I woke up this morning to the stock I was short squeezing at 4 AM and a thought ran through my mind as it usually does in this situation - "Don't make a bad play worse". This is something that my dad used to say to me during my football playing days. I was a quarterback and when I would throw an interception, his mantra was always, "you better be the one making the tackle." You have two options in a situation like that, I think these apply to trading and to life really well. You can either 1.) hang your head and walk to the sidelines allowing the pick 6 to happen or you can 2.) go make the tackle and save the other team from scoring.

Rarely did I actually make the tackle but I knew if I didn't try I would be letting people that cared about me down more than I already had by throwing the interception in the first place. 

This same rule applies to trading and this brings me back to the first thought I had when I woke up this morning and saw that I was getting squeezed. I could hang my head and walk to the sidelines i.e. fight this stock short, add, add, add and risk a blow up. OR I could go try to make the play - cut my loss and go hunting for the next play that fits my setup.

Now, the stock that I am referring to is AXLA. At this moment in time as I am writing this, it is already down from where I covered and most likely doomed to fade further as it is up on extremely fluffy news with a nice fat ATM, no baby shelf restriction and a moderate cash need. However, I knew that if I didn't cover I would risk forming a bad habit that would one day put me out of the game. Ultimately I use the news catalyst and dilution as a guide but price action trumps all. I covered because I know one day one of these stocks with fluffy news will keep going and I just can't go out like that, I refuse.

As Huddie says, "every day as a short seller could be your last. All it takes is for you to get stubborn one time."

So moral of the story, if you make a mistake trading or even a mistake in life - don't make a bad play worse. Its easy to make a situation worse for yourself and in many regards it is what comes natural to humans. I think mainly because in our anger and frustration in the moments right after the mistake, we don't think clearly and so negatives tend to compound. I urge you to be self aware in that moment and realize that the mistake is not the end of the world. You just have to live to fight another day and things will get back on track. 

In the words of my dad, "you better go make that tackle!"