Stocks Investing Trading Blog.com

Yes, of course I did it again… for the thousandth time… I had winning trade (20 points or more on the YM) after winning trade today, but, on three of the four trades, I didn’t take my profit at 20 or more… instead, I got greedy, I wanted more… and all three times, I ended up stopping out break even, after being up plus 40 twice, and plus 30… then on my final trade, I was up plus 30 and finally settled on plus 20.

I think this is why so many people fail in trading… exiting winning trades is always the hardest thing when you are not a pro… I just try and try to get this under control… but so far, I have not been able to right the ship… and so, days like today get chalked up over and over… where I either make a little, nothing, or even lose money… and then I reflect on the trading day and realize that wow… I could have had a HUGE day or even a great day or even an ok day… instead of an ok day, or a break even day, or a losing day…

ManDrake

If you are going to Trade markets, you have to accept one thing… LOSING TRADES are going to happen to you.

The professional traders do not bat 1000. They do not win on every trade. But, what they do know how to do is manage risk. Managing your losing trades and managing risk is probably the best thing you can ever learn in trading.

It is vital to your trading account that you manage risk, that you accept losses, that you exit trades when they hit your stops… do not use MENTAL STOPS. Use actual hard STOPS. Otherwise, you will find yourself second guessing yourself, and moving your mental stop… and keep moving it over and over and over, until you have blown up your account…

You will LOSE MONEY trading. It doesnt mean that you cannot end up at the end of some time frame profitable… but, in small time frames you will have to take losses, you will have to accept losing money. A lot of small losses is ok… what you want to do is have lots of small losses, and then have BIG GAINS when you do make money. If you have only small gains, but big losses… you will blow up your account.

MANDRAKE