My guess is that AFTER hindsight it was a really good stock, but before he wasn't so sure . So list all the days where you found BEFORE that it was really good stocks and compare to AFTER if the rate of success is far more than 50%. If not I guess your fear comes from your experience of lack of certainty.
+=========================================== Lojze; After trading for more than few years that still happens occasionaly. Actually I am agreeing with your subconscious mind & probably would not enter IPIX ,for a day trade either because; semiliquid daily range of $4.3-7.1 do put on occasional daytrade but; this stock is borderline in 2 other ways conflicting with my business plan. Plan does permit about 1 stock under $5 per year but dont have to & havent this year. May even want to factor in the % of people making big bucks daytrading ; few daytrade semiliquid & small cap & nasdaq!
As harrytrader said, his disgust was generated by hindsight. On the flip side, I bet that lojze also patted himself on the pack when what he had thought was a good pick had not worked out in hindsight because of some factor he was not sure of (an indicator, market condition, whatever), and said to himself, "I knew this would not work"). This can go on and on, with him trapped in the emotional oscillation of disgust and smugness. I myself suffered this malaise for quite some time. The good news is that he has traded enough to realize that the market is not obliged to fulfill his expectations. Any of the methods suggested in this thread will help, fixed % of capital loss, bracketed trade, or a wet fish (Lol--will try this myself). And then, learn to develop a methodology of selecting a stock and planning the trade. tc
i think everyone is getting a little to complicated. there are to rules here. 1 either your money means to much to you and 2 your ego is to sensitive that you just don't want to lose. if either of those are true, your shouldn't be trading in the first place.
I hope you have a system and you keep track ( trades log) of your "calls" . Let's say at least 3 years and 500 trades. Now you have two figures: your real equity and the system equity. If the system is really good, then stick that DAMN LOG on your screen and take a look at it when you have a call. If you don't have a backtested sys and a log/journal . ....good luck, you are in trouble.
1. If your money doesn't mean too much to you give it to me 2. There can be many other reasons than just ego: funny how the brainwash from psycho gurus has spreaded to make people believe that all problems originates from ego, especially I have never seen a population as full with ego than traders (including me ) so forgive me if I don't agree on that but rather that most time it has less to do with ego than with lack of knowledge of variation/probability in general, practice and ORGANISATION. I put this latter in capital letters because nobody seems to mention it as often as it should for I consider it as even first factor of success.