1. Thinking that trading is a get-rich-quick scheme.
2. Reacting emotionally to market movement instead of assessing the market rationally using proven methods for high probability trades.
3. Chasing the Market.
4. Lack of preparation – entering the market with little or no understanding of what the probabilities are and how to handle them. Being unaware of special events or announcements that may be big marketmovers.
5. Butterfly Trading. Trying one method after another without mastering any.
6. “Go-it-alone” Syndrome, hoping to discover the ‘secret code’ for trading. Most successful traders have learned from other successful traders. This can eliminate years of trial and error, and some very painful trading losses.
Archives of “trading losses” tag
rssIf you don’t learn from your losses who will?
If you don’t try you don’t fail, if you don’t fail you don’t learn, if you don’t learn you don’t grow” – Om Malik
Failure is an inherent part of trading. No trader can get every trade correct. One of the lessons in the new Jack Schwager book, Hedge Fund Market Wizards, is that “Don’t try to be 100% right.” In fact the pursuit of perfection in trading will likely lead to catastrophic results. That is why some perspective on failure and loss is a key to staying in the trading game.
Atul Gawande, a surgeon and writer, has an interesting piece up at the New Yorker which is a transcript of a commencement speech he recently gave at Williams College.* Although he is discussing medicine his perspective on failure is worth contemplating. Here is a quote:
So you will take risks, and you will have failures. But it’s what happens afterward that is defining. A failure often does not have to be a failure at all. However, you have to be ready for it—will you admit when things go wrong? Will you take steps to set them right?—because the difference between triumph and defeat, you’ll find, isn’t about willingness to take risks. It’s about mastery of rescue.
It is a bit of cliche to say that your trading losses represent tuition paid. If you don’t learn from your own failures no one will. Those losses will then be not just a financial loss but a lost opportunity as well.
Traders Should Accept these 4 Things
- Accept that the key to being a successful trader is having big wins and small losses, not big bets paying off. Big bets can lead quickly to you being out of the game after a string of losses.
- Accept that the best traders are also the best risk managers, even the best traders do not have crystal balls so they ALWAYS manage their capital at risk on EVERY trade.
- If you want to be a better trader then you need to accept that trading smaller and risking less is a key to your success. Risking 1% to 2% of your capital on any single trade is the first step to winning at trading. Use stops and position sizing to limit your losses and get out when your losses grow to these levels.
- You must accept that you will have 10 trading losses in a row a few times each year. The question is what your account will look like when they happen.
The Psychology of Trading
There is an old saying that the market is driven by fear and greed. Anyone that has placed more than a couple of trades will surely have experienced these two emotions. All traders experience emotion. The distinction between a successful trader and an unsuccessful trader comes down to how they deal with that emotion. Let’s look at how these emotions affect a successful trader and an unsuccessful trader in various scenarios.
You go long and the market immediately goes down – you go short and the market immediately goes up. That’s 2 consecutive losses, and you are getting a little ‘anxious’ so you don’t take the ‘next’ trade. Of course, this trade is a winner. Now to make the situation worse, you then ‘chase’ the move, and as soon as you enter the trade it immediately reverses, thus giving you another loss – this is now 3 in a row. Ok, one more ‘try’ – this can’t happen on every trade can it? (more…)
Leeson: Rogue trader culture is more rife than ever
Nick Leeson, the original rogue trader whose actions led to the collapse of the venerable Barings Bank and to a six-year prison sentence, yesterday warned that the culture of the City has spun out of control.
With banks reeling from numerous scandals and the London financial district under intense pressure to reform itself, Mr Leeson said that unless punishments are increased traders will continue to run amok.
“Rogue trading is on the increase. The latest scandals are just a sign that the culture is running riot without any checks in place.
“Every day you wake up and see something different,” he told The Independent. (more…)
How can you tell when a trader is passionate about trading vs. addicted to it?
The first step in dealing with any addictive pattern is identifying it–and identifying it as a problem. Here are a few questions that you might ask yourself:
* Have there been times when I told myself to stop trading, but still found myself placing trades any way?
* Do I find myself overtrading by putting on positions with too large size or by trading during periods when nothing is happening?
* Have my trading losses created problems for me in my relationship(s), or have they caused financial problems for me?
