trb10 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:29 pm
I have literally lost thousands of pounds trying to crack pre race trading. I see a red, think oh I'll take it in play and catch up and BOOM the horse wins. I've done it more times than I care to remember so I know the likelihood I'll bust out but still I do it and I don't get why. I've thought and thought about it but still I lay a horse in the hope of easy money and I end up bust, we're talking 10k here.
I did casino while racing was off and joined a site to learn that and literally stick to the instructions by the letter. I could be £20 on an offer but I can walk away from that quite easily and have never once done "just another spin" and have earned over 2k since March. So I have the mindset for that so don't understand why I don't with racing.
Maybe I should just give up.......
hi bro. used to happen to me a lot. solution for me was a 2-step action plan:
1. identifying my risk tolerance (pain threshold) through journalling — this is the level where emotional interference kicks in and you are no longer able to take the loss. For me that was somewhere around 2-3% of my capital, however you may have a certain -£x amount as well. Depends on psychological makeup
2. habitualising using lower stakes so that I would not trigger that emotional interference. I'm risking 0-1% of my capital per market now which stays comfortably within my risk tolerance and allows for some slippage.
I also later found that I had a % daily drawdown risk tolerance and so like with the staking I identified + habitualised ceasing trading when I'd lost -y% of my core capital on the day, again with some headroom for mistakes or a rough spike against me.
ultimately this behaviour signals that you are likely too attached to outcome so you want to work on divorcing yourself from P&L where you can.
I heard of a guy called John "rambo" moulton which a few oldies may remember from the
Bulls and Bears Sydney futures exchange documentary. The guy daytrades and only checks his statements 12 times a year now and has also gone a stretch of 9 months not checking P&L and he mentions this in another interview in reference to divorcing yourself from P&L so you can focus on what the market is doing properly. I check P&L once at the end of each week right now so after about half way through Monday I've already lost track of where I am and there's literally no information available for my brain to worry about the P&L — only the intramarket P&L hedge figure which I've made sure is within my risk tolerance so I'm able to crystallise the loss each time knowing its just a drop in the bucket @ 0-1% risk. I have found that has also helped in accepting losses because I'm forced to think of the 1week picture now rather than the daily. John is a classic overtrader and still has to keep it in check today even with P&L hid and pushing millions in size.
Ultimately you want to really understand and BELIEVE that safely progressing your equity over time is better than the alternative of pushing around the bigger size that you feel inclined to use which creates faster progress but it is an ILLUSION because that is temporary given you are risking situations like you mention (unable to hedge loss → freeze → IP → unacceptably and unintentional big hit to capital).
Remember that losses are necessary expenses of doing business (without risking something we can't generate a profit) so as such they are unavoidable. Your task as a trader is to find a way of operating such that you're able to consistently manage all your expenses so that any edge you have is allowed to play out to it's full potential without emotional interference (you will never succeed long-term if you keep getting in your own way)
best of luck mate
