You are not alone. You are describing 99% of traders I ever met, myself included a few years ago. I sincerely thought I was missing chromosomes at one point. I knew what to do, and what not to do, but kept breaking rules anyway. What helped me change my cuntish ways (apart from..
(apart from systematizing my trading aka using a checklist for every trade, trading like a robot etc), was simply hiding my PNL. I know I preach it a lot but trust me, most traders still dont realize that 90% of our deviations from our rules, are due to staring at PNL midday.
If it's red, your amygdala will kick in and make you revenge trade just to make it "green". If it's green, your brain will make you avoid adding to winner or taking another trade (even if it's a great setup), in fear of making it red or "ruining your average".
Other times, your brain will say "it's not green enough. take another trade" even if it's not part of your plan or setup. Or sometimes your stop loss will trigger (or approach), and the moment u check ur PNL and see that "red" number, ur brain will say "wait a little, cancel it".
In short, almost every time I see a trader break his/her rule, it was because they came to the market with a plan but then looked at their PNL midtrade, and went full retard. Read my old tweets on the amygdala. we are NOT wired for trading. And the PNL box makes it 10x worse.
Come to the market with PLANNED entries/exits. Then EXECUTE that fucking plan.
If it was a PLANNED trade (ie short at 5, cover at 4, stop loss at 5.50, 1K shares), then why the fuck do u need ur PNL? u already know u're risking $500 to make $1000. just EXECUTE.
9 year old daughter came pretty close on her super bowl prediction. Final score 23-20 versus her 24-18 prediction. I might have her start doing my stock data analysis from now on 😂
The power of quality over quantity never fails to amaze me. As some of u kno, ive been working on a little experiment lately (less time in front of screens, more time with family/friends, working out, hobbies etc). I 100% believed that my profits decrease during this experiment
But i was willing to pay that small price in exchange for more "balance" & a break from the "if i dont work 12-15hrs a day staring at screens then im not productive" mindset". Contrary to my expectations (that i would make LESS money), the OPPOSITE actually happened.
I reduced my "trading time" to just 3 hrs a day max (2.5 hrs in the AM to open/manage swings, and just 30min in the afternoon for market review + tracking + charts etc), and I actually made MORE money in the last few months than I did when I was spending almost ALL day on the cpu
Saying that placing stop losses is pointless because there is a chance they might get ran is like saying wearing a condom with the college slut is pointless because there is a chance that it might pop anyway.
Until gonorrhea hits u with the "you gon learn today".
Also dont think "FiNe iLL jUst uSe a MeNtAl StoP tHeN".
Market makers are not dumb. they dont need to SEE ur stop to know it's there. Based on volume, order flow & stats they can estimate where most ppl's pain thresholds are. So NO ONE is safe from this, hard stop or mental stop
The point of that thread was not "dont use stops". it's "use stop hunting as an EDGE in ur own trading". If u cant beat em, join em. As far as ur own stops go, some day they'll hold, some day they'll get ran too. who tf cares? losses are part of the game. manage em, dont avoid em
One of the most common questions I get is "I feel like they're coming for my stops".
Sounds like a conspiracy theory, but fun fact, it's not.
The market is DESIGNED to stop people out. You will always struggle with entries, exits and risk management until u understand this.
That's why everything can look good in hindsight & on ur backtested charts, but when shit gets real & the cameras start rolling, it quickly becomes a different ball game. Just b/c it looks perfect on ur stats & saved charts, doesn't mean it will always be perfect in real time
U can think "ok, i've seen this happen over & over again. I practiced. I studied. I'm ready", then soon as u get on the field and put ur football 🏈helmet on, u realize the field just switched to a fucking skating rink. The market says " u're playing hockey now, motherf*cker"
4) was my size calculated BEFORE the trade, in accordance with my risk management system? or did I randomly estimate what size to use?
5) did I have a systematic ENTRY or did I get in at some random ass area due to FOMO?
Do this for EVERY trade u took that day. Then overtime,
you'll see where most of your losses or stubborn trades come from. Is it #1? #3 ? #5? which of those 5 points leads to 80% of your losses (Pareto Principle) ? is it entries? exits? size? trade selection? it's different for everyone since we're all stubborn in different ways.
1) Even tho i was profitable before that, I would say about 2 yrs.. mainly bc even during my "profitable" streaks i would still have the occasional full retard days that would wipe out months of gains. so i knew how to make 💵, but discipline wasnt there until 2yrs later.
2) depends. if u're talking lowfloats then of course, i NEVER ever short a lowfloat stock without digging into its filings & fundamentals first. Too much edge there not to, plus it saves me from getting trapped on "agenda plays" like freedom price setups or planned offerings etc
now if u're talking LCs or options then i do almost zero fundamental research b/c it's useless short term. most of the fundy info for LCs is already factored into price unlike lowfloats where a stock can have a fat ATM or dilution yet idiot chasers will still be clueless about it