Any
month that ends up as a profit, in
this case a humble 3%, is a
good month! After
having my worst single days
trading since I started reporting
my P/L, I have to say that I'm
feeling pretty pleased (relieved?)
to end up
in the black.
As
market participants will know, the
source of the problem was, of
course, Mr Alan Greenspan.
This man has caused me more
financial losses over time than
any other person on
earth. However I think
this time around it would be a
little unfair to blame him too
excessively.
On
this occasion, the 0.25% rise in USD
interest rates was well flagged by
the markets. The
announcement itself was exactly as
expected and what's more I
don't even trade USD!
So why did the markets have a
mental? I guess it's just
one of the great trading mysteries
we are all confronted with at
surprisingly regular intervals!
A
reader of these reports emailed me
the other day and said that I seem
to be able to remove all emotion
from my trading and just let
trades be. While I
would like to think this to be true a loss
of 10% in a day certainly puts me
to the test. As it
happened I simply cut my exposure
a little, and bravely continued
on. I cannot say that
I felt immune, but I didn't
tamper.
For
what it's worth, that would also
be my advice to other traders out
there - if you have a
well tested trading system and
something unexpected happens, don't
stop trading or discard your
methods. Just cut your
exposure until you find your
mental equilibrium
again.
