If you don’t get annoyed when this happens, then you don’t quite understand edge.

I had an interesting thought while trading (or trying to trade) the following sequence:

And then I thought…

• In over 10 years of writing for YTC, I don’t recall anyone EVER sending me a chart and saying that they’re pissed off that they missed a trade… WHICH WOULD HAVE LOST.

Maybe, like my initial reaction, you simply write it off as “luck”. And then move on.

But maybe it’s also because you don’t get annoyed when you miss losing trades.

But you should.

If it’s a valid trade in accordance with your trading plan, then your edge relies upon you taking as many of these trades as you can.

Your edge plays out over a whole series of trades.

 

By avoiding a loser I’ve helped my stats – this time.

But that’s not the point.

Think bigger picture – to a data set comprising EVERY VALID TRADE I MISSED OVER A LIFETIME.

If these trades were valid trades then I’m confident that they should provide a positive expectancy, over the full sample. They should provide edge. And by missing them I’ve cost myself profits.

Take them all. And manage them as best you can.

Here’s the key point to take away…

If it’s a trade with edge and you missed it due to lack of focus, it doesn’t matter that it lost.

This might be good luck.

But it’s evidence of poor business practice.

You should feel annoyed. And you should be reviewing the reason for missing the trade and trying to ensure that next time you’re more focused and ready to take that entry.

Because next time… it might just be a multiple-R winner.

 

In the meantime… this was a good opportunity for me to practice some of the mindset ideas we discussed last week – https://yourtradingcoach.com/trader/managing-your-mindset/.

This clearly wasn’t my trade to take. If it was, I would have taken it.

Let it go.

Now focus… and get back into the game.

 

Happy trading,

Lance Beggs

 

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