This question is for ALL traders, veterans and newbies alike.
If your trading goal for the month of August 2022 is to make one thousand dollars (US$1000.00) and you reach that goal by today the 18th would you do anymore trading for the rest of the month?
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Normally I say no while the “iron hot” though this week,I’ve found the markets difficult,even though I am not too much in the negative ,might break even or profit for the week by tommorrow.So because of market conditions wouldn’t be bad idea to have a break .
I don’t think under any circumstances, having breaks is bad idea I need a break myself regardless of success/failure.
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Each to their own account size and lifestyle. I’m a ZEN trader with no attachment to trading results. There will always be gains and losses and I hope to be in the green every month - that’s all - and if there’s no need to take a break, I’ll just continue focusing on my strategy and popping out my robots.
Focusing on money is an mindset attachment that should be negated.
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Take a rest if your goal has reached. That’s a gift for your work hard. If you want to earn more, you should be more careful to protect your current profit. Since it could be negative profit at the end of month (I had earned around $3,000 at the first 3 weeks of month, then I wanted to earn more but after all the profit was $1,900 at the end of month). And I’m in demo account currently, 
Good luck!
Perhaps that idea applies to people trading faster time frames. Trading D1 or W1 requires taking what the market gives you. You could spend one hour a day trading and find nothing. Then suddenly one day you find three setups at once.
You never know what the market will give. And profits don’t determine when you close your trade, the chart does. In my opinion…
At least for me, skipping out on VALID trades on D1 is not an option unless you’ve reached max risk level.
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You say this AFTER saying
Make your mind up.
Its like people telling me a stoploss is a must in trading.
I cant stand that brand of generalizing.
What you must say is that for YOUR particular purposes and goals that applies. Not mine.
I would be interested to know at what point people think about the concept of overtrading… except when it is too late.
By the way i’d probably have to avoid opening the charts for the rest of the month if I reached my target that early because if I saw a potential winning trade it would be difficult to resist taking it.
I wouldnt say that trading a setup allowed by your trading plan after reaching your monthly goal is overtrading. Unless you have a rule that says so. But why would you add such a rule? Which statistical benefit do you have?
Look. You have a strategy and a monthly goal. But maybe your strategy is able to outperform your monthly goal regulary. Which could lead to you changing your trading plan / raising your monthly goal / earning more money.
But maybe it is just an statistical anomaly. Then you should also keep trading and take what you get because of the phenomenon “Reversion to the Mean”.
EDIT: Reversion to the Mean in simple words: An extreme event is likely to be followed by a less extreme event. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ReversiontotheMean.html
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I did not state that the goal for this month was a monthly goal, and my goal last month could have been $200. Also you have no idea what is involved in each trader’s road to get to that $1000 for that month.
For some strange reason your response reminds me of another thread on this website called…Unconscious Greed, lol. Not much difference from the people who tell me I should do this and that be a billionaire in two years.
Please dont take my response personal or be offended. I value the input and hope others reading the exchange will gain something.
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Well english is not my first language. I assumed maybe your goal is for example 10R with a risk this month of $100 per trade. Which is a monthly goal? It is my monthly goal (10R).
You asked for our opinion. If you are dissatisfied with our answers then maybe you should elaborate more your individual situation. But without that, i already told you my opinion that i wouldnt stop trading and why.
And i also wouldnt set arbitrary goals like $200 this and $1000 next month. I set my goals according my statistical based expecations of my strategies average performance.
And i know you didnt say your goal was chosen random or arbitrary. You said in fact nothing about how you get to your goal.
Thank you for the interaction.
Like I said dont take my responses personal, but if I disagree with something you say I have to make my point in the same way that you might disagree with me and make your point. If someone disagrees with your argument it does not mean they are dissatisfied.
I dont think that English not being your first language is the problem here. I have come to realize that on this forum for whatever reason people insist on answering a simple yes or no question with longwinded replies which most of the times dont even answer the questions asked (not saying that is the case with you). Also I should have said this earlier but it slipped me. It seems you are assuming a lot of things. The scenario I presented is hypothetical, meaning it is not my case or a real case. I was just using that to make a point. It seems you assume I have a set monthly goal and I see you now saying something about an assumed risk reward ratio. I dont do risk rewards, I dont do stop losses as well as a few other things.
And in response to your last point what does my saying anything about how I get to my goal have to do with the question posed?
How did you conclude that setting that $1000 goal was arbitrary? What if based on an additional influx of capital at the start of the month plus my balance carried over from the previous month I decided that IN LINE WITH MY STRATEGY $1000 would be a suitable target? That is not arbitrary?
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It may surprise some people but…I totally agree with the point you’ve made here.
