Best Day Yet Dissapointed

Opening balance £1112

Closing balance £1305

Day's profit £195

My actual figure was spot on £200 but I incurred £5 overnight interest charges for holding open positions over the weekend.

There's no doubt I'm heading in the right direction, I'm learning discipline having lost so much of my account in my early trading days with stupid mistakes and it's making me ultra cautious.

My disspointment stems from not letting a trade ride, I'll expand.

From being happy with shorting the market at 5505 at £10 a point and having the balls to watch it climb to 5545 I experienced a little nervousness which I wrote about in my previous post. I've been trading pretty well since I started less than a month ago but have ruined my progress with a handful of reckless trades.

Upon further consideration I became uncomfortable with the potential loss of 40% of my account so as the markets opened last night at 11pm I watched intently. Friday's close at 5520 soon run up to 5530, albeit breifly so I made a mental note to reduce my position at the earliest opportunity. By 2.30 am the index had fallen to my entry level and even though I was being penalised 3 points on the spread I bought back half my stake.

I was now trading at £5 per point and knew I could sleep comfortably with no great damage should the price rise. Long story short if I had let my trade run at the priginal £10 I was spot on and would have made £650 today. The fear of losing my account was greater than the 'fear' of making less than I had hoped for and I gave in to that fear.

I took profits early too, I could have let my £5 a point run and made £325. Instead I made a handful of trades and pinched £200. That's the reason I'm so dissapointed. All the patience I had shown in holding my position when it was against me should have been rewarded with a big win today.

That it didn't shows me how much damage my early losses have exacted on me. Of course I'm delighted to have made a couple of hundred pounds but I have a big regret I lost courage in my beliefs. All the signs pointed to a falling index that I had waited patiently and lost a lot of money on these last couple of weeks and when it finally came I lost my nerve.

On the plus side I made £200 and I'm inching closer to getting my original stake money back and to this weeks target of reaching £1500.

I still believe I'm most comfortable scalping but this really was a great trading opportunity and one I spurned.

Lesson duly noted.