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Charlie, I'd rather give you actual help in terms of your question that just posture and tell you to change like others are doing here. Some of us are like alcoholics when it comes to risk taking. We may even have stretches of really great periods, but then blow an account again.
I've been through so much with what you're talking about. I THINK I have overcome it, but only time will truly tell. At this point in my trading I "don't trust myself", and really, when you think about it, maybe that is a good thing. For so long I worked and worked and failed and failed, but continued to say you can do it. I had to get to the point where I saw myself as a monster that couldn't control himself, I was disguisted with it, and then I had to go even deeper and beyond that and through more pain. Eventually, you come out letting yourself down so many times that you dont' trust yourself anymore, and it's at that point where you learn to trust the rules more than your "smart" self.
ONE GOOD IDEA FOR YOU THAT I EVEN USE MYSELF NOW:
Some people such as @Underexposed say you will find a way to circumvent the system you put in place to protect yourself. This person does not fully understand the issue. The issue is in the moment, not the following day, or two days from the point you lose control. It's purely the moment. So, yes, in the moment, you would indeed circumvent the system, but if you put a system that takes you out of the market for 24 or 48 hours after a bad event triggers your system, it's an effective one.
For me I simply only fund my brokerage account with enough capital for margin plus two daily loss limits. This accomplishes several things for me: It A) Keeps me from depleting vast amounts of capital no matter how on tilt I get in the session, B) forces a mandatory break period to wire in more money if I suffer 2 daily loss limits in a row, C) It prevents catastrophe in the form of a brokerage going under (several have happened in past few years), granted your money is sitting SOMEWHERE at risk in SOME way, but your Wells Fargo account is FDIC insured. D) Did I mention you can only blow up two daily loss limits?
I hope this has been helpful coming from a guy that's been there man.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
The problem is that an individual trader, not working for a firm, is human too, but isn't going to have that external risk manager to shut them down.
There's nothing wrong with him asking if there is something like that available, and if so, to use it. Anything that gets the job done is a good thing. To my knowledge, there is no comparable external resource for the lone individual (because who is in a position to say, "No more trading for you today," and make it stick?), so he needs to develop the internal discipline for it. I do not think it is easy; just necessary.
I did follow the link you provided to your Profit Monitor strategy, and I think it looks like a good idea -- something besides you saying "you're exceeding your limits here", a wake-up call that may jolt the trader awake. I did download it and will look at it. Anything that can make someone pause in self-destructive action is good.
Actually now that i think about it, a prop firm would likely just kick you out if you were always too much risk to manage...
Yeah with the strat, just make sure to run it on another chart. Someone suggested the market analyser as well which i thought was a good idea, not near my trading PC for a while so i can't try it...