One area where many traders struggle is with counter-trend entries; such as reported through this email comment:
"My numbers show a profit when trading with the trend but that just gets destroyed by the trades which are against the trend."
My first suggestion is usually short and straight to the point:
STOP trading counter-trend!
Simple, isn't it. If you have an edge with-trend and you stop trading counter-trend, then your overall results will be a positive equity curve.
For some reason we have a tendency to persist with that which is not working. We identify those areas of poor performance and focus hard on improving them. And that's great.
But quicker results can be obtained by identifying those areas of stronger performance and focusing hard on improving them. Avoid the areas of poor performance.
Later… when you're achieving consistent profitability in your stronger areas and have exhausted all ideas for further improvement, you can then turn to the weaker performance areas if you still wish to do so. Of course, you may not wish to do so. And that's absolutely fine. No-one says you have to trade all market conditions. Focus on your strengths. Avoid your weaknesses.
Cheers,
Lance Beggs
PS. The same applies to all areas of strong vs weak performance. If a particular setup is providing a negative edge, you don't need to persist with it. Focus on your strengths and work to expand and improve upon them.