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     dutchdanish
Member
Username: dutchdanish
Post Number: 16
Registered: 10-2005Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 09:21 am: |  
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Greetings I.C. members and friends, Dutch here again,
The emotional fortitude it takes to be a successful trader is really quiet amazing. Let me explain...
Too many times in my trading career have I become over confident, risked too much because I just knew the setup was perfect. Have you ever went on a "good run" where it seems that you just can't miss? Ever felt the euphoria of a 10% week and thought, "I'm special"?
Fast forward a couple weeks, the trader has had 5 losing trades in a row. He has had two winning trades out of 7 and they were only small gains. "Mr. Special" has finally been welcomed to the real world. His confidence is shaken. Every single system and strategy that he has learned (and at times applied successfully) come flooding his brain like a tsunami as he analyzes his picks. Gaps, fibonacci retracements, Pennants and Flags, every single chart pattern, inverted hammers, doji stars, breakouts, triple screen, etc, etc, etc.
With losing trade after losing trade, cracks begin to build up in his "Great Wall" of confidence, until finally...his confidence collapses completely. And he is left (by himself) to find it all over again.
I have experienced this cycle at least 3 times since I started trading last November. Needless to say, I am beginning to see some cracks building...
I'm not sure why I made this post to be honest. Some say confession makes a person feel better. Or maybe I'm hoping that someone out there can relate and could share a word of wisdom. Either way, I am ready for the market to open tomorrow morning and to stick with my system and plan. Peace and Success to all of you,
-Dutch.
"...yet with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries."
--M. Shelley
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davkell
Member
Username: davkell
Post Number: 416
Registered: 07-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 04:01 pm: |
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Hey Dutch;
Been here b4, and am pretty much still fighting the trading demons. We've touched on a similar thought process recently and you might find this link interesting.
http://forum.incrediblecharts.com/messages/35933/744159.html
Also, a bit of honesty there as well, and some excellent replies/support.
Cheers.
"Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom" - Van K Tharp
"Manage the downside; the upside will take care of itself" - Donald Trump
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peterloh
Member
Username: peterloh
Post Number: 1768
Registered: 03-2003Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 04:40 pm: |
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Dutch,
If it is of any help,I think I have experienced this 100 times or more, the fact that I am still around is survival and try to understand what is going on around you.Like anything there are good times and bad times. If you were on to gold,energy and resources in the last few months you would have done well. If you were in industrial or others you may have a hard time currently. Cheer up and learn from your mistakes.
-------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: Please note that comments made in this column is mainly for the interpretation of charts in technical analysis. It is not made in my professional capacity and should not be taken as advice.In my professional capacity I am only allowed to give advice on certain managed funds authorised by my license dealer.Any share discuss is for general interest and should not be relied on to make an investment decision.It is likely that I may own the shares that we discussed as a trade or as an investment. Please consult your stock broker or financial adviser in regard to your personal situation.
The views expressed here contain information derived from public available sources that has not been independently verified.No representation or warranty is made as to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of the information.Any forward looking information in this representation has been prepared on the basis of a number of assumptions which may prove to be incorrect.It should not be relied upon as a recommendation or forecast by the writer.
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tony_m
Member
Username: tony_m
Post Number: 638
Registered: 01-2003Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 05:40 pm: |
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Dutch,
same story for me and I would be surprised to find anyone who has been in the market for a while who hasn't periodically been through the horrors.
You can never be totally in control, no matter how good your system or discipline, stuff sometimes good sometimes bad, just happens no matter what. The main aim is to conserve your capital so you can come out of the bad patches with the capital essentially intact to take advantage of the good patches...Good luck...Tony_M
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smallworld
Member
Username: smallworld
Post Number: 429
Registered: 01-2004Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 05:41 pm: |
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Dutch,
If it is any consolation at all. the US market is in a difficult patch at the moment so your practice is probably the more challenging kind.
