A number of people in the comments section, and other blogs and bloggers all seem to agree that trading past the morning tends to diminish profits; so why persist?
*Boredom; this I’m sure catches a few people, they are at a loose end, they know that they have a further 5+hrs in front of them, and they just can’t sit still. This leads into taking poorly considered trades.
*Addiction; this is by far the most dangerous problem. Addiction defines that you are no longer in control of your trading. That your trading controls you. In effect you have taken a business, and degenerated into gambling for the high. It is no longer about making money, it is about getting your fix.
*Greed; Huge numbers on the P&L are intoxicating, they are a high…greed is only a few steps removed from addiction. The idea of this business is [should be] to be profitable. This should by definition lead you to really understand *what* makes you profitable. Is it really chasing trades all day?
*Protestant work ethic; the guilt of making a lot of money in a short work day, or with seemingly little or no effort. Well, the effort if you are consistently profitable will have been enormous, no-one has just stepped up and instantly been profitable with no work. The work is put in daily, in any number of ways. That you get paid in 30mins is both irrelevant and misleading.
*Losing money early…must make it back syndrome; this is a pernicious problem. Really, assuming that you are trading your *best* idea’s FIRST [not necessarily the open] and they cost you losses…why continue with your sub-par idea’s? If you fail with your best…odds are, your worst will compound your losses. Take your FIRST LOSS [similar to the psychology behind a stoploss] and stop for the day. Do not trade in a diminished environment [set-ups, psychology etc]
I’m sure there are many others, but these were the ones that have plagued me at various points in my trading career. Each one had to be worked through, at a cost of lost profits, losses, mental anguish, and the highs and lows that come with the territory.
Now, I can get paid quickly, and stop.
