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I am new to the site and have learned a lot from just the few threads I have read. I have been trading crude oil for the last three months. I enjoy waking up and seeing what the market is offering (day trading) rather than hoping my stock gapped up or down depending on my directional option.
I have no trouble going long on oil. However I feel that I am losing opportunities by not shorting oil. To be clear I am only in a trade for at most a half hour and am always at the monitor during the trade. I for some reason can not bring myself to short oil even though my indicators are telling me to do so (only to watch oil tank 20 ticks in a few minutes).
Early in my trading I always read that shorting is risky and leads to substantial unlimited loss. Even though I trade with stops and other precautionary measures I can't help that feeling of potential unlimited loss. Has anyone else ever felt this way? If so, how did you overcome this fear?
Thanks!
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Just flip your monitor upside down. Boom, now you're buying instead of shorting.
Problem solved.
On a more serious note, your problem is mostly psychological than anything else, and requires a tweaking of your thinking. The joke above isn't far from the truth. Think about it.
There are a myriad reasons for the long bias.....none of them valid in futures trading. If you want to make in futures trading you need to get over this pretty quick.....otherwise only trade on days when you can be long with the trend.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Good job. Longs are the better bet anyway (maybe not on oil, but on equity markets and indicies). Many people have trouble going long, and are instead contrarian by nature and want to always short.
Your risk in oil is always to the upside. Unexpected news can send the market up in a hurry. Since the CL market is as volatile as it is, there is no problem with only taking long trades. You can't get it all no matter what you do. Even on the days when oil is going down, you will likely find some long opportunities, depending on your trading approach. Good luck.