You got me going know Damian lol
on a roll..
Trading professionally is a business treat it like this.... Make sure you always pay your self from your profits... example what ever i make on a monthly basis i take 70% out leave the 30% and with compounding factor its great!!!!
When you use that money for living life it then starts to feel real!!!!!! and great that you earned this money !!! and as humans the brain then starts to help in the new process as it has a reference that it works!!! As if the brain has no experience of something its not done before (your previous experiences) it will on a sub consciousness talk you out of it as it is trying to protect you ,its doing by default what it is suppose to be doing so need to see a shrink
Hope this helps all trying to achieve Professional traders staus..
Asif, Thank you for the extent of your response. If I understand correctly then you do not cut your losses short? As per your commets "I do not alter a trade" I tend to think so, please correct me if I am wrong. I support and hence understand the importance of not letting a profit go to a loss and trailing a stop. However If I find myself on a loosing trade..or what I think it could be a loosing I tend to look for a way out. One way is by putting a time stop (3 period rule) .But another way is to analyze Dynamic pressure and some other factors. Actually..is no that that much of analyzing..it's just..that..when it is meant to be a good trade..it works well and pretty fast..it shuold be easy , just as you said,..so if market is not developing with ease in the way that would lock me profits..and I start loosing..I want out. My chances are less than before, market is not working the way I expected to work (Of course I do not feel betrayed by the market, I do not receive this information as painful, It's just a signal..from the market..that this edge..is not working..as simple as that) After all..when we hide our stop beneath 5/8 fibnode when we have entered at the 3/8, is to protect it, meaning...a retracement is expected so we can get out at a reasonable price if market don't go crazy. Let me put today's trade as an example. Earlier this morning I said that if EUR/USD would respect 4 hour K resistance I would wait for the 15 minute trend to go bearish and sell a retracement. This image show the context time frame (4 hour chart) and the proper K-resistance area around 1,2495
Of course we see three 4-hour bars now coz the picture has been taken just 10 min ago. For the original picture/post look earlier in this thread.
So, big bull candle closed at k-resistance. and then we saw consolidation. During this consolidation, 15 M time frame showed a nice crossing of the MACDP giving a sell signal, as shown in the picture below.
I entered some pips below .382 retracement at 1,2485 (where the red horizantal triangle stands). with a Stop loss Above the high at 1,2512.
This trade is based on the 4h time frame (im selling a 4 hour k resistance) so the 3 period rule applies on the 4 hour chart..meaning the time stop was 12 hours long, if after 12 hours i was not on the winning side I would look for a way out. However, I expected (coz i wanna see a nice quick follow thru of my edges) some fast reaction on 15 M chart aswell, So I apply 3 period rule on both (being less stric on lower TF and absolutely stric on higer TF). After 3 full 15M periods of entry I was barely on the winning side, two periods later I exited the position at 1,2502. Why did I exit? I've written down the reasons on my trading diary "Cutted loss short, no follow thru of minesweeper entry. Weak dynamic pressure, close above .618". I had a few other valid points at the time I took the choice(daily and weekly oversold weakening chances of 4 hour k resistance to work + last 4 hour candle closed above 4 hour expansion targets + juicy area right above)..but I will take those 3 as the only ones coz they are the ones who made it to the diary.
Market continued moving up..hence I "saved" myself 10 pips per contract.
Given trading is a probability game, the chances of having a winning trade with a good ratio at the point where market had close above .618 where much fewer than before.trade did not worked as expected..reaching .618 is expected..that's why SL is above the high. I take the trade at .382 coz I really want to be in but I know .618 is very much expected since previous move of minesweeper technique will always be much greater and carry strong momentum, but certainly I do not expect a close above .618.
I am not always right as in the picture below, but I like playing the rules. And one of the rules kinda says "if it aint looking pretty , look for a way out..cut your loss short"
Sive master we really need you in this conversation I think,
.