Yes, I would continue trading for the rest of the month. Reaching a certain profit level does not mean that my trading will suddenly deteriorate. If I am trading normally then I will continue trading normally. The net profit at any one point is not relevant.
One could expand the issue by also asking if your target for August 2022 is to make one thousand dollars and you are actually minus $1000 by today the 18th would you do anymore trading…
In my mind, it would not make any logical sense to stop trading when one is currently winning but continue whenever one is currently losing?
But this is not a simple question in a broader sense. For example, if I lived solely off my earnings and need that $1000 to cover the month’s expenses, and only have a small capital reserve, then there would certainly be pressure to stop there for the month.
Equally, if I had achieved that goal for the month by taking abnormally high risks on a couple of rash “all-or-nothing” trades (like in a trading competition) then I would certainly quit for the rest of the month.
But, as @dushimes hinted at:
Whatever our target (if we even have one, I usually don’t) it is the markets that provide the opportunities, or not. I am sure most of us have trading strategies that perform better in certain types of markets, trending or ranging, for example. So if one has achieved one’s goal for August already by the 18th then it would indicate that the markets are currently performing in synch with our strategy - so why stop?
I guess this is just a stupid response to what you had in mind but it is what came to my mind anyway about the question and I apologise beforehand! 
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Cool down. I was answering the question. What I do is up to me, not you.
I would personally keep trading, because if there’s a good set up that appears there’s no point of not taking it. It feels like limitation to me that once you have achieved your goal you stop at it and don’t try to exceed it (in no greedy manner). If you fear losing what you have earned just paper trade all the other set ups or reduce your lot size. But I wouldn’t recommend not trading for the rest of the month.
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This is pretty much my thinking too. I don’t have a monthly goal though. If I see a valid set up then I take it regardless of where my performance is in the month.
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This is a really good qestion!
Since I don’t have any profit-goal I would continue trading. My main goal is to PROTECT my capital instead of getting a millionair. So I would act the “opposite” and only stop trading (today) if I reached my maximal loss but if it isn’t reached yet I just continue trading for the rest of the month since there is a high probailty to make further gains 
Just to put this out there. I know my mind doesnt work like the ordinary person so I totally understand your positions.
In a way this could be compared to a person who steals. they know it has consequences if they are caught but the “rewards” make them continue to do it. Then when they are caught and thrown in jail they wring their hands and say woe is me.
That extra trade you make could very well be the difference between making a profit or a loss for the month.
There is a reason why people rarely think overtrading is real…until they get badly burnt.
I was going to make a separate forum question of this but I’ll ask it now. At what point do you decide you are overtrading? When you get caught out?
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On the contrary, it is like a person who is performing their work based on skill and experience and knows what they are doing and are in control of the situation (as witnessed by their result so far) - and therefore there is no reason why they should cease working just because they have reached a profit milestone prematurely.
Not at all likely if it has taken 18 days to reach $1000, Why would the “extra trade” suddenly lose it all in one go if one continues in the same manner?
I didn’t see anything in the original question that pointed towards a possible overtrading situation. And there is nothing to suggest that reaching one’s goal earlier than expected is only due to excessive risk taking via overtrading.
But, as a separate issue, I would tend to agree with you that a trader is most likely to finally admit to overtrading at the point when things turn nasty.
I suppose one could kind of define overtrading as being the point where a trader starts taking additional trades in addition to those that are defined by the rules of their strategy. But even that is insufficient. If a trader is having a good month there is absolutely no reason why they shouldn’t speculate on another set-up that they like the look of. But the point would be that the trader should be aware of the risk and would set the position potential risk at a moderate level compared with the gains so far. That is simply controlled personal choice.
What are your views on these issues?
I agree. Why stop? You mean, you DON’T want more money? If your strategy is working, you’re getting entry signals, you have no other obligations to tend to, etc…why stop? What if next month has fewer opportunities? Get while the getting is good.
Agreed. An extra trade would be the same risk as all the other trades. It would be a small loss if proper risk management is used.
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I totally understand the views expressed by all the posters so far and I am merely picking the brains of people on here which I hope the answers they provide can assist others who read this thread. Dushimes especially resonated with me despite my position that I would cease until the next month.
The answer like a lot of things is relative. If one can make one thousand dollars in a month why stop there? Why not make it 2 or 3 or 4? Various factors come into play one of which is one’s strategy. In my opinion pacing one’d self is important too as well as one’s account balance. For me trading goals have a purpose, I dont just trade into infinity to get to one billion in a month. Taking a break is a reward for reaching my target ahead of time.
I dont expect anyone else to agree but that is my view.
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