After creating a trade journal to document all my trades as to why I enter/exit them, I start to see a trend in my mistakes. I seem to struggle with confidence in my strategies, as a third to 2 thirds of my losses all stem from selling too early and they soon spike after in the day/or week spike (the late reacting earnings winners). I hear Tim in my head saying to cut losses quickly, so I struggle to find the fine line between doing it because it's a bad trade vs "give it more than 5-10 mins." It's feels good to know that I was on the right track, but it is demoralizing not to have profits to show for it, especially for a small account. The most recent example was $MCUR yesterday. I bought it at $2.19 and literally 5 seconds after, Tim alerted his short. I thought I was on the right track buying it on the day breakout, but I quickly sold for a 3 cents loss/share. Soon after the sell, it spiked up. I should have been more confident, but it's hard especially for a new trader and if his teacher literally has a different analysis on the stock.
The other portion of my losses is due to the lack of discipline. I notice that I sometimes get caught up in the morning excitement and forget to really sit back and analyze when it's a good time to enter/exit--the risk/reward ratio that Tim talks about. A lot of the times after I've exited with a loss and my mind is clear, I can see that the risk/reward ratio was bad at my entry point and I could have saved myself from disaster if I was able to keep level headed in the first place.
How I will Improve:
I'm going to always, always assess the risk/reward ratio before every trade to see if it's worth going in, or just staying out. After many losses (luckily small ones that can be wiped away from 1-2 good plays), I realize that I would rather have stayed out and made $0 than to have gone negative.
As far as the confidence issue, I'm not sure what I can do to exactly improve it. I never trade like I do with real money when I paper trade, because I mentally know it's not real money and lessons never strike home like they do with real money. Maybe size down on buy orders to a more comfortable level?
If you have any tips to share, I'm more than happy to hear how I can improve. Thank you.
and ONLY trade if all the indicators in your plan are met. Hope I helped
Takes time, i'm struggling myself. You should also upload your trades here even the bad ones. It helps yourself alot
UpNComing you may want to check one of my blogs I talk about confidence and highlight a dip strategy. confidence will come. You have a great community here Tim S started something pretty incredible. So don't drop out. Maybe follow more people 2. check out Mike G and Tim G websites and videos see if they connect better. But the most important thing is write out a "learning" plan not a trading plan. Get in the chats ask question. LEARN to win.
Thanks for the inputs everyone. Back to the drawing board.
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