you've gotta find out what works for you. and don't think just 'cause it works for somebody else that it'll also work for you. been there, tried that, no go, brick wall.
onward! and good luck!

I want to like your post twice!

I like to trade reversals back in the direction of the higher time-frame trend, but I tend to only target the middle of the range (not the top of the range), because I want to keep greed in check and get off the train before it stops.

"One of the most helpful things that anybody can learn is to give up trying to catch the last eighth---or the first. These two are the most expensive eighths in the world."

Reminisces of a Stock Operator, Jesse Livermore

"It is well-known that financial markets across all asset classes exhibit trends. ...A close look at the available data reveals that those trends tend to revert as soon as they become too strong."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437120309407

"Unusually tall price bars appear at the top of minor highs and at the bottom of minor lows. Additional research suggests that when a tall candle appears in a trend, between 67% and 72% of the time a reversal occurs within a day."

https://thepatternsite.com/MinorHiLow.html

 

[Mr_Wheeler]

looks like you're a trend trader. it's never worked for me. the second i get a signal, price reverses and i lose. switched to mean reversion and have never been happier or more profitable or less stressed out.
i only trade instruments that i'm 99% sure ain't ever going to zero and if i hold on long enough, i can always break even, at the very least. QQQ is one of em.
my trade size is small enough, and the trades staggered enough, that if i have to wait wait and wait to get whole, i can do so, since i have enough money in the account to keep on trading. 1% is my usual size, though i'm slowly creeping up as i get more confident. (and we all know how that usually ends, don't we?)
the best advice i've gotten re mean reversion is: no stops. no ifs and or stops. they'll kill you in MR. i usually plan on the first buy going negative and the strategy calls for 4 buys total, all lower than the first, according to various rules. that means, roughly speaking, each trade is .25% of the 1% per trade max. after four buys and no love, i just put the thing aside and wait.
i've only been recording my trades recently but, recently, i've made 15 trades. two were losses (tossed the rules, sigh), one for -3% , the other for -.8%. i have 8 break evens (ie, wins were b/ 2% and 5%). had one for +12% and then four for 18-20%.
would have done better had i followed the rules better.
anyway, that's what works for me. i trade on MR, trade only on daily charts, usually hold between 2 days and 3 weeks. point being: you've gotta find out what works for you. and don't think just 'cause it works for somebody else that it'll also work for you. been there, tried that, no go, brick wall.
onward! and good luck!

I think what makes a good trader is having them figuring out what works & doesn't work for them, I for instance quit options trading after I got sick of the Theta fueled stress.

I try to stay away from penny stocks. I found that if something is not trending then there's not enough momentum to make it worth while to trade, and I don't like stocks that are based on commodities because it doesn't matter how well a company is doing, if oil is going down then they're going to go down as well.

I don't like the stress involved while holding through an ER report, so I try to avoid those stocks as well.