cant deal with losses

[neeeel]

I have been trading for nearly 2 years now, first year and a half was a disaster, couldnt do it, lost a lot of money. finally in the last few months, started to get a bit of success, using £2 stakes, but my problem is, as soon as I go to bigger stakes ( ie, £10 lol) i cant deal with the losses, start chasing, taking more risks to get the losses back, go in play( without meaning to, just too busy trying to trade right up to the off ), fear seems to play a big role, and inevitably, I lose.

Anyone got any tips on how to deal with the "bigger" losses i will have to face, I have tried slowly raising my stakes ( ie, £2 for a couple of weeks till im confident, then £4 till im confident, then £6, £8 £10), have never got past £10, except when i first started trading and was using stupid amounts.

If I dont learn to take the losses without making them bigger I will never master this.

[Scumbag trader]

well, i would reccomend not using yur own money to trade with. Use bookies free bets and use that money to trade with, that takes away the pressure of losing your own money hence you should perform better as a trader.

[neeeel]

well it is all money that I have won playing poker, or doing free bets like u say, but it doesnt make any difference, I dont want to lose( bad attitude I know) , and I put extra pressure on myself by investing so much hope and "need" to become a trader who can earn a living doing it. Maybe I should just stay with £2 stakes for months until a better attitude becomes ingrained into me

[refer80]

Putting to much pressure on yourself mate,you must learn to accept the red and move on.There is no holy grail of trading,there a decent bunch on here so dont be afraid to ask.

[Scumbag trader]

well it is all money that I have won playing poker, or doing free bets like u say, but it doesnt make any difference, I dont want to lose( bad attitude I know) , and I put extra pressure on myself by investing so much hope and "need" to become a trader who can earn a living doing it. Maybe I should just stay with £2 stakes for months until a better attitude becomes ingrained into me

Can i recomend that you aim to become a proffesional poker player instead

It's just something you need to get through, it could take years you just need to be patient, learn the markets, and be disciplined.

[The Mole]

I have to say, if you cant do it after 2 years. Its likely that you will never be able to do it. Discipline is the key, without that you have nothing. I am not sure its something that can be learned, you either have it or you dont.

Perhaps forget the horses for a while and try sports trading. Footy, tennis, golf???

[TRADER68]

Maybe raise stake more depending how strong you feel for a individual trade rather than using set stake for every one.If you are reading markets well and start with a small stake when the trade turns against you 'then use the bigger stake to lever your price.most trends have small reversals so should get out most times without too much damage.Think knowing your exit point before your entry is a must .But sometimes easier said than done.Good luck .

[Keefter]

There's only one solution to being able to handle big losses. Quite simply you need some big wins!! You get used to losing £20 when you're making £20 most other races. If your losing races are -£15 and your winning races are +£1 then losses will always be very tough to handle. After 2 years you should diciplined enough to get through this. Dicipline is what lets 99% of people down. If you can't physically stop yourself from chasing your losses then it may be time to take a step back and think about whether trading is for you.

[justatic]

With the TOY you can set the stake as a percentage of your bank so it will rise and fall with losses/ winnings. Also, you could set the liability percentage to a level that your are prepared to lose rather than losing the whole bank in play!

Try reading Trading in the zone by Mark Douglas, I believe it is available as a Pdf if you google, Although I recommend you buy it

Good luck!

[waynt1]

Have you tried reading any E-books or going on any courses

[bazbaz]

Obviously at times you are getting in your own way thinking about the money too much.

For me the most important thing is to prepare yourself properly before you start a trading session. You simply have to be in the right mindset to do well.
Everyone is different so I can't tell you exactly what to do but you need to be in a state where you are alert yet relaxed and not anxious about losing money (and not coming from the frame of mind where you are HOPING to make money either.) I would suggest some kind of activity that you know gets you in the right frame of mind for 30 minutes or so before you start trading, and not to start trading until you feel right. Meditation is excellent (with practice) for focusing the mind on the job at hand and reducing the interfering mind chatter.

Personally, anytime I trade well I tend to just get on with it not thinking about the money (or the NEED to prove myself, as you say) and just concentrate on the markets. At times I start having thoughts about how well I'm doing (or not!) or about how much money I should be making etc.... I find that I've come to nip these annoying little thoughts in the bud almost as soon as they arise, because that's all they are, thoughts. You can't suppress them or stop them coming up because this only makes them come back more, the only way I know to deal with these negative thoughts is to separate yourself from them and just to accept them and ignore them - like an unwanted visitor at your house, you ignore them and they leave you in peace. Try to watch the kind of mental crap that comes up and recognise it for what it is as soon as it arises. Don't get caught in the trap of trying to force yourself to think positive thoughts, you can't control your thoughts at all.

Bear in mind that even if you've been successful for years you will still be struggling to cope with losses somewhat. I had a couple of right nasty races go against me today and it still hurts like hell. You only ever feel you're as good as your last race. Nobody completely masters these situations, but with more positive experience of trading at higher stakes your confidence may grow. Perhaps you could try only trading extremely selectively with the higher stakes (i.e. only those trades where you are 95%+ sure you will make money), that way you will have some positive experience that will help grow your confidence. Keep a firm watch at all times on how you yourself are responding to whats happening, getting too pleased with yourself after a few wins is just the other side of the coin (and just as destructive in the long run) as having a go at yourself when you're losing. For a really good trading session to take place (or for you to do well at anything) 'you' (or the little voice in your head) cannot be there

[AnyGreenIsGood]

Nice post Baz. Think you are right about the mindset thing. My danger points are the first and last races. I know I sometimes jump in too quick to the next race when I've just logged on and also sometimes play just that one extra race when I'd be better banking the profits.

Discipline is almost harder to learn than the actual trading. I can make a profit on 90+% of races I play on, but I still don't make overall profits if I can't handle the other few losing ones.

[neeeel]

thanks for all the replies, a few things for me to think about.

[TheSurgeon]

Applying and sticking to a few rules might help - it's a discipline thing. Mine are

1) Don't trade large stakes Sundays and Mondays. Usually the race cards aren't good ones so there are fewer traders about which leads to more volatile, unpredictable markets.

2) Don't trade large stakes on the last race. It seems to be full of punters chasing their losses for the day, which leads to more volatile, unpredictable markets.

3) Don't trade large stakes in low liquidity races. Patterns are less likely to appear, they are volatile, unpredictable markets.

4) Don't trade large stakes if there are two joint favourites. Sounds a funny one but due to computer bots reacting a lot quicker than you ever will, you may find yourself in a -you guessed it -volatile, unpredictable market.

5) NEVER enter a trade without working out how to get out of it first. This should be number one on the list. If the trade doesn't go the way you thought it would - get out of it ASAP. You will be able to get out quickly because you have already worked out your exit plan.

As you might be able to tell I don't like markets that are unpredictable - or for that matter volatile -some do, but if you are only trading small stakes I suggest getting out before the 'loadsamoney' boys come in and ruin it all ten minutes or so before the start, they're a volatile unpredictable bunch.

Hope this helps reduce your losses and good luck from a very boring, predictable operator.

[gmarodin]

my noob question, thesurgeon what do you mean about low liquidity market?

i heard some traders saying to only trade races above 500k ?


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