Friday, March 6, 2009

At The Mercy Of The Market



Took a 3 tick gain in JPY/USD but in the most dangerous way. Allowed the trade to go too far against me as I couldn't accept the loss...was down as much as 16 ticks...

Could have waited for a better entry but would have gone against me by several ticks anyway. Now that my entries have lost some of their edge, I'll be treading carefully in order to limit damage. Got to be prepared to miss setups in order to get precision entries again...

4 comments:

Jules said...

You're not the first, MM. Happens to me all the time. Once market goes against me by a certain number of points, I simply refuse to get out and prefers to see what unfolds next. That's why I set a max pain and get out once it's hit, no matter what. Unfortunately, I can take a lot of pain, and my max pains have looked more like blow ups LOL!

James Edwards-Marche said...

I know I'm not the first but it's something which I believe should never be allowed if you're to succeed in the long run trading.

I knew if anyone would comment, it would have been you Jules! I've seen how you're able to ride out those relatively large unrealized losses but have always asked myself "what if it doesn't come back?"

I'm just more comfortable with a thousand cuts more than one large loss.

Jules said...

I'm now more comfortable with minor cuts too LOL!
Those rides were stressful beyond description. Totally unnecessary. I rode them only coz with futures, prices usually trade within a predictable range within the day, testing the highs and lows a few times. Had I been able to keep my trades overnight, I wouldn't even have to take the max pain :-) Sage is better at that than me. I've got a weaker stomach :-)

James Edwards-Marche said...

Yeah...I noticed your rule change on the side of your blog yesterday :)

I just cancelled a whole paragraph lol) about why it's a good thing to do..etc but, in truth, everyone is different and certain things will work better for some people than it will for others. There's no right or wrong way IMO.

In fact I've been admiring your results from afar!:D

But I just know from personal experience that my exposure to loss just cannot exceed my typical win (or at least my largest wins) It has a crippling affect on my mindset.