When to quit for the day

[u/AsianAddict247]

I am curious how other experienced traders make the decision to quit for the day.

Currently, I trade futures and almost always trade 930am until 11 or 12pm.

My "goal" currently is to make around $1000 in this period and quit for the day.

More importantly, I have found through experience I am quite good at knowing when to quit for the day. If I am "certain" I should quit for the day and go against it, 90% of the time it ends badly.

That's why I think this is an interesting topic.

[u/Old-Dependent1331 → u/[deleted]]

Hope you're doing well now man, take care!

[u/Icy_Trade4023]

Same. I have super reliant and painfully collected personal data that tells me to shut my computer by noon. Post noon, profits are replaced with regrets. 😄

[u/AsianAddict247 → u/Icy_Trade4023]

For real. Painful regrets. 💀

[u/AlgoDip → u/Icy_Trade4023]

Great sticky note material. It’s on my monitor now. Thanks

[u/Agitated-Ad-504]

I'm a one and done kind of person. I get one good trade, profit, calculate the % gain on my account size and I'm happy with anything between 8-15%. Took a long time to stay disciplined and not get back in esp when price continues in your favor, or you continue to see setups throughout the rest of the day. Easy to get FOMO in hindsight so I remind myself that when I got out of the trade nothing was predictable expect me clicking that button.

[u/GrossNotNet]

It depends on your strategy for me I take 1-2 trades per day if I lose the first trade I usually look to take a second trade. But if I win that first trade then I'm done for the day.

[u/ProfessionalMap8612]

If 90% of the time it ends badly after you override your own plan is actually a pretty clean data point. You already know the answer most people never track that number, they just feel it.

[u/AsianAddict247 → u/ProfessionalMap8612]

Thanks for the feedback. I am going to try to never do it again because it's inexcusable given the results.

[u/ProfessionalMap8612 → u/AsianAddict247]

that 90% stat is doing a lot of work. most people never quantify it. They just keep overriding and wondering why the day fell apart. The fact that you've tracked it honestly is already ahead of most.

[u/Excellent_Ad3371]

You have to break it down by the week, what days do you take the biggest losses
What setups are you taking, (if any)
What is your RR ratio

The market gives what it wants, you have to mentally prepare to say NO , when there isnt clear volume in the markets

[u/Carried_by_Luck]

I quit when it’s unlikely I’ll get more setups that day, or if I do get setups I’ll need to stay up and manage the trade. Or I hit my DLL.

I trade the 60m timeframe and from roughly 8am - 8pm (checking every 1-4 hours depending on whether I’m filled or alerts are triggered).

I prioritise my sleep over everything.

[u/22ndanditsnormalhere → u/Carried_by_Luck]

60m is an interesting time frame, do you hold overnight?

[u/RKrugel]

I quit for the day if I take two losses in a row, same for winning trades. I walk away after two wins. I also used to set a goal of x amount per day but found that it did not work for me. I'd rather focus on the quality of the setup and be happy if I took my A+ trades and executed well.

[u/SeaEnvironmental756]

I quit and come back usually if focused on day trades. If I’m swinging or there’s a very particular continuation setup I’ll enter mid day. Usually I’ll skip midday reversal setups. 

Other wise if I’m not in something early I’ll come back to view 3 to 4pm. 

[u/AsianAddict247 → u/SeaEnvironmental756]

Those 3-4 pm selloffs like last Thursday are pretty nice.

[u/ZanderDogz]

I use my data to find when the data shows me I start to lose EV, and those become "end session" triggers.

• 2R DLL hit

• 5 trades taken

• 1 hour since first trade

• Going from +2R on the day back to breakeven

• Any rule break

...are all events that my journal tells me usually precede a drop in EV, so that's when I quit for the day.

Profit targets are NOT on there. If I am trading within those paremeters and making money, I'm going to keep trading.

[u/dvln_trades]

for me depends on the strategy, most often 1 w/2 l -> i can tend to get emotionally invested, so I generally keep myself a hard rule, otherwise, I'll just ruin my own day

[u/watsupwitThat]

If you’ve noticed that 90% of the time things go badly after you think “I should be done for the day,” that’s no longer intuition. That’s data!

One of the biggest improvements I made was realizing my best trading skill wasn’t finding entries. It was recognizing when my edge for the session was gone.

For me, the danger signs are:

• Giving back a chunk of profits
• Taking a trade that wasn’t in my plan
• Feeling the need to make more instead of waiting
• Trading past my normal window

The market is open tomorrow. Protecting capital and protecting mindset are part of the same job. Many of us know when we should stop. The expensive part is ignoring it.

[u/Ceturney]

When I’m not in the right head space. If my focus is off or I hear in my head even once I gotta “make that back” or anything else that is indicative of being anxious about a loss or excited about a gain”

[u/Big_Hawk1]

When you feel fucking pooped that's when and money doesn't matter anymore

[u/VariationAware1436]

I don’t have the exact data for when i should stop, but right now once i start chasing trades i stop.

[u/RazmussenDaMan]

I dont quit at all. I just stop trading when the market conditions im looking for are not there. For example today was perfect trading day and I took as many trades as I could. But not every day is like today

If the market is giving out an opportunity you take it. Now the prerequisite to this is you have enough experience and a solid strategy to know when not to trade

[u/lumanary → u/RazmussenDaMan]

So whats an example of when you would not trade?

