Stressful Trading Day

Today is a day when everything went wrong. Here are just some of the things

1. I went into the day long even though I didn't really have any good case for it and vaguely thought I already should have sold.

2. I didn't manage to sleep last night. Not good for cool headed decisions.

3. I still didn't sell when the futures showed the market would open down or whent he market started falling - I was like a deer in the headlights.

4. Cramer said to sell HANS the night before.

5. I finally sold half my position after QQQQ had bounced 20 cents above the bottom. That was enough for me to stop panicking.

6. The market then rallied to end the day not far from where it started. I had to be in a meeting for part of that, but don't think I would have added to my position anyway at this stage.

The realised loss after tax is about 1/2 % of net worth. So in the big scheme of things not really such a big deal I guess. B ut I was feeling very scared while it was happening.

One of my problems is that when my trading starts going well I get cocky and arrogant and start breaking my rules. Then I blow up. Mostly I am upset at the time I wasted making those profits in the first place and why I was so dumb.

To make money trading you need emotions, but too much fear and panic will end up losing you money.

One good move: I sold my TLT call options just when bond prices were at the peak of the day.