February 2018 Review

February 28th, 2018 | 3 minute read (Repost from We The Market)

This month, while in appearance, I did finish positive $6326. This of course was simulated paper trading. I wish I could have thought in my mind that this is REAL MONEY. I slipped out of that mode and fantasy traded on a few occasions. At times I traded very large positions to catch up to some mistakes of not minimizing losses.

I don’t want the tone to be all bad however. I was talking with my wife and said, when we watched our kids grow, we did not see them grow. Only at times when we didn’t see them for a month and they returned a foot taller, we then realized they were growing fast. The same goes for the growth I have been doing with my stock knowledge and trading. I have a goal sheet where I removed some of my problem areas and added them to my strengths. A great victory.

A huge victory for me is quitting while I have a profit. In the past few months I would have a profit in the first 15 – 30 minutes but would continue to trade without focus and go negative in a big way. I am now very comfortable quitting with my profit target or even close to my profit target. Another improvement has been scaling out of trades. I am still working on scaling into trades.

For the month of March my main goal is Minimize Losses. I still have an issue where I take a loss and then I get personal with it. I shift into beating on the stock trying to force a trade that isn’t there or simply keep picking the wrong direction. Stop trading that stock and move on! My judgement is lacking once I take a loss. This is critical that I show improvement in this area.