irish pete ag06 said:
Man I am so close. I disagree with what some people say about "letting winner's run" when it comes to small accounts like mine.
I think this is only feasible for accounts that are large enough to be able to scale in to multiple contracts on each trade. Then scale out and leave a runner or runners.
I am nearly 100% certain that the amount of time I keep a trade open is directly related to losing.
Nearly every trade I've entered lately has probably ran at least 10% to 30%… almost purely on timing a good entry on a dip from watching the premium move in the trend. A lot of these trades end up being microscopic wins or losses because of a knife after holding too long and wishing I'd sold into the strong move for the 20%
Starting Monday it's scalps only. 10% per trade will compound quickly on tiny account like mine.
You're correct in the grand scheme of things.
Small accounts are perfect to learn valuable lessons. Odds are that you'll blowup your account more than once, FWIW I did 7 times, but those are the lessons that stick with you the most. Everyone that's aggressive has blown up their accounts at some point and if someone says they haven't, they're FOS.
With small accounts, find what works and makes sense to you. I'd also suggest "not letting winners run" because you could miss out on other opportunities when they present themselves. What if you bought 50 shrs of ROKU last week at 199, rode to 250 but didn't cash out, where would you be today? If you sold those 50 shares at 240 then your small account grew by $2,000, There's always something to buy, so stay fluid. Hit for singles, 15-40% in a quick move then cash out. Don't GAF if you sell at profit and it ends up a homerun but you're not in it. Your greed factor will kick in on the next trade and you'll probably lose. Hit singles and watch your account grow. This will increase you're buying power very rapidly. DON'T GET COCKY, and think you've found the secret, spoiler alert, you haven't. As your account grows then you can take multiple positions and spread out the risks while applying the same discipline. Don't chase a homerun with all your money in one trade after you've tripled your account or you will blow it up. Find a discipline and stick to it with multiple positions. JMO, glad you're here and good luck.