Please list all the mistakes you have made in trading and give solutions

2024-04-05

This question is truly concise and to the point, with a clear purpose; it's a good question ^_^. I've made so many mistakes in trading before that it might take a whole book to document them all.

Today, I'll reminisce about past trades, summarize the foolish things I've done, the mistakes I've made, and share with everyone how I've corrected them, speaking as thoughts come to mind.

Mistake 1: Frequent trading, emotional trading.

This is the biggest mistake I've made and also the one that cost me the most money. When I first started trading, I had no concept of a trading system, no idea of waiting for the market trend, and just followed my own whims. I would short when the market rose a bit and go long when it fell a bit. When I lost money, I felt like the market was against me, cursed my own hands for being cheap, and as a result, all sorts of emotions would surge up, anger, fear, greed, tormenting myself to the point of being unrecognizable.

One can never make rational decisions under the influence of emotions. At that time, I would sit in front of the computer at seven or eight in the morning and end trading around midnight, basically consistently losing money, or else blowing up my account.

The market is constantly fluctuating, the candlestick charts are continuously jumping, this fast pace is very easy to get carried away with and addictive. Moreover, when your own hard-earned money is rising and falling within it, not many people can resist such temptation and pressure.

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There are two ways to solve this problem:

First, maintain a certain distance from the market. Don't always stare at the screen in front of your computer or phone. You can place your orders, set your stop losses and take profits, and set up alerts, then go do other things, such as exercising, reading, or even watching TV. Out of sight, out of mind, the market's fluctuations won't affect our emotions as much.

Second, you must formulate your trading plan and establish your own trading system. Execute according to your trading strategy to avoid random and frequent trading. In other words, in your disorderly trading world, set your own rules and follow them.

Mistake 2: Giving up my own judgment and following others in trading.Many people, when engaging in trading, enjoy referring to others' transactions, observing who made more profits today, whose market analysis is accurate, whose trading skills are stronger, and whose posted trades are more thrilling. They are keen on comparing and discussing within groups, and I was like that in the early days, as if finding a sense of belonging and presence within a community. For a while, I was clearly aware that communication had a significant impact on my trading, but I still couldn't quit this "communication addiction."

In fact, this is the most unjust loss because as long as you communicate with others, their thoughts will inevitably influence your own judgment to some extent, which is very detrimental to the consistency of trading.

For instance, when someone continuously posts several profitable orders, and you are experiencing consecutive losses, your mood is already gloomy. Seeing others constantly making profits adds to your frustration, and you may feel that this person is incredibly skilled. You might even want to approach them with a flattering attitude, hoping they could guide you. However, after actually following this person's trades, you encounter a series of stop losses.

Another example is when you have already made a judgment on the direction, but you find that most people in the group disagree with your viewpoint. If a so-called expert speaks up at this time, you are likely to change your stance, easily abandoning your original judgment. As a result, the market moves in line with your original assessment, turning a potentially profitable day into a loss, leaving you regretful, pulling your hair, and slapping your thighs, but it's too late to do anything about it.

The solution to this problem:

Before discussing the solution, let me first introduce the "no gods in trading" concept. There are no gods in the world of trading; no one can predict how the market will move tomorrow. If someone claims they can predict it, they are probably trying to take advantage of you in some way.

After years of trading, I've realized that it's all about probabilities. You standardize all your trading rules, optimize the profit-to-loss ratio and the win rate, until you reach the highest possible profit within your limit, and then firmly execute your trading strategy. In the end, you will be profitable.

So, I also recommend that you read my previous articles, many of which discuss how to build and optimize a trading system. Then, exit all trading groups. You can learn from articles written by others, including technical analysis, fundamental analysis, and aspects of trading psychology and philosophy. Read more, think more, summarize more, and communicate less; this will greatly help your trading.

Trading is still something that requires you to calm down and do it well. Don't let your heart become too restless.

Mistake 3: Placing heavy positions and overestimating your own tolerance.In trading, many of us may have experienced this: sometimes when we come across a trade opportunity that seems excellent, we can't help but want to increase our position. However, after entering the market, we find that the trend does not go in the direction we anticipated, and our account's floating losses begin to grow. This starts to make us anxious, fearing that if we are wrong and have to stop the loss, it would result in a significant loss. Thus, after a long period of indecision and hesitation, we still can't resist closing the position, only to see the market suddenly reverse and move in the desired direction. The money we could have made ends up being a loss.

In fact, most of the problems in trading stem from the size of the position. As long as the position does not exceed our tolerance level, the execution of trades can be greatly improved, and emotional breakdowns will essentially not occur.

Behind heavy positions lies the temptation of greater profits, but it also comes with greater risks. If we can make money with a light position, even if it's a small amount, it's still money in hand. Everyone should understand this principle.

Solutions to this problem:

Firstly, we must genuinely accept the concept of trading with a light position from within. We would rather earn less than suffer a significant loss.

Secondly, we need to reassess our psychological tolerance. Often, the position we think is manageable is actually less than 30% of our true capacity. If you believe you can handle the fluctuations of 10 contracts, your psychological tolerance might only be for 3 contracts.

When testing your limit, gradually increase with a small position. If you feel a lot of psychological pressure, step back one notch until you find a position where you feel relatively comfortable.

That's all for today, let's talk again when we have the chance.

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