sorry, bud, but i just don't see anything ok about losing money ever. i am a scalper and i am very risk averse- i look for the same consistent set-ups everyday and look to take 20-30 cents profit on my trades. while it is true that sometimes i miss out on capturing larger moves, i am able to be net positive 17-18 days out of 20 a month on average. capturing larger moves and riding trends is great when you can recognize and ride them as I sometimes do, but it usually requires a higher pain threshold- i.e. risk $1 to make $2- when you trade large size like i do, losing $1 on a trade is unacceptable. I prefer to instead wait for a high probability set-up, enter with size and trade it aggressively. Its not glamorous, but with my system, i am on track to net over $250K this year, and thats a damn good living in my book. I am building my account and as it grows, I have been taking trades with a longer time frame, but with smaller size than my scalp trades and it has been fairly successful. Its just that i hate holding large overnights because of the haircut charge and event risk- i.e. one of your stocks has bad news and you get blasted for 6 dollars on size. so, to each his own, whatever works for you, thats fine. obviously we differ in our pain threshold and trading style and i understand your point that you should not enter each day with a set profit objective- you take what the market and your system gives you everyday- some days are great and some may be just mediocre, but i would sure rather have a day that i only made $300 than a day where I lose $3000 because I have the mentality of "oh, thats ok, i just lost a lot of money- but it is to be expected and i will still win in the long run." drawdowns are a part of any strategy and are not fun at all. however, i feel that by focusing on being disciplined, focused and selective in my trading, following my strategy explicitly and being green everyday, I do not set myself up to destroy my account by becoming complacent about losing money, which i might add is very easy to do if you are in a slump. and yes, my strategy is tailored to make money every single day and it sure as hell isn't a "losers game" as you so eloquently put it. if you wouldn't mind sharing, daniel_m, what is your style of trading?- i presume that you are a swing trader. good trading everyone, ryan
That might be the first time I have found that myself thinking I agree with everything you have said. Trying to adjust yourself to the market every single day is a lot like trying to make the entire world happy: You end up miserable and you probably will be pissing most people off anyway. The best traders have a few basic things they do and stick with that. Brandon