In a newsgroup someone suggested taking just one profitable trade in the morning and then walk away from the markets for a while, for the day.
I’m not sure, this is really a way to cure for always giving back profits made
What do you do if the first trade is a loser
What do you do if you are trading good and make your daily goal
What do you do on a losing day
I thought the same way this trader did for a long time. I took one or two trades a day. I stopped when I made my daily goal, or just one profitable trade. I stopped after 2 or 3 losing trades ending the day red.
But does it get you nearer to your real goal?
What you learn is discipline
And it's a very good lesson to learn. But it will not help you to learn trading.
Being a daytrader means
- You trade your edge
- You follow your trade plan
- You adhere to your money management rules
- You know your statistics
- You are flat at the end of the day
- And at the end of the day your statistics will again tell you, you had on average x% winners and y% losers
It is your job to trade your setup
You don't ask, if it might be a winner or loser. Your statistics already give you the numbers and it wouldn't be your setup, if you did not know 100%, that this setup gives you a chance to be profitable on the long run, that it gives you your edge in the market.
Having the daily goal is good, taking just one profitable trade is good. But it is just one step on the way.
You need to prepare for the inevitable string of losers, you need to finance them. And you can do that only with a string of profitable trades. Embrace the days, where you exceed your daily goal in such a way that you make your weekly goal sometimes within just this one day. Because you know, that tomorrow might be the day where you lose everything you made today.
And if you stop today because you made one profitable trade you might not have enough to finance tomorrows loss
What this trader suggests teaches you discipline, but it also might be
Fear to lose the profits already made
Do it for a while, but leave it behind when you are ready to really trust yourself.
