a perfect 10

[tico]

Hi All,
As a relative newbie to trading( I have done a fair bit of Horse Race trading with reasonable results ,but no footy or greyhounds or other sports like Tennis or Cricket. Anyway back to the main point ,and the subject here is the number 10 (not Downing Street) but just the ordinary number 10.

So I will take this number and place it on the trading ladder .Righto , one of the most stated things on here (and other forums ,is that you have to have a stop loss to cut your losses when things go against you....BUT..with equal regularity I see the statement that we have to be prepared to let the price go against us (non scalping) and anticipate it turning around and going in our favour...which brings me back to the number 10.
I have layed at 9 so I want it to sail past 10 and beyond...ok it goes down to 7 then 6....now the stop loss advocates would say two things...get out at six or let it ride ,WHICH ONE
IMHO this is the problem us newbies have .
Any suggestions would be helpful
COMING SOON
Fundamentals verses those graphs .
Do we go for the the more traditional methods or do we follow the bots and technical analysis.
Kind Regards
Tico
PS does anyone on here remember Compunter

[Michael5482]

Hi All,
As a relative newbie to trading( I have done a fair bit of Horse Race trading with reasonable results ,but no footy or greyhounds or other sports like Tennis or Cricket. Anyway back to the main point ,and the subject here is the number 10 (not Downing Street) but just the ordinary number 10.

So I will take this number and place it on the trading ladder .Righto , one of the most stated things on here (and other forums ,is that you have to have a stop loss to cut your losses when things go against you....BUT..with equal regularity I see the statement that we have to be prepared to let the price go against us (non scalping) and anticipate it turning around and going in our favour...which brings me back to the number 10.
I have layed at 9 so I want it to sail past 10 and beyond...ok it goes down to 7 then 6....now the stop loss advocates would say two things...get out at six or let it ride ,WHICH ONE
IMHO this is the problem us newbies have .
Any suggestions would be helpful
COMING SOON
Fundamentals verses those graphs .
Do we go for the the more traditional methods or do we follow the bots and technical analysis.
Kind Regards
Tico
PS does anyone on here remember Compunter

No reason why you can't use fundamental analysis and technical analysis together. I've never seen it as an either or, you can use fundamental for reasoning for a potential trade and technical for further verification of the fundamental to enter a trade.

[poemracer]

Hi All,
As a relative newbie to trading( I have done a fair bit of Horse Race trading with reasonable results ,but no footy or greyhounds or other sports like Tennis or Cricket. Anyway back to the main point ,and the subject here is the number 10 (not Downing Street) but just the ordinary number 10.

So I will take this number and place it on the trading ladder .Righto , one of the most stated things on here (and other forums ,is that you have to have a stop loss to cut your losses when things go against you....BUT..with equal regularity I see the statement that we have to be prepared to let the price go against us (non scalping) and anticipate it turning around and going in our favour...which brings me back to the number 10.
I have layed at 9 so I want it to sail past 10 and beyond...ok it goes down to 7 then 6....now the stop loss advocates would say two things...get out at six or let it ride ,WHICH ONE
IMHO this is the problem us newbies have .
Any suggestions would be helpful
COMING SOON
Fundamentals verses those graphs .
Do we go for the the more traditional methods or do we follow the bots and technical analysis.
Kind Regards
Tico
PS does anyone on here remember Compunter

You've highlighted the classic trader's dilemma—stop loss discipline versus riding the wave for a turnaround. For newbies, finding a balance is key. Combining fundamentals with technicals might help refine your strategy. Best of luck!

[eightbo]

Experiment. You should have rules to follow and you can try out different approaches and journal the results.
For example maybe you find holding on to be more profitable but it affects your emotions too much. Or maybe when you get it wrong it typically extends further (average loss is higher when holding on vs. stop loss), in which case you should use a stop.

The answer can be different depending on your market, timeframe, and strategy. You should not ask for advice of what to do but rather try yourself and navigate tactically through experimentation to the best approach for you and for your strategy

Back when I traded manually I had a weird thing where I would lose my cool if I drew down more than -x% so I went for capping losses option and stay inside that safe zone for example. If you are a true trading robot with no emotions you still need to test things for a period of time and battle out different approaches to find the most optimal/ profitable approach.
But typically speaking if you find something which is "good enough" you can just leave it there and just repeat/scale

[ShaunWhite]

If you want close because it's scary number then just do. That blind bet will stop further losses exactly 50% of the time and stop a clawback exactly 50% of the time, and their amounts are approximately equal amounts over many markets. A blind bet is, for arguments sake, what we call a zero expected value bet (0EV) and won't do you much harm, or any good. If it wasn't we'd all just be either backing or laying with our eyes shut.

But you won't win with £100 if you can't win with £1 so take the stress off, set the default to £1 and allow yourself £5 max liability. Then you can practice adding to, or reduce your position in a more fluid way rather than big all in all out decisions.

You'll get through this and see that you always bet according to the market conditions, not the outcome of bet you had earlier being good or bad. It's just confidence in your approach and staking so that the numbers don't trouble you. Don't waste too much time thinking about this because it's going to be unimportant.

[tico]

Hi Shaun,
So are you saying that you should just cut a loss every time it occurs before the loss gets too big ?
Kind Regards
Tico

[ShaunWhite]

Hi Shaun,
So are you saying that you should just cut a loss every time it occurs before the loss gets too big ?
Kind Regards
Tico

I'm saying if you bet blind (based purely on your PL) it won't make much difference. Be led by the market, if it looks like getting worse then get out, if it looks like the adverse move is ending then stay in.... Uncertain, just reduce your position a bit, if you'd backed £100 then lay 25 or 50 and take the heat out of further moves.

But you need to stake so that the amounts don't freak you out and influence your decision. Why agonise about when to open a position, and then just bail out without much thought. Use the same market led rigour on every bet.

[ShaunWhite]

Tico if you watch Peter trade you'll see it's rarely one bet in, leave it, and one bet out, ie opens and closes. He's continually finessing his position, adding a bit, taking a bit out, backing 100 and if it's right laying 20 to move the red/green divide etc. It's not really about having a bet and watching it sail into the distance.

Where a 'stop' might be mentioned is if reaching a certain price triggers something on your execution plan such as a price breaking through a point of resistance. It's not because you're £5 in the red.

[tico]

Hi Shaun,
I think the problem lies in the fact that trading is difficult to teach ,as is general betting/laying .Dylan Thomas once said of his creativity that it is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration ,I don't think he would mind if we applied his analogy to the world of gambling .The perspiration is born of graft and the inspiration is born of experience.
Kind Regards
Tico