Biggest Trading Mistakes

Dear Trader,

What do you think which is the most important mistake in trading that we should avoid among these.

1. Trading with money you can't afford to lose
2. The need to be "certain"
3. Words that will kill you! HOPE---WISH---PRAY
4. Not Acting on your plan
5. Not knowing how to get out of a losing trade
6. Having an ego
7. Falling in love with a sector or script

Regards
Mark

 

forgeting to pull some orders from the platform and leaving the desk...

 

Ego is the root cause of most of the mistakes you listed. Ego will get you killed in trading.

 

I pretty much consider all the above mistakes a KILLER for any trader.

I wouldn't pick one as the worst. They are all the worst.

 

I am going to add a most important mistake:

8. Not knowing when to get out of a WINNING trade.

 

1.not having a plan.
2.Having a plan and not following it.

Without those 2 you might as well never even start because then nothing else matters.

 

Having a plan means nothing if you don't know if that plans leads to a positive expectancy.

 

This is exactly what backtesting is for. Spend about two years programming strategies, automating them, and then you'll be able to know when you're strategies have positive expectancy....but only then after you put in years of programming time, not screen time. You can always see what the market did, but finding the right filters to predict and spot market inefficiencies takes a good long while. If any prop firm ever approaches you about being profitable prior to your first two years as a trader, it's a scam.

 

I can agree with this one.

I don't really have much of a problem of admitting I'm wrong and bailing on a losing trade but training myself to take that profit on a winner and run has been much harder.

 

*Using indicators.....it was a mistake for me anyway. *Ignoring (trading against) the big picture, the underlying trend.