Trading Psyops # ...
One thing, that will help a struggling trader in a great way, is to understand the importance of repeatability. It is important and needs a bit of explanation.
By my own trading experience and as well of others, what we found out, the very common mistake people do in trading hours, is to try something which is not repeatable as per their trading plan. Examples:
- Oversizing position beyond limit just because they are too confident on a particular trade. Using overwhelming max leverage to which they are not used to
- Removing SL (with mindset " they are just shaking weak hands, market will come back to my direction soon")
- Trying to recover day's loss by any hook or crooks and deviating from trading plan
I can tell you, if you tried something which is not part of your plan and you earned money,
that same trick will take away more from you next time - cause that is not a trading strategy that you tested, practices and
owned.
It happened to me many times and even happens today. Only thing is probably the frequency was more than two dozens every month of such non-repeatable and loss-making activity, which is now barely 3-4 every month now. I want to make it 0.
Once you cut down your unplanned trading (be it with entry or size or SL) and able to sit calmly till your setup is triggered - is the sign that you are improving.
However, by no way I am suggesting to avoid experiment with new plans or strategy - always do that, that is part of our evolution as traders. But do that with a test size till the setup is validated and you put in enough practice to own it.