A question: What would trading be like if losing doesnt have the same connotation?
take a look at this link to see if it at all helps. http://www.rb-trading.com/article11.html
(Message edited by smallworld on May 03, 2006)
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elisabeth
Member
Username: elisabeth
Post Number: 342
Registered: 09-2002Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 06:35 pm: |
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Hi Dutch (countryman - though I'm in Aus and you would laugh if I wrote in Hollands...)
I'm posting in sympathy, because I'm trying to recover from a mad 6 months last year where I totally ignored my stops - hope is so much easier than taking a (relatively small) loss!
I'm also posting because I read something on the forum the other day - not sure who, or in which thread, but this could work for me:
Don't enter the next position until your last entry is in profit.
I guess that is related your expectation of a trade - if it doesn't do what you expect in x (3, 5?) days, get out.
All the very best.
Elisabeth
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nutmeg
Member
Username: nutmeg
Post Number: 24
Registered: 03-2006Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 06:58 pm: |
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DutchDanish, good wishes.
If it will make you feel any better... its only this financial years that I've finally been able to recover heavy losses I incurred during dotcom boom/bust.
 ZFX, OXR, LHG, PEM and BHP helped.
.
Learn your lessons quickly, and move on.
.
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chart_rider
Member
Username: chart_rider
Post Number: 164
Registered: 01-2005Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 07:38 pm: |
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Dutch
I, also, understand all that you are experiencing........however.........I offer no sympathy............
You want to trade, this is a tough game. I don't mean you against the market, I mean you WITH the market. You can't control the market, you can't go against the market. You have to learn the market in YOUR own way, with your own experiences, good rolls and hard knocks.
This is a game of constant learning, constant immersion, constant self analysis, constant lessons learnt.
You need an EDGE.
Gaps, fibonacci, flags, blah blah blah. These are all displayed prettily in thousands of books. Interesting reading, lets follow the book?? - where's the edge?.
The edge is in YOU, and how you apply all these tools, how you read the market as it scribes out all these pretty lines and patterns.
Know the market, know your system.....not somebody else's....YOUR system. Constant immersion in the market action, constant immersion in your system.
Get to know your system, as it applies to the market. Analyse it, backtest it, test it live, test it this way and that way, when you know it like the freckles on the back of your hand - then.......you will have confidence in your system.
Then you will have confidence in yourself, then you will have confidence in your trading. Then you will not crack. With this confidence will come the returns and the true acceptance of losses as simply part of the business, and,
you will understand everything I have written, and,
be able to explain it to me.............................
.............................so we can both learn!
CR
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dutchdanish
Member
Username: dutchdanish
Post Number: 17
Registered: 10-2005Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 11:10 am: |
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Thanks guys for all of the responses. They have truly been helpful, each and every one of them.
An odd thing, emotional trading. It seems as though the moment you begin to let fear creep in would be the moment things are about to turn in your favor. And that's where the discipline must come in. Had I acted on fear I would not have entered WITM or CPTC, although my system has told me otherwise. Had I traded with emotion this week it would have cost me quiet a bit in unclaimed profits. Thankfully I have poured over the wisdom of many excellent traders from this forum, and abroad...and I made the trades. So... I suppose this story has a happy ending, at least for this week.  Many thanks for aiding a newborn in trading (training),
-Dutch
P.S. That is an excellent article, smallworld. I have bookmarked it in my browser.
"...yet with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries."
--M. Shelley
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zoso
Member
Username: zoso
Post Number: 125
Registered: 10-2003Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Sunday, May 07, 2006 - 01:47 am: |
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Hi Dutch,
There's quite a good audio recording of Mark Douglas (re: trading psychology) presenting to the Woodie CCI clan here...
http://www.woodiescciclub.com/start.htm
Scroll down to the psychology section and just hit one of the links. Take a while to load but they're about one hour long - think you'll find them interesting.
There are a couple from Brett Steenbarger there too - I haven't listened to them, he's a bit too full on for me!
All the best,
Paul.
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msparks
Member
Username: msparks
Post Number: 491
Registered: 10-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Sunday, May 07, 2006 - 10:26 am: |
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WOW
Thanks Zoso
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