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Tips to stop the self-destruction

1. Take a Break

When you have experienced successive losses, you should quit trading for a day. Some traders even have a “punishment” that is assumed by a trading plan: had loss, no trading for a week! Market will not disappear and tomorrow have even more opportunities for you. Do not do anger trades, just take a breath and give yourself a break.

2. Shorten Size

Shorten the size of amount traded considerably. In such a way you will be able to distract your mind of trading for a while and become sensible again. Give yourself time and get back to the right size trading only when you are really ready.

3. Add Money You Didn’t Win

Put the amount equal to the winning trade you didn’t take in your forex account. When you see money in your account, it will make you feel better and take wise decisions.

4. Add Amount You Lost

If you experienced a loss, you can add to the amount you have lost back to the account. You will be surprised at how easy it can become normal again when you do not see your account with losses.

5. Use Visual Effects!

Create a poster or make a note which can remind you of not making unreasonable decisions after bad trades. The note will help you to stay sensible and take only the trades that you can completely understand and pass on all the rest.

6. Trade With Reason

Psychology is a critical factor that influences success or failure in trading. You should have the right psychological reasons to do trades.

7. Be Precise

You should be disciplined. Actually, you should become army disciplined. Bear in mind that emotions should have nothing to do with your decision taken as for the trades.

8. Confess and Talk It All Out

Confess about your losses to somebody nearby or even over the internet, a fellow trader or somebody who can understand your pain. Talking will free your mind from negative thoughts and will bring you back to real life.

IMPROVE YOUR RISK/REWARD STRATEGIES

Enter every trade with a plan and stick to it.  Understand first who you are as a trader.  Do you like to daytrade?  Do you prefer swing trading?  What is your risk tolerance level?  Everyone has a unique style and situation.  As a result, what might be a great entry point for a swing trader may turn out to be a not-so-good entry for a daytrader.  A trader with a low tolerance of risk might find that trade far too risky.  The key here is to know why you’re entering a trade, what it would take for you to exit (stop loss) and an appropriate target.  These should all be determined BEFORE you enter the position.  Many unsuccessful traders have one or two of these criteria figured out before they enter the trade.  It’s the third one that derails them.

legendary speculator Jesse Livermore

legendary speculator Jesse Livermore on LETTING YOUR WINNERS RUN

(Chapter V) … “I think it was a long step forward in my trading education when I realized at last that when old Mr. Partridge kept on telling the other customers, “Well, you know this is a bull market!” he really meant to tell them that the big money was not in the individual fluctuations but in the main movements – that is, not in reading the tape but in sizing up the entire market and its trend.”

In all of “Reminiscences” this crucial idea that the Really Big Money is always earned by prudently riding the large trends over time and not in day trading every minute fluctuation is one of the central themes of the book.

“be right and sit tight”

(Chapter V) … “And right here let me say one thing: After spending many years in Wall Street and after making and losing millions of dollars I want to tell you this: It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight! It is no trick at all to be right on the market. You always find lots of early bulls in bull markets and early bears in bear markets. I’ve known many men who were right at exactly the right time, and began buying and selling stocks when prices were at the very level which should show the greatest profit. And their experience invariably matched mine – that is, they made no real money out of it. Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon. I found it one of the hardest things to learn. But it is only after a stock operator has firmly grasped this that he can make big money. It is literally true that millions come easier to a trader after he knows how to trade than hundreds did in the days of his ignorance.” (more…)

Five Trading Virtues: Best Practices for Traders

1) Preparation to start the day and week: Having a clearly formulated strategy to guide trading decisions;

2) Keeping score: Using a trading journal to structure learning, document progress, and sustain positive motivation;

3) Managing risk and maximizing opportunity: Trading with more risk/size when trading well and clearly seeing opportunity and pulling back risk when drawing down, trading poorly, and perceiving little opportunity;

4) Taking breaks: Stepping back from markets periodically to gain fresh perspective, reformulate views, and tweak strategies;

5) Treating trading as a business: Limiting overhead, having a clearly defined plan to move toward profitability, focusing on distinctive areas of strengths and opportunity.

So much of what makes traders great is what they do between market sessions, how they do it, and how much of it they do.

The Education of a Speculator – Victor Niederhoffer (Quotes )

The negatives are that the book is a very tough read with unconventional style of writing, perhaps way over most people heads, and you need some background on how markets work. However, you can feel that he has a lot of energy, wisdom/knowledge and is very competitive. He focuses on his mistakes (this was before his blowup), his upbringing, victories and moments of elation.

I always mark possible quotations when reading a book. This book is so full of them! Here are some random excerpts:

  • “Risk taking…is positively correlated with how well we feel about ourselves.” (page 113)
  • “One thing is for sure. Among the emotionally charged, you will not find one single long-term winner. Where are they? According to Bacon: “These quiet professionals are quite inconspicuous unless you look for them, because there are so many careless gamblers, crazy amateurs, jumping from one crackpot idea to another betting on hope and fear”. I show this passage to any trader in my office who is showing color or palpitation.” (206)
  • I find that Chinese handball has much to teach me about market practices. A limit order is a good tactic for Chinese trading, but a market order works best for handball trading. The direct market order against a quickly moving target frequently leads to a fast rebound against. The game is then over before it starts….I use limits orders. I don’t win fast, but the losses are a lot slower in coming.” (397)
  •  “…chain smoking, temper tantrums, screaming…these expressions of emotion have within them the seeds of destruction. I enforce a ban against all jocularity and temper tantrums.” (207)
  • “Offering advice without expertise is aggressive ignorance.” (188)
  • “With the increasing specialization in modern times, born losers are commonplace.” (85)
  • “During the 10 years I traded for George Soros, I never heard him speak about a winning trade. To hear him talk, you’d think he had nothing but losers. Conversely, listening to the biggest losers, you’d think they had nothing but winners.” (95)
  • “Do not follow the mentally lazy habit of allowing a newspaper or a broker or a wise friend to do our security market thinking.” (114)
  • “The best opportunities come out of the clear blue.” (129)
  • “The exchange is a market ecosystem.” (353)
  • “Oracles, forecasts, and prophecies are a business. They should be evaluated with the same skepticism and savvy that would be applied to a used-car dealership.” (64)
  • “The only newspaper I read is the National Enquirer. I don’t own a television, don’t follow the news, don’t talk to anyone during the trading day, and don’t like to read books less than 100 years old.” (ix – preface)
  • “My resistance to conformity has been the bedrock of my speculative persona.” (110)
  • “…institutional learning, like the Harvard Colleges and Lincoln High Schools of Life – the kind that prepares most of us to become good soldiers, true believers, and conformists.” (110)
  • “An incapability of relying on oneself and faith in others are precisely the conditions that compel brutes to live in herds.” A quote from Niederhoffer’s intellectual hero, Francis Galton (136)

They are endless! If you are just to by one trading book, this is it. Enjoy!

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