My philosophy of life.
Thanks for your last post @THE_GOATE, there is a lot of great wisdom in what you say there. In particular:
The key words here are āoneās strategyā. There are all kinds of strategies and some are rigid and some are quite loose. Some are totally/highly mechanical, even automated, whereas others are discretionary and require varying degrees of trader input.
Whether one decides to quit for the rest of the month might depend a lot on what type of strategy is being used. For example, if the goal is achieved on the basis of a āwindfallā profit from a couple of exceptional trades then I could understand the desire to rest on oneās laurals and take a break, whereas a more mechanical trader might just shrug their shoulders and decide to let the ball keep on rolling ā¦which leads to your next excellent point:
You are absolutely right that one has to feel comfortable with oneās trading. I believe it is very important that traders find the level of exposure that they can handle without creating stress factors. If one aims too high and takes excessively risky trades then the stress rises, panic sets in - and mistakes are made.
When one trades within oneās own risk comfort zone then progress is made, confidence rises, and the position sizes can gradually increase with it. It is a growth process.
Setting goals is a good idea when it sets a yardstick to measure your progess against. But whether one ceases when it is reached becomes a personal issue for the trader depending on how important and rigid these goals are.
Again, a very important point. Measuring oneās success in time divisions like month -ends is somewhat arbitrary but it does give us a means of measuring and comparing our progress over time. In the same way, it is important to maintain our personal enthusiasm and to feel some kind of reward for our efforts. Taking a break is one way of doing that. It is often very beneficial to step back from our work for a while and reflect and relax. I.e. do we work to live - or live to work?
Well I certainly agree with all that you wisely said here! It shows a professionality towards your trading seldom found here.
You also describe a very healthy attitude towards forums. In my opinion a forum is like an open-ended, multi-authored, interactive book where all can both contribute and receive. Trading is an exceptional type of activity in that we are all on the same side swimming in the same tidal waters and all with the same ambitions. There is no āus and themā. There is just āswim or sinkā. And the more we can help one another to develop our own swimming techniques the more likely that eventually more beginners will make it to their treasure island!
Thanks for your post
Whatever about stopping trading mid month, as a day trader I like to stop trading each day once I reach either my target profit or loss.
Most of the time when the market is in a range I set my target at 20 or 30 pips depending how big I think the range is that day once I get my profit (or loss) Iām out - that will do me thank you very much.
If I believe the market is moving I might set a larger target for the day maybe 100 pips on a big move day.
I find whenever I go back to the market for more I end up Messing up - so make my profit and then close the charts for the day.
Frankly I donāt have any trading goal; here Iām just trying to follow my trading process with my plan! I donāt force myself to fulfill my monthly target!
Why not? Actually, if market offers me any good entry point then surely Iām going to take this advantage according to my own trading plan!
I dont think profesional traders have a āgoalā per month in dollarsā¦
It makes no sense
Pros trade whenever they see oportunity. If market gives you a chanceā¦ why let It go?
Itās not overtrading if you are following your strategy/rules.