RANT CORNER

[Kai]

Now by design I haven’t been trading a lot this week, but honestly, you’d think I was attempting it for the first time. I’m not chasing or losing money hand over fist, I’m just getting absolutely nowhere. Make a tick, give it back. Make a tick, give it back…

Hopefully this is a seven-day phenomenon.

It's all very normal, we've all been there

What happens with taking a big loss is your system basically gets flooded with a stress hormone called cortisol so the brain will temporarily be in survival mode just trying "not to lose" instead of trying to win

Maybe halve your stakes or something until you rebuild confidence again and the foggy decision making clears up, but do try to gain some value from what was effectively a lesson in complacency

[Lynskey888]

If I make the same mistake again, I'll confess here and that will be my last ever post!

Somewhat flippantly I said I was making a tick then losing a tick. While there's some truth in that, I've also noticed a large number of scratched trades, many of which would have resulted in a loss had they not been ditched.

Confidence knocked, as you say, and perhaps there's that slight hesitation, enough to make my entries poorer.

(Nice to see you posting again.)

[jamesedwards]

If I make the same mistake again, I'll confess here and that will be my last ever post!

Somewhat flippantly I said I was making a tick then losing a tick. While there's some truth in that, I've also noticed a large number of scratched trades, many of which would have resulted in a loss had they not been ditched.

Confidence knocked, as you say, and perhaps there's that slight hesitation, enough to make my entries poorer.

(Nice to see you posting again.)

Confidence is massive in manual trading.

I am much better than I used to be but if I take a significant loss then I still find myself hesitating and falling out of my groove for a bit afterwards.

[Kai]

If I make the same mistake again, I'll confess here and that will be my last ever post!

Eh, there's really no need to put even much pressure on the next potential slip...

You are already walking a tightrope if a single mistake can wipe out an entire week of profit. Longer term hopefully you can build an ironclad bridge instead, perhaps something with better RvR to complement the scalping.

[Lynskey888]

James - it's some consolation to hear a successful trader's confidence can also take a knock in the aftermath of a big red. I've had bigger losses than this one over the last two years, but I don't remember being so affected in the past. I reckon you've posted some sizeable reds on here only to bounce back into overall profit the same day. You're probably more resilient than you give yourself credit for.

Kai - I jest about quitting. I made an egregious mistake the other day, but the strategy itself was sound. I made a logistical error around the timing of my involvement in the market. It was the sort of thing that should never happen and I'll be very surprised if I let it occur again. The one consolation I can take from all this is that I accepted the loss and redded up. If I'd messed about looking for a reversal, I'd have watched another wicket fall in the second over and my loss would have doubled.

I've been using half stakes, as Kai suggested, especially for the first few trades in each market. That has helped. It's been an unproductive week overall, but I'm in a better mood and looking forward to a weekend on the golf.

[jamesedwards]

James - it's some consolation to hear a successful trader's confidence can also take a knock in the aftermath of a big red. I've had bigger losses than this one over the last two years, but I don't remember being so affected in the past. I reckon you've posted some sizeable reds on here only to bounce back into overall profit the same day. You're probably more resilient than you give yourself credit for.

Kai - I jest about quitting. I made an egregious mistake the other day, but the strategy itself was sound. I made a logistical error around the timing of my involvement in the market. It was the sort of thing that should never happen and I'll be very surprised if I let it occur again. The one consolation I can take from all this is that I accepted the loss and redded up. If I'd messed about looking for a reversal, I'd have watched another wicket fall in the second over and my loss would have doubled.

I've been using half stakes, as Kai suggested, especially for the first few trades in each market. That has helped. It's been an unproductive week overall, but I'm in a better mood and looking forward to a weekend on the golf.

The photo judge calling the wrong result at Perth on Friday cost me £7k. https://www.racingpost.com/news/britain ... yQ9Z41CHI/

z132.jpg

You can't let these things eat you up.

[Lynskey888]

Aw, nae luck, James. I read about the Perth race in the horse racing thread. I didn't realise your balance had taken such a big hit.

With my cricket loss, the blame lay squarely at my door. You've had to suffer because of someone else's incompetence. If you were able to trade normally the following day - or even anywhere like normally - that's no mean feat.

[Euler]

It's really important to come to terms with losses quickly. That's one of the great things that trading has taught me: to overcome setbacks and just keep on moving forward.

If you let it eat you up, it will influence your future outcomes, and you can't let it do that. You just have to treat everything in isolation.

It can be really tough to come to terms with a big loss, especially if it isn't 'your fault', but you have to do it and move on.