Everyone makes mistakes. I’m not one of those lawyers who trumpets perfection, then blames everyone else when it doesn’t happen. I’m comfortable with allowing people to do their own thing, make their own mistakes and learn from them. I only really get angry when people refuse to learn hard won lessons, which is why I’m a bit peeved at myself today.
As I’ve indicated before on this blog, I usually work on my trading in the morning, and again in the evening (as I can) after the family goes to bed. Well, I saw a pattern developing with the EUR/USD pair and decided that buying if the pair rose a bit, would be a good move. I placed my order and went to bed. When I arose in the morning and fired up my computer to see what, if any trades were initiated during my slumber, I found, to my horror, that I had neglected to place a stop on the EUR/USD order. I can’t explain it, I’ve never done it before, but sure enough, there it was. Of course the trade had gone against me and I was down 90 pips. I examined my trade log, saw that I had, indeed, meant to place a stop and where I meant to place it, and put it where it would have been, which was about 15 pips from the then current price. As soon as the stop was in place, the price reversed itself and ended up going back up and hitting my profit target of 50 pips (I place wide stops and will explain why in the next post).
I’d like to say it was a “no harm, no foul” sort of thing, but now each time I place an entry order I am fanatical about making sure the stop is set, so apparently there was some harm done. The market chastised me, and I believe that I’ve learned my lesson. Only time will tell.
Good Trading!
As I’ve indicated before on this blog, I usually work on my trading in the morning, and again in the evening (as I can) after the family goes to bed. Well, I saw a pattern developing with the EUR/USD pair and decided that buying if the pair rose a bit, would be a good move. I placed my order and went to bed. When I arose in the morning and fired up my computer to see what, if any trades were initiated during my slumber, I found, to my horror, that I had neglected to place a stop on the EUR/USD order. I can’t explain it, I’ve never done it before, but sure enough, there it was. Of course the trade had gone against me and I was down 90 pips. I examined my trade log, saw that I had, indeed, meant to place a stop and where I meant to place it, and put it where it would have been, which was about 15 pips from the then current price. As soon as the stop was in place, the price reversed itself and ended up going back up and hitting my profit target of 50 pips (I place wide stops and will explain why in the next post).
I’d like to say it was a “no harm, no foul” sort of thing, but now each time I place an entry order I am fanatical about making sure the stop is set, so apparently there was some harm done. The market chastised me, and I believe that I’ve learned my lesson. Only time will tell.
Good Trading!
