Rule Based Trading: Dealing with Losses

[Soultrader 12]

Traders have their own rituals of handling losses. For some traders it may be taking a break after losing a fixed percentage of their capital. For some it may be taking a quick walk after a losing trade. I know most of you have some method to shake off your losses to move on with a clear head.

 

I wanted to start a thread describing our rules on dealing with losses. In my example, I limit myself to 3 losing trades a day. Ever since I started trading, I have always been using a 10 point stop on all my setups. 10 points on the dow is $50 a contract. Basically 30 points is the most I am willing to lose on any given day. After that I am officially done.

 

By having my monitor on I have a tendency to want to trade. Call it the e-heroine of trading. So I shutdown my computer, take the rest of the day off, and reward myself by buying something. This could be a bottle of wine, a pair of jeans, new shoes, etc... Anything that will get my mind of the loss. It's just something Ive learned over the years and have now become a habit.

 

Anyone else have anything unique that they do?

[ES 10]

I dont have a rule based on losses but I do take a 1 hour walk everyday after the morning session. It helps clear my mind to focus for the afternoon session.