After day-trading away all my gains of 2014, I reevaluated my strategy. Like lots of traders, I had adopted a strategy of playing with large sums of money and going just for the 1%-5% gains. It's all about the size of the return and not the percentage, right? Yes, but it also shouldn't matter how you get there as long as you have a strategy that works for your psychology. Sure, it's great when a 2% return makes you $1,000. But it is very disconcerting when 2% translates to a ($1,000) loss. So I devised a new strategy. Instead of trading based on expected gains, I trade anticipating loss. How risky is this stock and what is the likelihood it'll tank? Rule #1: Avoid losses whenever possible. Wait until I break even unless situation is hopeless. Rule #2: Avoid hype. Avoid chasing. Don't trade earnings or news. (nice idea but difficult in practice). Rule #3: Do not hold gains over 20%. What I discovered is that it is just as hard to avoid taking losses as it is to take gains. Even though most of my holdings are in the red, my portfolio is up 15% YTD.