Today I started off really well, first race made £1.55, another race made £1.67. I was keeping my losses low and trading calmly, trying not to focus on how much I was making. Then came the 14:50 and 15:00 races. I'm really not sure what happened, but I managed to lose a total of £4.20 on these races, blowing my profits for the day so far. There was an unexpected swing in both races, I seem to remember, but there has been in other races too and I usually manage to lose less than £1 on these most times.
The worrying thing is, this is now 3 days in a row that this has happened, where I have been on for a good total for the day and then 1 or 2 races just kill my profits. I can put some of it down to the fact that sunday, monday and tuesday are fairly difficult to trade, but I don't think this is the whole story. It seems to be the later races, getting to the end of the card, that get me. Am I getting tired, losing concentration and focus? Am I letting my PnL affect my trading by become more reckless and (over)confident when I have a good total for the day? Do I think I know what the market is doing and not need to pay attention to the information that is being given me?
I am certainly getting angry when these losses happen, and that can be a sign that I am emotionally involved in the market, and have expectations of what is going to happen.
As I have mentioned before, I think a certain amount of self-sabotage is involved too. That is something that by its very nature is going to be hidden deep in the subconscious and not something I can get rid of easily. I dont fancy looking in the mirror every morning and chanting
"I welcome wealth and success as my right" or whatever crap the self-help books teach you to say.
I think a combination of all these factors is the cause, and is an indication that I am not as far along the path to success as I think. I was going to raise my stakes, but may wait a bit now.
I am happy that over the 3 days, I have still made £4.62 , and a few months ago I would have been deep in the red in the same situation.I know I am making progress and need to stay calm and work on these mental aspects.
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Hello mate,
ReplyDeleteThis echos a lot of my sentiments from yesterday - interesting stuff.
If there's one thing I'm learning, it's not to hold a position for too long. I quite often find myself saying: "the price isn't going to move that way JUST because you want it too - NOW GET OFF BEFORE YOU GET BURNT!"