Ouch! 58 years old. Ran a successful trading business for 25 years with no losing years and only a handful of losing months. Been in the business since 1981. Just saying, maybe i’m someone to listen to. Take what works for you, ignore the rest. Bob
One more general comment. Over and over in threads in ET traders talk about risk management. Reducing losses. Staying in the game. This is all very important except you never should have made the trade in the first place without a strategy and plan with a expectation of profit. IMO, that is #1. Then have a plan to manage your risk. Talking about managing risk without a profitable trading plan is backwards. That is the number 1 reason I find traders do not make money. #2 is playing too big for their account size. $3000 swings on a $30,000 account does not end well.
There's a secret formula to how I trade. So far I haven't seen anyone verbalize it. But there are bits and pieces of it. But not the overall formula.
My most valuable lesson which I seem to have only recently learned: in all charts and timeframes it's all about context and having the patience to only take the trades when the context lines up.
I see that you are from the Will Rogers school of Life' ", "Don’t gamble"; take all your savings and buy some good stock, and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don’t go up, don’t buy it."