How long can I hold a position…? I messed up on this one trade. Normally, I don’t use big lot sizes, but with XAUUSD I used a 0.9 lot size, and now it’s going against my analysis. But on the bigger picture, I feel like it’s eventually going to go my way.
Can I still pass the challenge by holding the position for a week?
The sooner you admit you’re wrong, the better off you’ll be.
If you don’t blow your account today, you’re going to blow it sooner or later. You already know you messed up, and it’s against your analysis, but you’re still holding on, hoping it turns in your favor. You’re holding on to some serious ‘hopium,’ my friend.
People here talk about strategy and edge all the time, but honestly, the number one reason most people fail is because they can’t stick to their own plan. It’s the trader, not the strategy.
@Quinlan
“Strategy” tells you if the odds are in your favor. “Plan” is how you execute the strategy.
If you stick to a plan with a random strategy, you’ll just generate random results.
But if you follow a plan with a strategy that has positive expectancy (an edge), you’ll generate positive results.
If that doesn’t make sense, you’re likely to be a liquidity provider rather than a profit maker.
Check your prop firm’s rules.
Freestyle trading never works. You need set rules that have been proven to work through backtesting. Those rules should include a stop loss—the point where you’ll exit the trade, even if you think it might eventually go in your favor. The fact that you’re asking if you can hold the position shows you don’t have a fixed exit plan, and you didn’t backtest it. Right now, you’re just hoping it’ll be profitable, and hope won’t help you win in this coin-flip game you’re playing.