I've been on this site nearly two years and it's helped me tremendously in many ways. I've never made a blog post before but I wanted to maybe start making a journal of my progress as a trader beyond just the P&L. If anyone else happens to read this and takes something useful from it, even better. As an aspiring novelist, I tend to be long-winded when it comes to writing my thoughts, so if you don't bother reading all of this, I'll completely understand. :-)

 

I'm just getting back to trading after taking 2 months off. I was working full-time but still studying the market daily.

 

The only reasons I took that time off is because despite the 60+ hour weeks I put into my studying and trading most weeks, despite the fact that I seem to be able to find good setups rather easily that often do what I expect them to...my trading is still just horrible. I chase often. It's not intentional. I watched the market do some crazy and exciting things this week...I watched a lot of money fly by my fingers just calling my name. I didn't buy anything because I didn't want to chase and because I underestimated the potential of most of the stocks I was watching this week. Then at the end of the week, I ended up chasing anyway. I chased, I held when it dropped, and I did not cut my losses quickly. I'm not sure why this has proven to be a such a difficult thing for me.

 

I can try to blame the ticker "It dropped too fast!" But in the end, I know it was entirely my fault. I know "success in the markets depends entirely on the individual." Jack Schwager's words and I believe them completely.

 

I believe the only thing stopping me from having tremendous success in the stock market is the simple and stupid mistakes I have been making. Chasing and not cutting losses. As I write this, I'm looking down at dozens of 2.5"x4" scraps of white paper with a different quote scrawled on each. The one on top, looking up at me says "Avoiding large losses is the single most important factor for winning big as a speculator." -Mark Minervini.

 

I randomly met his nephew a couple months ago by the way.

 

I know what I have to do. I know what I'm doing wrong. But I still keep doing it almost every time and I don't know why. I love trading. I'm obsessed with it, there's nothing else I'd rather do, and I want to do it for the rest of my life.

 

During my 2 months off, I decided to stop trading subpennies for a while. I was even worse at cutting my losses with them because of what I perceived as a higher likelihood of some big % gains if I was patient. Nearly all of my losses so far have been from chasing a spiking ticker, (occasionally not selling when I had a small profit), not cutting my losses, and holding for a ridiculous amount of time, hoping the price would bounce back up.

 

So after watching the market all week, and watching as nearly every stock on my list every day was climbing, I did not buy in. I found SUNE @ $1.56 on 2/25/16. Found UPL @ $.45...CJES @ $.80...XCO @ $.96...UWTI @ $1.40...and I found the one I traded today (LNCO) at $.60. Just to name a few. Did not buy any of them. I didn't want to chase and I was nervous to lose again. So I ended up chasing and buying LNCO today at $.89. Was going to sell at $.86 but it came back down through that mark so quickly, I just kept holding. At that time, the chart did look like it could move up. I had a good chance to sell at $.84 and did not.

 

Anyway, if I lose another $300-$400 from here, I'm going to have to stop trading for a while. I don't want to do that. I just took 2 months off from active trading. My mistakes are getting too costly. I've heard most successful traders blow up their account at least once, but that doesn't need to happen for me to learn what I'm doing wrong. I know what I'm doing wrong. I just have to stop doing it.

 

If anyone else is having the same issue (or has in the past) let me know. I'd be curious to hear what you have to say. Other than maybe "Click 'SELL' then click 'PLACE ORDER'." \m/

 

-Brad