Need help to overcome my greed

[januson]

How do I overcome my greed and my optimistic behavior?

This is starting to irritate me a bit, it happens over and over again and again, I get caught into some sort of greed or closes my eyes for the reality.

Please take a look at the attachment, I entered the trade yesterday at 16:41, price 425.00 as I saw a starting BBSqueeze and also a lightgreen at the Goslin, the TickDelta was also positive.

This morning would have been a wonderfull experience to sell around 9:30 to the price 432 , but for some strange reason I did'nt succeed. More wanted more... I sold later to a bargain of 427.00 :rolleyes:

8 out of 10 entries are with me in the start, but out of the 8 I only manage to get out of 3 with succes, the other 5 disappears into the thin air and I suffer a small loss everytime.

How do you manage to get out in time?

[brownsfan019]

	Quote:	januson
	How do you manage to get out in time?

Jan - make no mistake, no trader constantly exits longs at the high or shorts at the low. It's numerically next to impossible.

Depending on the size of your lots/contracts, you may want to consider multiple exit points. Some traders take some off at a fixed level, some use other analysis (I use WRB's). Nothing will be perfect every time, that is for sure. You need to test out different exit methods based on how you trade.

Some ideas:

• WRB's
• Fixed Levels
• Trailing Stops
• Time stop
• Fib's
• Candlesticks

[Soultrader]

Like brownsfan mentioned, it is psychologically easier when you have the luxury to scale out. Scaling out will also let you hold a last portion of your trade if you are absolutely convinced it will go higher after a pullback.

Make sure you also have warning signals that you like to spot out during a trade that will convince you to exit or book some profits as well. A few things that offer warning signals in my trades are:

• New TICK high/low
• ES, Sectors making lower highs/ higher lows
• TRIN range breaks
• Long wick candles
• Big lots on tape (ask) after a decline = indicates short covering

[notouch]

Sounds to me like you don't have the right psychology for a scalper. You're like me, looking for bigger moves over a longer period of time. Why not give up scalping and look for swing trading opportunities instead? Then you get the big move and plenty of time to decide when to exit your position.

[Soultrader]

You might also want to get into the mindset that there is always an opportunity to get back in the trade. Not to a point of chasing but reloading at the pullbacks. It also depends on your exit techniques as well.

[dalby]

the answer is simple

you must trade by RULES. once you are in a trade, you are naturally much more emotional. you are monetarily invested, thus you are emotionally invested. logic starts dissipating as does objectivity.

you must have rules. this does not mean you cannot have discretionary aspects to your trading, but you should also have automatic aspects (like sell 1/2 my position at +x and then move stop to whatever).

the vast majority of retail traders fail, and a hyoooge part of the reason why is that they trade emotionally. you can have the most robust setups ever, and impeccable analytical skills but if you do not have exit discipline, you will be doomed almost certainly.

[brownsfan019]

I agree dal and that piggybacks on another thread where we are discussing the trader not taking their setups for whatever reason. Same rationale there as well.

[januson]

Yes okay.. I need a set of consistent exit rules. Sometimes a stock can raise as much as 4-5% so it's a bit hard for me just to exit before the first pullback and maybe just score 1-1.5% I need to be happy with the trade.. I know and there allways comes another great opportunity.

Could someone be so kind to guide me into an exit-rule based upon my screenshot?
What should definitely be the last exit and what signs are the strongest?

[brownsfan019]

	Quote:	januson
	Could someone be so kind to guide me into an exit-rule based upon my screenshot? What should definitely be the last exit and what signs are the strongest?

Jan,
I think you are missing the point here. Just looking at one trade and saying this is how you should exit on ALL your trades is simply not going to work. It may never work again on THIS very instrument.

This is part of the process you need to go thru YOURSELF. You need to look at many, many of your setups and start to statistically analyze where your ideal exits are over the long run.

I understand the frustration with exits. That's the hardest thing for me. And I've gone thru many different ideas for exits. It's not easy. You just have to accept that you will never always exit at the most optimal point. It simply will not happen. So the goal is create an exit system where you capture as much of a move as possible for you and then repeat the same process over and over and over again.

[januson]

Hi browsfan -> No I'm not looking for the same exit strategy everytime. Just a hint or two My screenshot was merely something to talk or discuss about.

Anyway... I was messing around with eSignal and there's a feature called Tick Replay, I had absolutely no trouble getting into or out of a trade there.
I tested my entry with 5 different papers, huh if I just could trade like that IRL. (without emotions) I guess that's what differentiates a good trader from a newbie *LOL*

Okay... Guess I need more screen hours