Flat periods

A very simple question to anyone trading an approach with dedication and discipline.

How long has been your longest flat return period so far in your trading ?

If your a system hopper...just forget it. But anyone trading the same approach consistently has had flat periods...how was yours ?

This question is asked regardless of technique or time frame used in your trading

Just to start, here is mine.

I trade the Hourly chart with a S/R Breakout approach...no indies...naked charts.

I've been trading flat for 4 months now. Some good times...some bad...If I look behind and analyze the trades I took, I'm forced to admit I did very very few mistakes so as far as I'm concerned, my return is optimal for the last 4 months.

It really hard to stick to my trading not seeing any results but I keep going. I keep telling myself to stay disciplined and that good times will come back but the truth is that I'm getting really pissed...If it was not of my discipline...I'd probably be out of business by now...but I'm still there...

So tell me guys...how do you handle these flat periods without going insane ?

What exactly do you mean by "flat period"? Are you talking about your returns or the market in general consolidating?

Sorry I was not clear enough.

By "flat period" I mean a period of time in which your equity curve is flat.

I guess that's where the patience comes in, it's too easy to get trigger happy out of boredom!

What helped me was having a few different strategies, my preferred one and then a couple of others, it helps to keep the equity curve moving (if not always in the desired direction at least it was moving!)

I think it also helps to decide which months are best for your trading style and strategy, for me holiday months tend to be a bit too volatile so I 'sell in May and go away', summer is a bummer, lol

I know what you mean though, it's frustrating to trade and not get very much for the time and effort, maybe best to walk away and come back later rather than be tempted to force trades, at least that way you don't feel like you've wasted your time. Either that or develop a few other strategies to adapt to different market conditions....

Thank you for your input...

I trade according to a very strict position sizing model and adding new systems or approaches inside this model would be very tricky but I think it's worth the analysis at least.

The thing is that I don't want to end up overtrading my account either...