* Have people close to me told me that I need to stop trading?
* Is the pain from losing more extreme than the satisfaction from winning?
* Do I find my moods fluctuating with my P/L?
* Do I trade simply out of boredom sometimes?
* Do I find myself preoccupied with trading outside of market hours at the cost of other work and relationships?
Notice that, for many of these questions, you could substitute the word “drinking” or “gambling” for “trading”. The dynamics of addictions are the same across the board. If you answered yes to three or more of these questions, I would suggest that trading has become a problem for you.
How does one deal with addictive trading? The first step is to identify it, but the second–and harder–step is to acknowledge that you need help for it. It’s pride that tells us we can handle it on our own through will power, but addictions wouldn’t occur in the first place if will power were sufficient to prevent consequences. (more…)
10 Tips for Traders
1. Bulls make a little. Bears make a little. Pigs get slaughtered
In other words, do not be a greedy trader. If you are a bull, don’t expect to get in at the bottom and out at the top. If you are a bear, don’t expect to pick an exact market top and ride a market all the way down to the lowest low. Thinking otherwise allows the destructive “greed” emotion to take over. Greed has been the ruin of many traders.
2. Any fool can get into a market, but it’s the real pros that know when to get out
Indeed, market entry is certainly an important element of successful trading. However, exiting the trade is paramount. Many times a traders will allow a market to “go against” him or her for way too long and way too far–meaning big trading losses. See next item.
3. Use protective buy and sell stops
One of the major mistakes many traders make is not using protective buy and sell stops when they enter a trade. Or, traders may pull their protective stop, “hoping” the market will turn in their favor. Don’t be fooled into using “mental stops.” Determining where to place protective buy and sell stops BEFORE market entry is one of the best money-management tools available. (more…)
Aiming for the Right Target in Trading
When trading goes right, it can be a great feeling. When trading goes wrong it can be a nightmare. Fortunes are made in a matter of weeks and lost in a matter of minutes. This pattern repeats itself as each new generation of traders hit the market. They hurl themselves out of the night like insane insects against some sort of karmic bug-light; all thought and all existence extinguished in one final cosmic “zzzzzzt”. Obviously, for a trader to be successful he must acknowledge this pattern and then break it. This can be accomplished by asking the right questions and finding the correct answers by rational observation and logical conclusion.
This article will attempt to address one question:
“What is the difference between a winning trader and a losing trader?”
What follows are eleven observations and conclusions that I use in my own trading to help keep me on the right track. You can put these ideas into table form, and use them as a template to determine the probability of a trader being successful.
OBSERVATION #1
The greatest number of losing traders is found in the short-term and intraday ranks. This has less to do with the time frame and more to do with the fact that many of these traders lack proper preparation and a well thought-out game plan. By trading in the time frame most unforgiving of even minute error and most vulnerable to floor manipulation and general costs of trading, losses due to lack of knowledge and lack of preparedness are exponential. These traders are often undercapitalized as well. Winning traders often trade in mid-term to long-term time frames. Often they carry greater initial levels of equity as well.
CONCLUSION:
Trading in mid-term and long-term time frames offers greater probability of success from a statistical point of view. The same can be said for level of capitalization. The greater the initial equity, the greater the probability of survival.
OBSERVATION #2
Losing traders often use complex systems or methodologies or rely entirely on outside recommendations from gurus or black boxes. Winning traders often use very simple techniques. Invariably they use either a highly modified version of an existing technique or else they have invented their own.
CONCLUSION
This seems to fit in with the mistaken belief that “complex” is synonymous with “better”. Such is not necessarily the case. Logically one could argue that simplistic market approaches tend to be more practical and less prone to false interpretation. In truth, even the terms “simple” or “complex” have no relevance. All that really matters is what makes money and what doesn’t. From the observations, we might also conclude that maintaining a major stake in the trading process via our own thoughts and analyses is important to being successful as a trader. This may also explain why a trader who possesses no other qualities than patience and persistence often outperforms those with advanced education, superior intellect or even true genius.
