Lack of willpower, or something deeper?

Hi guys!
Today I want to come up with a question. Am I the only one who, in a mostly regular basis enters what could be totally considered "random trades", regrets it, thinks that hell no, never again... But next day gets into it again?
It is just that feeling of having to catch that one big move, seeing a signal (just one out of many), trying to experiment... I don't get the reason why would I even consider it, but when I am watching the charts everything seems so possible, and then...
I've got a trading plan, I've got a system, but still, my nerves catch me every god damn time.

Has this happened to any of you guys? How do you deal with the impulses you get at the trading station? I would really love to hear your stories and ideas.

Trade safe!

Hi Sergio,
How long have you been trading and why are you trading? Maybe you just feel powerless and are trying to play cassino. Don´t do that. The best thing you can do is to take a break, save your capital. Watch price behaviour, and ask yourself first how could traders make money before screens came in....

Save your money.

Regards.

Hi Rednose.
I've been trading aproximately for 1 year. I started with a 2000€ account which I transformed in 10.000 in less than 3 weeks (as it sounds), and then started losing little by little... And now I am at 2.800. I think there has been a great shift in my mentality from those days, when I actually saw an ally in the market, knew how important was to work on analysis and almost didnt spend much energy on a what we would call "reasonable" trading management, as I risked 10-15% per trade (which in turn gave that results). Trading was of low importance, prioritizing other aspects of my life and having plenty of activities to do those days.

Now I feel overconcentrated in trading. I have been studying for another matter for 3 months, and sitting in front of the computer makes me be unable to just let a trade run and relax, I watch it regularly and either panic, either let it run... In the wrong direction. The cool reasonable solution would be to avoid watching the charts in study time or even unistall it, but the natural psychologic response to that is "nope, just try to do better next time, just keep cool, think what you want to do, etc.".

I am sharing all this for all those who could probably feel the same stuff, maybe it gives you a motivation to share it, or even just sit and think about it. Actually, writting what goes through your head and how you see your mistakes makes you think more about them, I would really suggest it.

And to the questions of why, that I guess is the issue. Money, and pure money. I lost the love to the markets I had my first months, as I started getting into "money management", serious systems, rules everywhere, etc. Maybe when I get free of these last 3 final exams (out of 28 in the last 3 months) I start to see things in a clearer way, and have more motivation for it.

Thanks for getting the "why" question out. I am seeing it helped a lot, and was one of the things I didn't analyze from my behaviour. Such a maybe unintended, but still great help

First thing to do Is reduce your trade size to the point where you don't lose sleep over it. Doing this will take away a lot of the emotions leaving only "what the f### just happened". Then you can get back to reality and focus not on the money or being right every time, but instead focus on your process. If the system works for you then you can start working your way forward. If it doesn't then you know what needs to be done.

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hey sergio..... it did long ago quite often..... then i learned to code and commented me out of the equation....... leaving only the rules..... solved my problem.......

//-----........h

How much time do you spend staring at the screen each day? I think the more time you spend staring at the screen, the higher the probability of 'losing the plot' and entering trades just to relieve the boredom or because you're worried you'll miss out on a big move. You definitely need to limit screen time to no more than a couple of hours per day. Either use lower time frames but only at certain times per day (e.g. the London open) or use higher time frames but only check the charts once an hour at key times, e.g. 0900 and 1000 London and New York times.

Thats a good one too!

I recommend you to read this post:
https://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=3156

No offense but I think you are in stage one. You do not aware your incompetence. You don't have a *real* plan or a system.
A real system should clearly define when to enter and leave a trade.
When you have one you'll find it completely meaningless to watch the screen all day.
Also you'll never be bothered by negative feelings such as "regret" again.