Monday, July 28, 2008

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1. S says:
   
   #1 2008-07-29 21:23 (Reply)

   Great episode this week Steve. I've never been through military training, but I imagine that it's similar to learning to trade in that both involve the process of being "broken down" and having to build oneself back up.
   
   I think most, if not all, individuals that venture to learn how to trade have their self-esteem challenged to the core by the markets. Only those of us who persist at incremental positive change can build long-term careers in trading. As you said, it's the mindset of the relentless achiever that's necessary to endure the pain, and come out the better for it.

2. George says:
   
   #2 2008-08-01 20:10 (Reply)

   Just wanted to say I love your podcast! You encouraged people to leave comments so I thought I'd to learn more about. I find it difficult to know when I should stop for the day, whether on the winning side or the losing side. I've found myself up in the morning only to find myself down for the day. Then of course the big losses that I manage to recover, thus justifying "perseverance," when I know I should stop. I had a couple of great wins the last couple of weeks only to give them back over the following few days.
   
   Any commentary you might have on this subject would be welcome.
   
   Thanks for anything you might address and for the podcast!

3. Steve Croft says:
   
   #2.1 2008-08-04 06:09 (Reply)

   Dear George,
   
   Thank you for your comments. Your question about when to stop trading on any given day is one of the most asked questions in trading. We all want to make a profit and when a trading session is going well, it is very easy for greed to take control of us and cause us to continue trading even though we have succeeded in achieving our profit goal for the day. In mnay instances, all of our profit (and sometimes even more) is given back to the market.
   
   The same situation occurs when we happen to have a difficult series of losing trades and then we continue to trade so as to recover our loses. This also many times ends up costing us more.
   
   It is very important to have very clear goals, objecives and rules for our daily trading sessions. Here are 10 suggestions that I feel need to be listed and followed to help us not fall into the trap of making proft and then giving it all back to the market:
   
   1. What time of day I will trade.
   2. What market I am going to trade and what specific area within that market (i.e. currency market and EUR/USD, etc)
   3. What is my level of risk capital that I am willing to lose before stopping for the day.
   4. What is the maximum size of a trade that I will execute so as to stay within my money management objectives.
   5. What trading strategy will I be using.
   6. What is my profit goal: Per trade, per session, per day, etc.
   7. At what level of profit or loss will I ALWAYS close my trade.
   8. What did I learn yesterday that will make me better today.
   9. What needs to happen to cause me to take a break from my trading session and collect my thoughts before continuing to trade.
   10. Why am I trading today.
   
   There are so many additional items that I could put on this list and when you create yours, you will probably have different ones. What is important is to have a detailed plan or course of action every time you trade so that emotions and/or other factors will not cause you to break rules that end up costing you profit.
   
   I hope that this helps.
   
   Best Regards,
   
   Steve Croft
   The Mind of a Trader

4. George says:
   
   #2.1.1 2008-08-04 17:03 (Reply)

   Thanks Steve, greatly appreciated. I look forward to hearing the next podcast!
   
   George

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