OBSERVATION #3
Losing traders often rely heavily on computer-generated systems and indicators. They do not take the time to study the mathematical construction of such tools nor do they consider variable usage other than the most popular interpretation. Winning traders often take advantage of the use of computers because of their speed in analyzing large amounts of data and many markets. However, they also tend to be accomplished chartists who are quite happy to sit down with a paper chart, a pencil, protractor and calculator. Very often you will find that they have taken the time to learn the actual mathematical construction of averages and oscillators and can construct them manually if need be. They have taken the time to understand the mechanics of market machinery right down to the last nut and bolt.
CONCLUSION:
If you want to be successful at anything, you need to have a strong understanding of the tools involved. Using a hammer to drive a nut in to a threaded hole might work, but it isn’t pretty or practical.
OBSERVATION #4
Losing traders spend a great deal of time forecasting where the market will be tomorrow. Winning traders spend most of their time thinking about how traders will react to what the market is doing now, and they plan their strategy accordingly.
CONCLUSION:
Success of a trade is much more likely to occur if a trader can predict what type of crowd reaction a particular market event will incur. Being able to respond to irrational buying or selling with a rational and well thought out plan of attack will always increase your probability of success. It can also be concluded that being a successful trader is easier than being a successful analyst since analysts must in effect forecast ultimate outcome and project ultimate profit. If one were to ask a successful trader where he thought a particular market was going to be tomorrow, the most likely response would be a shrug of the shoulders and a simple comment that he would follow the market wherever it wanted to go. By the time we have reached the end of our observations and conclusions, what may have seemed like a rather inane response may be reconsidered as a very prescient view of the market. (more…)
Losses & Discipline in Trading
Losses
- Remain mentally and emotionally focused while trading.
- Losses are part of all systems; knowing when to take losses is important.
- Always try to be extremely disciplined, and exit your losing trades when your system requires you to do so.
- Not taking losses when indicated is dangerous.
- Riding losing trades for too long usually results in larger losses and risk of ruin increases.
- It’s not a good idea to keep changing stops to avoid a loss.
- System traders use stops consistently.
- Separate yourself as a trader from yourself as a person.
- No system can trade the markets without taking losses at times.
- Clumping can happen on the losing side as well as the winning side.
- Your ability to take losses quickly is a great asset to your trading.
Discipline
Now this is vital to trading success. Imagine a person trying to become a pro athlete, but he or she sleeps in every day, eats excessively, stays up late and parties every night. Is this person going to become an elite athlete or not? The answer is no, and the reason why has everything to do with the amount of discipline. Discipline, in my mind, is like homework, only it’s homework that pays off in dollars in the trading industry. Here are a few rules that I use when it comes to discipline in my life as a trader:
- Good trading discipline is vital to my success.
- My three successes to the market are: doing my market homework, following through, and using my stop losses.
- I train my mind every day to be disciplined and focused.
- I see myself every day doing my market homework and following the signals, setting stops.
- I track my system exactly as it dictates.
- If my system gives me daily signals, I follow them every day.
- If my system gives me intraday signals, I follow them during the day.
- I do not allow outside influences to affect my discipline.
- Placing my orders correctly as my system dictates increases my odds for success.
- Discipline to follow through with my system is my friend.
- A system without stop losses puts me in a position of unlimited or unknown loss.
- I understand that a major aspect of being disciplined is using stops.
Trade with Discipline
“Without discipline, you will be unable to master your ego, create empowering beliefs, have faith, and develop confidence in your abilities. The lack of discipline will prevent your skill as a trader from progressing.”
Making an occasional winning trade, that ignores your trading plan, may provide short-term pleasure, but entering trades unsystematically can adversely influence your ability to maintain discipline over the long term. Why? When you stop following your plan, you are being rewarded for a lack of discipline. You may start believing that abandoning your plan is therefore not a big deal. Then, whether consciously or unconsciously, you’ll begin to think: “I was rewarded once; maybe I will be rewarded again. I’ll take a chance.” Positive outcomes from undisciplined trading are most often short-lived, and the lack of discipline will ultimately produce trading losses.
Who cares if the win is from my plan or not? It’s still a win, right! A win that results from following a trading plan reinforces discipline. A win that occurs by chance (deviating from your plan) will increase your bottom line temporarily, but may cause harm to your psyche and be responsible for future unexplained losses. It reinforces undisciplined trading. (more…)