My way to highway

you could protect yourself by a good broker.
you could use only one account , where your stopoutlevel is your worst case 7% SL or whatever worst case SL target you have.
so you have first to bring from other account by this broker, or from other bank money again in, and you are protected in this way to open again fast new positions.
of of course you need to have enough leverage then in this account, or in other accounts there so it can be added.

PF, you're the trader whom I most respect on FF.
You've got this!

a way could be. probably, if only a single position would be open ( vs a number of entries as one trade), and the SL would be equal to a Stopout/Margin call.
but that would not prevent me to from losing my mind, and keep trading till the account last.

yes, given, normally i dont lose my mind, ( or one could say lose a lot less often than most of the traders), as per the past 15 months shown.
the issue to fix is these occasions that may never come, but if they do, then a trader is protected from his biggest enemy: HIMSELF!

One of my favourite model traders; is William Eckhardt (of the Turtle trading experiment with Richard Dennis);

Some of his advice on overriding the system rules is: Do Not Override Your System During the Trading Day

1. You should try to express your enthusiasm and ingenuity by doing research at night, not by overriding your system during the day.
2. Overriding is something you should do only in unexpected circumstances – and then only with great forethought. If you find yourself overriding routinely, it’s a sure sign that there’s something that you want in the system that hasn’t been included.
3. You can be creative in research but don’t trade creatively; in other words, stick to your systems.
4. If your trading system is inadequate, you shouldn’t use it. If your system is good, then stick to it faithfully.
5. In the meantime search vigorously for improvement. When the new system is ready you can change to it – you are not thereby failing to stick to your system. So there need be no conflict between persistence and change.

This interview by FuturesMag is interesting:

http://www.futuresmag.com/2011/02/28...d-1000-systems

with all respect, W. Eckhardt's example doesnt really apply here.
for numerous reasons, i think a lot of them obvious without me writing them in points.

appreciate the comment of course, i am a big fan of the Market Wizards series and had read them multiple times to the point they start to fall apart. ( lucky me, have the ebook versions too).

Hi profit farmer,

Have you encounter this situation before?
You managed to breakeven or profit out of it.
If you did not make further re-entry and leave it
As it is. Is the drawdown percentage still high?

I hope you understand my English.

Thks

i havent blown an account for a while.
but had in the past. however not trading with an equity SL and in same way exactly.

for past equity SLs you can refer to the journal, i think most is documented, but to their extent and the frequency.

i would like to think that this kind a 'going crazy' is a rare ( and hopefully one time?) occurance, nevertheless something that smart to try to deal with/protect from going forward.

+53 Pips so far. Will stay short

wrong forum dude; post this in EURUSD

one a mistake, twice stupid.

i did ask yesterday if you get lost...today refraze it: you should get lost.

happy trading!

You can protect yourself , from human Error by using leverage,
Most brokers offer extremely high leverage as such If you have 30 K to trade with and you don't intend on risking more than 2% of a position then you should only have 25% of your money deposited with your broker but trade as if you had 30 K in your account. This is perfect for you as your trading style have really low drawdown therefore you won't have to deposit your addition capital often as experiecning a 25% draw down would be rare for you.
That way when human emotions come into play , you will have to blow your account 4 times by depositing money over and over into it everytime you blew one , I do not think anyone would do that.

I will share that trick with few hedge fund managers if you dont mind.

Um, while there is some valid points, there is some issues with my trading shown throughout the thread: while equity SL ( obviously not ignored as the last trade set I had, bias used and obeyed in the past 15 months before it!) Is protecting total equity, due the multiple entries to make up the total position/open interest,the margin use could variably get relative high. Could take approx 4x (25% of total capital) but I also don't like to cut too close.
Also, I am a subscriber to the idea that mentally it is a lot harder to come back from a high drawdown number, while from a moderate number a lot easier to keep a level head in the game, and recover in an orderly manner. ( this was demonstrated in the past year a few times here).

There is one more aspect that I will talk about one of the upcoming part I think.

Hey Profitfarmer
Why dont you try trading the idices like Nasdaq and the Dax ? They move like crazy
If you dont wanna use stops trade like Brixen or with tight stops like Divergence or Dutchy .
Since I left forex to gamblers and started to trade the Dax I started to make money !

Üdv
Attila

So anyone who is not trading DAX is gambler? Its like saying "since I left roulette table I stared to make money on black jack".

it is not complete wrong what he is telling , and what you are telling.
black jack is better opportunity then roulette.
and dax has better chance to win then forex (when you trade only buy and get this easy 7 last years).
shares are even more easy for some reasons.

forex/currencies is really the kings class of trading, you need to know this fact.

but its possible to win in all, even more in forex then in dax for many, but opportunities for beginners and medium traders are really very hard in forex.

I was kidding by saying gamblers
But PF is a scalper and the Nq and Dax have huge volatility thats why I left the EU and cable trading behind.
You can not make money on a flat chart volatility is most important for a trader !

Dear Plasma,

I understand what you are saying. I can say almost any strategy can be a winner. But you need to identify the optimal pair, optimal time frame and optimal money management. And I believe that's why profitfarmer has been performing really good. He developed that edge for himself . I am sure he is also aware about indices. But again that is something he can respond. It is a little awkward suggesting DAX to a pro trader.

