What is the biggest trading mistake you have made?

I bought my first bit of stock at 10k.. then a few days later my account value shot up to 25k after a parabolic move.

...then I lost 17k because
1) I didn't look on the long term (i thought it would continue going up)
2) even if i did look on the long term, i wouldn't have understood it.
3) I didn't sell to take my gains.
4) then as it started going down i kept telling myself (it will go back up, it will go back up)



Then i DID sell whenever the stock plummetted to it's lowest low on the parabolic move.
 
I bought my first bit of stock at 10k.. then a few days later my account value shot up to 25k after a parabolic move.

...then I lost 17k because
1) I didn't look on the long term (i thought it would continue going up)
2) even if i did look on the long term, i wouldn't have understood it.
3) I didn't sell to take my gains.
4) then as it started going down i kept telling myself (it will go back up, it will go back up)



Then i DID sell whenever the stock plummetted to it's lowest low on the parabolic move.


Sark,

May I suggest a trailing stop on the equity in your account.
If I made a trade that took my account from 10k to 25k, I would have placed a sell stop when my account had 6k profit. If you really liked your position then at least put in a break even stop.

NEVER let a NICE winner turn into a loser.

"When in doubt stay out".
 
Occasionally I have bouts of adding to losing positions based solely on stubborn pride. It's a fault I try hard to stamp out but I'm so far from being perfect that you can't even SEE perfect from where I'm standing.

It always always comes back to bite me in the @ss eventually.
 
losing £10k trying to short Oil last year. then losing more trying to learn from my mistakes.

the trend is your friend
 
Tepnel Life Sciences, 2001. Waiting for the great announcement that never was. Never trusted a tip since.
 
I have a friend that started betting on oil in 2005. He ended up losing well over 1 mill. Had to sell his business to pay for it....
 
it can easily happen. now I control losses a lot better. then I used to let them run and hope it would come back....
 
Honestly, mine was and still is not sticking to my set rules for entering a trade. I was very consistant on demo then when I went live I just couldnt handle staying out when a trade turned against me. I'd keep jumping back in to try recoup. Also adding to losers like gamma said.

I now have a checklist. If all the boxes arent ticked I aint in.
 
If it was just a case of looking on potential setups, picking a post with the most reps and diving in then life really would be too easy.
 
Occasionally I have bouts of adding to losing positions based solely on stubborn pride. It's a fault I try hard to stamp out but I'm so far from being perfect that you can't even SEE perfect from where I'm standing.

It always always comes back to bite me in the @ss eventually.

You know the old adage gamma:

"Never catch falling daggers"

and

"Those who average down ain't around"
 
Top