Hello all,
I have been trading for a few weeks now am am fixing my problems one by one…I have noticed that my trade rules allow for me to scale into another position but I am not really good at it and need to practice learn how to do it properly without getting over whelmed/excited.
Yesterday I bought the GBP/USD risking $100 (1%) and had a target of $200…I don’t close my positions out when they hit the target, I set an alarm when price gets close and re-analyse my set of fast paced indicators to see if there is still strength in the trend. The price rose enough to get me $400. I closed the position out netting $350.
As you can see there was room for me to scale into another position but I need help with it. Today I am short the EUR/GBP again risking $100 and target of $200, but my “true analysis” shows about $700 profit…while I should be really happy with that it irritates me knowing that I left money pn the table because I couldn’t fix a weakness. Please don’t misunderstand me…I come ok with leaving money on the table, but only if the price action doesn’t fit my strategy, for example once I closed out yesterday’s position, price swung up again and I could’ve made another $200…but I didn’t open the trade because my indicators and strategy said no.
No need to worry about leaving money on the table today, it’ll still be there tomorrow. You may have to scan over a number of tables to find the right opportunity, but there’s always more money.
More important is to follow your own system’s rules, so count that as a success.
It’s a very good thing to be looking at/doing/learning, anyway … and speaks well of your chances.
You did the right thing, then. You’ll [I]often[/I] do the right thing and still miss out on further profits - and that’s perfectly ok because the markets are (effectively) unlimited anyway.
People vary greatly in the relative extents to which “fear of losses” and “fear of lost potential profits” affect them, but in the long run, your ability to stick reliably to a tradable, practicable system with a proven edge is what makes the difference between yourself and one of the 90%/95% of aspiring traders who “don’t ever get there”. Let risk-management, rather than profit-maximisation, be your watchword.
Indeed what lexys said is so true! You don’t have to sorry about missed profit because at any time the market could also go in the other direction. So, next time when you close your profit based on what your risk management and strategy says, it could happen that you could’ve lost those $200 if you’ve opened the next trade. It is easy to say that you would have made a profit if you’ve opened sell/buy 15min earlier now when you have already seen where did the price go. As tommor suggested better follow your proven system and don’t get greedy
Never regret for a missed (higher than the already made) profit. Like Lexys and eyedfondue said, you did the right thing so keep doing it. Obviously your strategy is working very well so follow it and don’t get greedy because greed is a very poor advisor. Don’t consider good risk management as a weakness because it is not. The market is very dynamic and unpredictable sometimes so you can’t be sure if the price will swing up or fall and you could lose the whole profit for just 100 $ or 200 $ more.