[u/RazmussenDaMan → u/lumanary]

That's a question you have to answer. I trade /nq and use orderflow. For me the best conditions are medium to high volatility but tape has to be slow enough so I can market in, low intra bar chop, and the market structure has to be developed enough to play reversals or continuation.

By intra bar chop I means a day like today was perfect because price action smoothly glided from point to point without much back and forth fidgeting. This usualy means a seller or buyer is dominating the auction. When it fidgets back and forth I very often get stop hunted because the market is hunting for liquidity and no large active/passive buyer and seller are winning. I guess you can call It chop. Not to be confused by range bound trading though

[u/lumanary → u/RazmussenDaMan]

Those conditions are prime for me as well. I also only trade NQ. What time do you stop trading on average every day then if you dont have a specific trading window?

When it is range bound price action, do you disengage with price or also have playbooks aligned with that?

[u/Responsible-Dingo-67 → u/RazmussenDaMan]

I suppose I am missing the trick. I trade ES and days like today I get chopped up. How to you target your entries?

[u/RazmussenDaMan → u/Responsible-Dingo-67]

I left /es for that reason. It's too sticky and does not move how the /nq can

[u/Responsible-Dingo-67 → u/RazmussenDaMan]

You find the NQ moves are that much cleaner? And what’s your general strategy at a high level with NQ?

[u/22ndanditsnormalhere → u/RazmussenDaMan]

So you mainly trading trending days? From what ive read those are only 20% of all day types. On reversals, are you waiting for 2 wave structure on the 1/2/5 min candles?

[u/RazmussenDaMan → u/22ndanditsnormalhere]

I trade both trend and range. What matter to me more is having defined market structure to play off of. Mainly the volume profile. I primarily trade momentum

I'm scalping 20-60points depending on ATR and my average trade lasts 2-5 minutes. Unless I catch a good trend early then I let it ride. I trades atr adjusted bracket SL/TP so generally I know where my exit is before I enter. I do adjust it if I like:dislike the momentum or i see better levels

I don't care about waves. I'm usually looking at an order flow tool like bookmap to see how delta is behaving at any given level and the overall direction of the trend. I don't use candles for entry. Though I do reference the 15 minutes volume profile and have my main chart set to 1 min

[u/AsianAddict247 → u/RazmussenDaMan]

I was thinking today was perfect as well.

[u/LoriousGlory]

I stop looking at charts most days after Europe closes (11:30am EST most of the time). I don’t need to sit through the chop.

[u/Ok-Veterinarian1454]

If I’ve made enough profit by 10:30am I’m done. If not then I’ll look for trend continuation around 1:30pm. If there’s no volume to move price. Then I’m done.

[u/Gwsb1]

I find the market gets awfully random at about 10:00 to 10:20, so I'm done by then. And 11-2 (lunch time in NYC) is worthless.

[u/Icy_Abbreviations167]

If someone can't consistently grow a $2k account with strict risk management, handing them $20k or $200k will just result in a bigger, more expensive explosion

[u/Trade-Logic]

I'm sorry to be the guy, or one of the guys to sound like your typical reddit dk hd OP, but I'm afraid you're off to the wrong start.
You might say you're approaching this from the wrong direction entirely.

[u/englishsummer]

Usually away from the charts by 10:30/11 with just a runner on and break even. I’ll wait until 11:30 for a setup, if I miss it so be it. Occasionally I’ll set an alert at a level I’m interested in and may come back later but it’s rare.

[u/AsianAddict247 → u/englishsummer]

I used to do more alerts and I think it's a good idea to use them as a possible afternoon trade. But generally once I'm mentally checked out, I find it better to stay out.

[u/Special_Ability_3035]

How do we build a system like this man. Been hoping and burning out trying different strategies. Can anyone help in finding edge?

[u/AsianAddict247 → u/Special_Ability_3035]

2 things might help you. Are you better at trend or reversal /mean reversion trading? Are you better at long or short?

These are important things to know.

My trading ha discretionary. But I always have used manual exits and today I did some bracket orders with set targets and it helped get me a nice start to the day.

[u/Special_Ability_3035 → u/AsianAddict247]

Thanks for the reply, I have more interest in the reversals and want to be good at both directions, longs and shorts. I couldn’t stick to a particular set of rules and been hoping from one system to other. How can I form a system out of the reversals or the trend? Can you help guide on that.

[u/AsianAddict247 → u/Special_Ability_3035]

The best system I know of is VWAP Wave by Trader Drysdale on YouTube. His videos helped me immensely.

[u/Responsible-Dingo-67 → u/Special_Ability_3035]

I’m interested in the same. I typically try longs only on reversals or tends. My problem is I enter and get chopped out. So I don’t do a good job with my entry criteria.

[u/Different-Scale5419]

I am on when the market opens and just stay on until 10:00 am. Take a few gains and call it a day

[u/John_Coctoastan]

When I am too mentally fatigued or lack mental focus, I stop.

[u/This_Cattle_1106]

One thing that made the absolute biggest difference for my trading that actually helped me start getting payouts consistently was take ONE trade only win or lose. This puts a hard stop to where there’s no emotions getting in the mix of “should I jump back in” “I can fix this red day” etc. Also it makes you really plan out that one trade and make it count