Tips from a seasoned trader of the futures market
For what I've outlined below. trading rules I paid dearly - with my own money and nerves. Most of them are described in detail in any trading book, but reading and understanding are different things. Just as it is impossible to learn how to swim by reading a book about swimming on land, so it is impossible to learn how to trade without making all possible mistakes and draining your first deposit. It took me a long time to get a feel for these basic principles trading and adhere to them as an immutable truth. Of course, they are subjective, but that is their value.
1. trading should be started and conducted in a completely flat emotional state
Do not perceive the figures in the balance sheet as real money that comes and goes with every market movement, but rather as abstract mathematical values. Outbursts of love or hate for the market lead to a lot of rash actions, the result of which, as a rule, has a deplorable effect on the results of the day. Trading under the influence of emotional impulses leads to losses. Maybe someone breaks into the market like a berserker in a mortal battle, with bare chest, war cries and packs of orders in each hand. For me, only an even emotional state and lack of attachment to the results of deals works. Emotional outbursts start - trading ends.
2. The expression "the trend is your friend" is usually the first thing a novice trader learns from articles and classic books
However, it took me quite a while to realize how fundamental and applied this is. Never enter against the trend - don't try to catch reversals by guessing a local top or bottom. I know, it is very tempting to catch the whole movement. But the market is unpredictable in principle and it does not care about your forecasts. The market is always right. I enter only in already born, clearly expressed movements.
3. You cannot give your money to the market
A synonym for "don't give money back" is to admit your mistakes. And you should do it very quickly. If you entered the market and it moved in the opposite direction - get out immediately. Immediately! You should not wait for a reversal or correction, this tactic does not justify itself. It has been tested - it is better to give up your own rightness than to give up part of your own rightness Deposits.
4. Act quickly
As they say, it is better to regret what you have done than what you have not done. It is better to enter the market and catch a small stop, than to lament over the missed opportunity, looking after the flying chart. And although it is psychologically more difficult to exit the market than to enter it, you should do it just as fast. Of course, in trading it is very important to listen to your intuition.
5. Footsteps - always
Bet immediately, taking into account slippage. When the opportunity arises - move the stop to the BreakevenIt makes no sense to turn a profitable trade into a losing one. It is especially important to have stops if you do not follow the market at the moment. Nowadays there are so many news, scheduled and not, that any unexpected "political sensation" with an unfortunate coincidence of circumstances and the absence of a stop with slippage will demolish a good half of your deposit. Besides, a stop order frees you from mental torment, but a large fixed loss takes you out of the rut for a long time.
6. You should not use the entire deposit
I intuitively followed this rule from the beginning, using a little more than half of it. In the end, sharp movements in the market and unexpected increases in collateral (GO) proved me right. I feel more confident with a large margin of safety.
7. Don't think about trading when you are not directly engaged in it
Trading is just part of life. For charts I follow the rule "out of sight, out of mind". Big win or big loss - after the end of the trading session I am not interested in it. That's why my hands still don't shake and I sleep well =)