One of those days...

Nothing really of interest to note today. I got in and was very optimistic about the direction of the market. I was going to go long, and I felt really good about that. When I saw that the futures were already up a great deal (Nasdaq 9, Dow 30), I thought, "maybe my optimism has already been priced into the futures. I should short the market because it will close the gap from the night before most likely. I went short and the market went through the roof. I hit my stops and (this is where I made my mistake) thought, man this could keep going up, I should go long....well...we all know the rest of the story. I went long and the market closed the gap I wanted, hitting my stops again taking me down a horrid 10,000. Luckily I made a final play in the bonds and got back 2 grand decreasing my loss. But in the first hour of trading I managed to muff it all up.

New Rule: Upon stopping out, wait at least 2 WHOLE minutes before entering into another trade. The stress involved with stopping out is so great that it will completely blind you from what is most likely the correct solution. If after 2 minutes you are STILL convinced that you need to do something then wait 1 MORE minute. Continue this until you are not convinced of anything, then you'll be right back where you started mentally and you can continue trading again.