Is that really worth writing about? Chris gone over the edge. He's writing about withdrawals. What's there to write about? You instruct your broker to transfer money to your account. You usually do that only when you made profits and you cash them in. It's no longer paper money in a far away account, it's suddenly something tangible. You see it in your bank statement, you can buy something with it.
But ...
...in my brokerage account it looks like a loss, it feels like a loss and I really have to tell myself
it's not a loss, it's a withdrawal, which just happen to have the same effect as a major losing trade:
Your account balance is sharply lower,
your margin is smaller and
you have to walk that path to - in my case - 30k again
A path I already took a few times in the last few weeks
only to be beaten below by a stupid mistake again and again.
On the other hand trading for a living means you have to live, you can't have the fun student life, where you are financed by other means. Your profits have to finance you and some profits have to be taken out of the account to finance your life. It's just a fact. So better enjoy your profits and don't let the withdrawal spoil your day.
Hmmm...just that that dumb feeling won't go away, which tells me that if my account was >30k on Friday and today it's <28k, that about 2.5k are missing. And these 2.5k are gone and usually if something is gone in the account it has been lost. I tell myself, it's not lost, it's a withdrawal...but that concept is just too new it seems...yes I have to admit, I just started it a month ago and that's why I have to find ways to deal with the feelings, which come up.
I made no withdrawals during my learning years..I made some payments when I had been busted instead...then I made the money back I invested in my learning...then I build my account to have some leverage as I did not really need the money for living...now I decided I should start taking something out on a regular basis.
I now have two approaches to fool my subconscious mind, which refuses to see a withdrawal as a withdrawal
In my tradejournal, withdrawals are recorded at least 1 week prior to the day they have been made. So looking at the journal I see no big loss today
When I have the money in my bank account I go out and buy something for myself. A bonus for a job well done. I like it, it feels good and it convinces my inner self, that the money is not gone but actually there. Hard cash which I can spend as I see fit.
I'm sure, once I'm used to it, I won't need to fool myself any longer. But I've learned, that it's better to listen to your feelings and to respect them. Otherwise they turn around and bite you by letting you do real dumb stuff, until you listen and deal with them.
