How to walk away

Beginner Questions
1

I have been reading and demo trading for several months with modest gains, my trades usually last several hours, I start the week off by marking all support and resistance levels on the daily chart (also taking note of the current trend and the over all trend for the last year).

Then daily I check my 3 hour chart and my 1 hour charts marking resistance lines on those… I generally trade with the trend. I am just using candlestick patterns and FIB…

So I see a good pattern and if it fits the trend I go for it. I figure out my stop loss first, calculate out my TP if it works out to at least a 1:2 risk/reward I take the trade. I only take 1-3 trades a day, and hold them until my SL or my TP is hit. (set and forget)

So far so good, as time goes on I am getting better. So I decide its time to put some real money on the line… Now here is the problem I have been live trading for 2 days. And I can’t keep my eyes off the screen, I keep checking the 5 minute/15 minute second guessing my self. I have not adjusted my trades, but have had to really “fight” with my self to stop my self from making adjustments instead of just letting them play out on their own.

I work in front of a computer all day long, so “walk away” from the computer is not an option. However I am not getting any of my day job work done by staring at the damn charts all day… It’s weird as the money involved is really small, and if I lost 100% of my deposit, it would have zero impact on my life, but now that its “real” I can’t stop thinking about it.

This also has me worried as I had planned on after 3 months of successful trading with my real account, adding a significant deposit. Again money I could live without, but a good chuck of my savings. With “big” money on the line I think I would be a total wreck…

Does/did any of you have this issue and if so how did you overcome it.

2

Simple answer - yes, and how do you overcome it? Time, a few tips and tricks to help the process, but mainly time.

3

When I started out I had the same issue, I reduced my account size, so that my risk per trade was small. I still had the same issue for a while, but found it easier to leave the trades alone as the stakes were lower. Eventually I came to view it as a percentage risk on my account (1% per trade) rather than a sum of money (£20 at the time). Once I viewed it as 1% (and of course in the intervening time I had had time to see my strategy working) I tried increasing the account size again. After the initial intake of breath on the first few trades, I found that my faith in the strategy still let me view it as 1% rather than a sum of money. I have not struggled with that issue since and am now able to walk away, but it did take me about four months to train my head. Now I just think percentages each month/year, it works for me.

4

Simon, I keep meaning to ask and don’t want to go into the big discussion we all had when you joined BabyPips, but the course you went on (K2A), did it really help? It just seems to me from your posts in general that you have a natural aptitude for trading.

Don’t answer if you don’t want to I’m just trying to put a curiosity to bed.

5

Yes, you’re right, this forum probably isn’t due another ‘are training courses worthwhile/are training courses scams’ thread for a few more months, hopefully…

I don’t mind you asking at all. Firstly, thank you for the compliment. Maybe I just talk a good fight, but then seeing some of my rambling responses on here it can’t be that. I’m a work in progress, certainly not yet at the level of you FX-Men, congratulations on your recent elevation, btw!

The simple answer to your question is yes. I come from a public sector/law enforcement background, so nothing to do with financial markets, I had never even bought shares or anything on the side, so I walked into K2A a complete novice. I had never even seen a screen before. The patter from K2A appealed to me enough to give it a punt. Last Summer was choppy while I got to grips with it all, but now I am consistent, the account is growing, I think I am in for life. I still get regular coaching from K2A, which says it all for how I think it benefits me.

The only other learning and research I have done is this website and a fair bit of reading, which all came after K2A. So either I am a naturally gifted trading genius who should have started when I was 16 rather than 36, or K2A worked for me. I’m going with the latter.

Sorry, rambling again: yes, I do think that K2A more than just helped, they turned me from novice into a trader who loves it and will always do it, and it took months rather than years. They did what they said they would do, and give me a lot of support implementing it.

(Not trying to go into sales pitch mode or start another dreaded thread - I have never met Greg Secker and know that these courses are not for everyone!)

(And sorry, MyForexLife, for hijacking this thread)

6

Thanks for that answer, my curiosity is satisfied.

With the risk of hijacking the thread, were you one of the good guys? unlike a law enforcement officer that proceeded to impound an MOT less car on the way to and MOT appointment (true story), common sense would have been a lot cheaper.

Oh and don’t take any notice of the FX-Men title thing, all that proves is that we like to rabbit on forums.

7

You’re welcome.

Outrageous! Don’t worry, I am no apologist for petty power-wielding. I had a more international perspective, did not wear a uniform and was definitely one of the good guys, naturally. Trading just works better around a young family, on a number of levels. And I spend much of my life coaxing cars to the local garage, so you have my sympathies on the MOT thing.

8

All I can say is that you deserve to be making it, one of the most sensible pragmatic people on this forum.

9

Well it is very kind of you to say so. I think the fact that we often turn up on the same threads says a lot for our similar outlook. The power of the internet: someone in Wales can make someone in Derbyshire blush without leaving the house!

10

Hi MyForexLife,
I have a couple suggestions for you that worked for me. I have the same problem as you but I’ve found some things that are working:

First, I’d say get rid of the demo account ASAP. Once you have a method under your belt that seems to be working, just go to a small $ real account. On some brokers like Oanda you can trade as little as 1 unit (less than 1 penny value). This step will help you practice more real-life conditions, and you will be able to work on the psychology.

Like Simon said, try to view your account activity in percentages. Focus less on pips and more on percentages. That way, theoretically, you can just ramp up the dollars later and your method will be the same. One thing I am doing that seems to be working for ramping up is this: when I feel my method is solid and I’m ready to commit more funds, I make a deposit to double the equity value. Then I watch my performance and make sure it’s consistent. This way I am quickly ramping up to my full commitment but stopping to check myself (ie psychology, execution performance) along the way in stages. If I hit a level that makes me feel uncomfortable, I’ll either stay on that level for a longer period, or even consider reducing back a step. The key is that your trading method should not change just because you’re trading a larger stake.

Hope this helps.

11

I couldn’t have said this better. Having a solid strategy helps, but time and patience will definintely curb this desire. Eventually you will be able to watch a losing trade emotionlessly with the mind set that your strategies’ winning percentage greatly outweighs the losing one (which makes the wins that much sweeter :wink: ).

Good luck!

12

I had a big laugh when I read your post because that is exactly what happen to me at first…I kept closing my winning trades way too early and I kept jumping out my sleep just to see what was happening with my trades. Eventually I cut my risk and just let it flow. Another killer was “trailing stops”, when I was practising I didn’t use trailing stops but as soon as i start trading for real I started using trailing stops and kept getting stopped out…

13

I like to get the treadmill going with my laptop. :smiley:

14

Babynords, that happened to me last night… had I not set the trailing stop, a few hours later the price hit my TP level… I never used them in demo, but for some reason thought I should use them now that “real” money is on the line… The even sadder part is I woke up at 3am to check my trade only to see I was stopped out, with a marginal gain, even though price was now in my TP zone…

Never once in demo did I wake up in the middle of the night and check trades, never used trailing stops, and never deviated from my trade, and did not check the charts all day long (once set, I let it run its course)

It’s sad and hard to believe how emotional I am, as the money involved I would not even miss if I lost 100%. I guess I am allot more greedy or girly (not sure) than I thought…

15

Having traded stocks and stock options for a number of years, the best advice I ever got was from an In-house Veteran trader who said…Trade one stock only until you can <<<<MASTER YOUR EMOTIONS>>>>. If you are constantly looking at the screen…then you need to rethink your plan. I always develop a strategy BEFORE I commit to a trade. I stick too these parameters NO MATTER WHAT. Stayed focused.