Dear Kxeroo

You are right !
It was just an idea from a fellow countryman

part 3.

finding motivation AND staying motivated

this seem to be a very easy task starting out, yet i feel one of that very tricky part of trading.
it is my journal, my story, and i am well aware that with this part there will be opinions divided, but this is how i feel and think.

i wanted to go over my personal story, but halfway realized that would be a long ( and likely boring read) to most.

lets just say, that i think initially similar to myself, many things money is the motivation.
i had learnt that on my previous work, that it isnt the case, not by itself.

the next thing comes into mind is to compound and grow the account, and it is important, but again, not really the right answer to the problem at hand.

i believe finding some balance between the above, but with the extra ingredient of feeling self fulfilled is getting to the right direction.

for initial motivation apart from money, when prop trading came along i used my own frustration as an investor in the past.
i had a few not so great experiences, with traders (commercial members), who didnt live up to their promises, DD, return, or both ( and i lightly phrasad it!)

thus born one motivating power behind me: keep strict trading rules for others money. it can be anything agreed upon together, but it has to be something i hold myself to.
to day i had kept this one, never made an outside loss from the system to anyone ( but for myself, obviously, at last).

one may subscribe to the theory that each force are met an equal part of opposing force...for me that was investors fail to pay up to their promise.
this largely took from the motivating power away; felt not being appreciated.
as a trader, apart from the money side there is very little feedback to one; yet we grew up as kids, and in the school system, that promoted periodical feedbacks if one is doing right, wrong, mediocre.

another motivating power i found was: wanting to share. probably it is part sprouting from the lonely nature of trading, i personally dont know anyone who trades, not even any who directly involved with stocks ( opposed to buy mutual funds, etc).
sharing and giving back was something i found great fun in. there is always the back and forth that "who teach - and who do"...but i believe that there can be many ways to motivate someone, and one often doesnt need to be the very highest rated, but the best for the circumstances.
to illustrate with some personal examples:
i was teaching martial arts as a second coach for years, and while i had a best result of a 3rd place at the city (budapest) championship, yet i had kids i helped to win the gold at nationals.
i was a volunteer English teacher at a small, far countryside thai government school; yes, i am not the highest qualified to do, but i was enthusiastic, invested, and likely the best they ever, before, or since. ( those who would like to argue probably never set foot a N-E thai government school themselves...)

started to help out for some like minded people, and it was fun, chatting about some principles that seem to work well for me, and some ideas that i may look from a different angle than the usual book knowledge describes.
it was fun.
but it has disappeared too. all i asked ever is some time commitment, ( and maybe a feedback after if one feels to), yet the last 2 occasions turned out that i had none.
while i was feeling motivated by the opportunity to share, it felt very demotivating that someone says to be interested yet not follow up, and end up wasting my time.
maybe i shouldnt care, but i do feel sad for this sort of things, and certainly taking away from the motivation.

i was in past talking about prop trading, the pros and contras about it.
initially, i thought it would be something to belong to type of experience.
i got some money, and got more money. but i rarely got the support, and most certainly not the human kind of support that would amount to much of the feedbacks i was mentioning before that missing.
again, thru personal examples:
Fixi didnt even bothered to get back to me, after i was already handling 1.2 million$ prop money to them, and after a shallow drawdown ( i recovered from it, later) i tried to contact with them multiple times. strange, right? so i thought, and decided that is not the work relationship i am looking for.
yes, the money was there, the fulfillment on a personal level? wasnt!

the same time i was started to trade Fixi, i had some personal deals too ( mentioned earlier above). i was doing very good profits, but i was not getting paid often until about the next month was to end...sort of holding my previous profits ramson in case a drawdown. that was not the deal! nor was the deal to have an IB that earnt on the widened commission rebate, earned on that i traded his funds at a discount rate, and that after the first month was over simply renegotiated my fees for his liking; if not some saved email...but a shameful act, still.
i was once again, making money, but not feeling too motivated about it, really. had a lot stronger feel that my trading, and myself are getting ripped off.

i was an early joiner of Psy(Psyquation). later Axi bought them, and become the program AxiSelect as many of you know now.
I was not only an early joiner, but was leading their board for most of the time ( only real accounts, all measured with a set of criterias).
i even agreed to make a video interview to them in February, that should be done by the end of that month, edited, and ready to publish.
well, it was not. if yes, i never received a copy, though repeatedly asked.
i did help them pointing out many bugs during the months to support. i was the first trader who get into the new AxiSelect, and i was asked for it.
yet the proposed terms toward a larger funding got postponed and postponed again, yet to find a contract in a final version to sign.
and yes, i had helped them by going thru the first drafts and adding some concerns traders may have.
but got a mail a few days ago, titled "post mortem", asking why i havent stopped with my own accounts...
right, not too much an appreciation for what i was doing to them in the past months. and most certainly nothing to courteous.
one shouldn't expect, but nevertheless it is demotivating.

FF.com
i was, one of the few, who bothered to show a live TE. ( while data was hidden mostly, those who log to Psy knew this account was kept to approx 10k, so not a toy one).
15 months of consistent trading, subscribers, yet one crazy moment and all the reputation is sort of blown up too with the account.
even if it was clearly stated not a system error. ( and we talked about how the humane aspect missing the tools, intentionally or unintentionally, on the retail side).
it is one hand nice to see a few who sees thru the events, and realize the issue as it is.
on the other hand, it is extremely demotivating to see that ppl with zero prior interest disrespecting my journal, and off topic it to the point it seem to lose all the integrity that was built up by 12 months of posting here!


OK, i think part3 will get a part3/2 tomorrow.
this is getting long, and i am not fully done with the motivation aspects.
the above post isnt complete!!
those who read, hope understand this, and will wait for the /2 part.

unfortunate, today i am real sick too with high fever, it is lots of heavy labor to type this one, and cant carry on longer for now.

happy trading!