Stops that are too tight. The correction for me was "letting the trade pay for itself". That is taking out a portion to cover the expenses of my trade (including principal) and then setting a much looser stop to let the profit run. Still learning ... http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62546
Trading Journal from 2005 (thread closed) - shocking example of truth in P&L. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50472
Well, to keep ON TOPIC.... Ripley, who I've followed as a trader as well. Ripley has been through some incredibly tough times. He is another unique case that I have studied here on ET. *Note that isn't a dig Ripley * http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49314&perpage=20&pagenumber=1 That's just one of the great threads, Ripley was nice enough to post PDF's as well. I followed Red_Ink_inc blotter from the first post to his one he has now. Definately shows me consistency. I almost trade exactly like him in very many ways, except he uses a lot more shares than me and trades less volatile stocks than I do. I try and measure my performance with by averaging down his performance to 100 - 300 shares.
- averaging down; - revenge trading; - keeping a position while "hoping" that things will turn around somehow; - rushing in a trade with the fear of missing out on an opportunity.
being too scared... holding on too long to a loser...getting better though... doing too many things at once... getting sucked in on news...
My #1 mistake: Getting too fancy for my own good! It's soooo easy to get overextended which will inevitably cause confusion and mistakes. Take a more zen approach now. Stripped down indicators and analysis. Concentration in only 1 or 2 positions for time period. Do I miss some action, absolutely. Specialization has helped me DRAMATICALLY! Read somewhere about Steve Cohen where he said he hires his traders to trade their specialty in a concentrated area and has many traders. Stick with what you know and concentrate on it. To quote Warren Buffet a little, "Put all your eggs in one basket, but pay VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to that basket."