Jump to content

Welcome to the new Traders Laboratory! Please bear with us as we finish the migration over the next few days. If you find any issues, want to leave feedback, get in touch with us, or offer suggestions please post to the Support forum here.

  • Welcome Guests

    Welcome. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest which does not give you access to all the great features at Traders Laboratory such as interacting with members, access to all forums, downloading attachments, and eligibility to win free giveaways. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free. Create a FREE Traders Laboratory account here.

nhallett

You've Got a Great Trading System. So Why Are You Losing?

Recommended Posts

You've done your homework. Countless hours of

seeking out the right guru (or piecing together

your own system). Weeks of monitoring your

guru's daily trade picks (or paper-trading and

back-testing your homemade system). You've done

it by the book. No seat of the pants trading

for you!

 

OK, now you're confident. It's time to put your

money where your homework is.

 

You've had your coffee and your first trade

signal is before you. Confidence high. Trade made.

First loss. Not a problem. You understood before

you started that successful traders both win and

lose and “losing is part of the overall winning”.

 

You've also heard more then once that “successful

traders don't win on every trade.” Moving on,

still confident. Next trade made. Another loss,

but this one hurt your pride a little because

you got stopped out early in the trade, and then

the market rebounded and would have hit your

profit target if you weren't stopped out.

 

You double check. Yep, you placed the stop where your

trading system told you to place it. You kind of

had a feeling that the early weakness in the market

was just profit-taking from the previous day's

trading, but you're trading a system and you must

stick to it. Wounded, but resilient.

 

After a good night's sleep and a few mouse clicks,

your new daily trades are in front of you. Hey,

this one looks good! It's a little bit more risk

than yesterday's trades had, but look at that profit

potential! With a smiling face, the trade is executed.

 

With a nice start to the trade, you're feeling good

and you've moved your stop to breakeven, just like

your system said. Surprise piece of news - market

reverses - blows through your stop - an “unexpected”

loss. Is something wrong with the system? Has the

overall market “personality” changed, affecting your

system to the Core, rendering all your back-testing

irrelevant? Your confidence turns to doubt.

 

You decide to “watch” the next trade… I mean, isn't

it wise to make sure the system gets back on track

before you “throw good money after bad?” Isn't that

what a conservative trader does? Trade watched.

It wins!

 

In your head, you beat yourself up a little because

you know that when you started your “live” trading,

you made an agreement with yourself to take the

first 10 trades “no matter what”… and here you

wimped-out and missed a big winner that would have

gotten you even.

 

What's happening?!!

 

What's happening is that you are out of control.

Your emotions are ruling your trading. The above

scenario plays out in every trader from time to

time.. newbee and veteran alike.

 

The winning trader senses what is happening and

nips it in the bud. The winning trader spend time

EVERY DAY, working on “the discipline of trading”.

Reads a chapter in his favorite psychological

trading book, scans the “ten commandments of

trading” that hangs on the wall over his/her desk,

listens to his/her mental training software for

futures traders… Something… Every Day… before

trading begins.

 

There are many more losing traders than winning

traders… and it's seldom about the trading system.

In my career, I've come across at least 50 systems

that I consider A+, yet I know for a fact that MOST

traders that have traded on these systems have lost.

Why? They were not in control of their emotions.

 

Are you?

 

 

My best,

 

Norman Hallett

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Spot on Norman, I've found that becoming a consistently profitable trader is so much more about your ability to detach yourself from the money and the emotions to trade 100% objectively, as apposed to focusing on the system. Great post.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Norm, let's have a chat about Quantum Mechanics and Masaru Emoto.
Jack - I had never heard of Masaru Emoto until now - thank you.

 

After Googling and reading, I was amazed at the similarity between his ethereal and unsubstantiated theories and those of the trading support group known as trading psychologists.

 

I won't write one of my famous long essays on this topic at this time.

 

But I would simply like to ask a couple of rhetorical questions to psychologists and those who purport to belong to the erudite "Traders Support Fraternity":

 

1) Where are the successful students with their testimonials ... real ones?

2) Where are the students' yachts?

 

Kind regards, and tirelessly in pursuit truth,

 

Ingot

 

PS - It might be that Psychologists belong in a group with Dermatologists.

