- Not stopping while I was ahead
- Trying to time the market
- Trading weak setups & chop
Not Stopping while I was ahead. During my profitable month I was consistently ending my days green, even if it meant stopping after 1 or 2 trades. This month, if I started my day red I kept trading until I was green, but never stopped when I was green, I’d just keep on trading and inevitably end up red again.
Solution: Stop while you’re ahead.
Trying to Time the Market. Did this so many fucking times this month. Trying to time right when ‘reversals’ were happening which is a completely flawed strategy. It worked out really well for me ONE time last month and I got all excited thinking it was a viable way to trade. Since that big win I’ve lost at least 3x trying to replicate the same result. I guess this is a good lesson that sometimes bad habits that made you money are the hardest to weed out.
Solution: NEVER FIGHT THE TREND.
Trading Chop & Weak Setups. As I mentioned above, I’ve been trading one stock only (AAPL), expecting there to be plays every day & trying to force trades when there were none just because I wanted to trade. The solution to this is to move on from names that do not have any movement, and if no names have decent movement or plays then do not trade.
Solution: Do not trade names without clear trend.