I continue my post about The 25 Point Discipline For Day Trader. And below is the 17th and 18th point.
#17 NEVER TAKE A BIG LOSS.ONLY A BIG LOSS CAN HURT YOU.
Please review rules #5, #8, #10, #11 and #15. If you follow any one of these rules you will never violate rule #17.
Big losses prevent you from having a winning day. They wipe out too many small winners that you have worked so hard to achieve. Big losses also "kill you" from a psychological and emotional standpoint. It takes a long time to get your confidence back after taking a big loss on a trade.
#18 MAKE A LITTLE BIT EVERYDAY. DIG YOUR DITCHES. DON’T FILL THEM IN.
When I was a young bond trader, my goal every day was to make 10 bond tics. A tic is $31.25, so if I made 10 tics on the day, I would be up $312.50.
It may not sound like a lot of money to you, but it surely was to me. My mentor, David Goldberg, told me that if I could make 10 bond tics every trading day of the year, at the end of the year I would be up $72,500 in my trading account. Not bad for a 23-year old kid in 1982. It is amazing how quickly your trading account will build up over time just by making a little bit every day. If you are a new e-Mini S&P trader try to make just 5 or 6 points per day. If you can do that youíll have that $72,000 at the end of the year.