 

Their clients' conditions:

1) Never get better;

2) Never get worse:

3) Never ring up in the middle of the night;

4) Always remain in need of therapy

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Back in the early 2000s, Netflix mailed DVDs to subscribers.   It wasn’t sexy—but it was smart. No late fees. No driving to Blockbuster.   People subscribed because they were lazy. Investors bought the stock because they realized everyone else is lazy too.   Those who saw the future in that red envelope? They could’ve caught a 10,000%+ move.   Another story…   Back in the mid-2000s, Amazon launched Prime.   It wasn’t flashy—but it was fast.   Free two-day shipping. No minimums. No hassle.   People subscribed because they were impatient. Investors bought the stock because they realized everyone hates waiting.   Those who saw the future in that speedy little yellow button? They could’ve caught another 10,000%+ move.   Finally…   Back in 2011, Bitcoin was trading under $10.   It wasn’t regulated—but it worked.   No bank. No middleman. Just wallet to wallet.   People used it to send money. Investors bought it because they saw the potential.   Those who saw something glimmering in that strange orange coin? They could’ve caught a 100,000%+ move.   The people who made those calls weren’t fortune tellers. They just noticed something simple before others did.   A better way. A quiet shift. A small edge. An asymmetric bet.   The red envelope fixed late fees. The yellow button fixed waiting. The orange coin gave billions a choice.   Of course, these types of gains are rare. And they happen only once in a blue moon. That’s exactly why it’s important to notice when the conditions start to look familiar.   Not after the move. Not once it's on CNBC. But in the quiet build-up— before the surface breaks.   Enter the Blue Button Please read more here: https://altucherconfidential.com/posts/netflix-amazon-bitcoin-blue  Profits from free accurate cryptos signals: https://www.predictmag.com/ 
    • What These Attacks Look Like There are several ways you could get hacked. And the threats compound by the day.   Here’s a quick rundown:   Phishing: Fake emails from your “bank.” Click the link, give your password—game over.   Ransomware: Malware that locks your files and demands crypto. Pay up, or it’s gone.   DDoS: Overwhelm a website with traffic until it crashes. Like 10,000 bots blocking the door. Often used by nations.   Man-in-the-Middle: Hackers intercept your messages on public WiFi and read or change them.   Social Engineering: Hackers pose as IT or drop infected USB drives labeled “Payroll.”   You don’t need to be “important” to be a target.   You just need to be online.   What You Can Do (Without Buying a Bunker) You don’t have to be tech-savvy.   You just need to stop being low-hanging fruit.   Here’s how:   Use a YubiKey (physical passkey device) or Authenticator app – Ditch text message 2FA. SIM swaps are real. Hackers often have people on the inside at telecom companies.   Use a password manager (with Yubikey) – One unique password per account. Stop using your dog’s name.   Update your devices – Those annoying updates patch real security holes. Use them.   Back up your files – If ransomware hits, you don’t want your important documents held hostage.   Avoid public WiFi for sensitive stuff – Or use a VPN.   Think before you click – Emails that feel “urgent” are often fake. Go to the websites manually for confirmation.   Consider Starlink in case the internet goes down – I think it’s time for me to make the leap. Don’t Panic. Prepare. (Then Invest.)   I spent an hour in that basement bar reading about cyberattacks—and watching real-world systems fall apart like dominos.   The internet going down used to be an inconvenience. Now, it’s a warning.   Cyberwar isn’t coming. It’s here.   And the next time your internet goes out, it might not just be your router.   Don’t panic. Prepare.   And maybe keep a backup plan in your back pocket. Like a local basement bar with good bourbon—and working WiFi.   As usual, we’re on the lookout for more opportunities in cybersecurity. Stay tuned.   Author: Chris Campbell (AltucherConfidential) Profits from free accurate cryptos signals: https://www.predictmag.com/   
    • DUMBSHELL:  re the automation of corruption ---  200,000 "Science Papers" in academic journal database PubMed may have been AI-generated with errors, hallucinations and false sourcing 
    • Does any crypto exchanges get banned in your country? How's about other as Bybit, Kraken, MEXC, OKX?
    • Does any crypto exchanges get banned in your country? How's about other as Bybit, Kraken, MEXC, OKX?
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.