That is part of the game: the beauty of trading, I think. Although, in your opinion, you have done everything right, you can still lose money. What is the solution? Personally, I learn to accept uncertainty with open arms and humility, that there are things I don't know, then thinking in terms of thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions of trades to come. This makes me look and tell myself that one or two or a few trades I just did are not that important. "The market is an endless game. Who cares if a certain trade is a winner or a loser? It's just the next trade, buddy..." Of course, it's easier said than done.
I am learning atm, to, ,,hold" . Done my practice of holding through 80%, now some positions are 80%, yet i want to see the 100%. When you got em monies laying on the table, it's hard, but,
This is another flavor of the 'fear of missing out' (FOMO) syndrome. It's even worst if you are trading only 1 instrument. 1) You have to accept that you cannot always buy at the lowest and sell at the highest. The perfect timing is not a goal at which you should aim at. 2) You need to have confidence in your system. 3) You have to be satisfied with your profits, the small ones and the big ones. 4) You need to accept your losses. 5) Once a position is closed, you need to stop to think about it (I know, it's not that easy, but is trading is?). Instead, think about your next one.
%% Exactly; + its exactly wrong to think you could predict. So that helps a lot. Sell to early or sell to late, which is better?? IF/ SPY keeps closing above 200dma/ that would be a new bull market uptrend+ best to sell to late. IF this turns out true, you should feel bad to consitently to underperform. The good news is so few outperform SPY benchmark, over time\ have some low goals in addition to your high goals. Exactly right on study past mistakes+ i tend to keep trading + investing in the same stuff; unless XLE sector keeps underperforming 2023, may not study it much. DONT cry over split milk,
I call it reviewing my trades. I look not only at what happened but also if there was anything I could have done different. Did I follow my plan? If not why not. Keeping in mind that the only control I have over the market is my decision to open or close a trade, is there anything I could do to consistantly improve my bottom line.
Maybe start taking some partial profits. Let a small part run. Do not feel bad closing profits too early. Nobody has ever gone bust taking profits