I’ll start with time. Something we always run out of, want more of and it drastically changes as you get older. Throw in kids, family, job, hobbies, or whatever other weird stuff your into. It all effects you plays. Day trading is extremely tough if you are not able to pay attention to your positions or possible plays that pop up. For many it’s the fear of big losses, which makes you open your app or software and checking your account every 5 min. For me I have got very good at watching and trading on my phone through think it’s swim or the TD Ameritrade app. I did this as I am always busy and need to be mobile. Unfortunately, starting this and becoming effective on my phone has also made me lose thousands. I have many stories but will share a few. I once went to a water park and was stuck in some positions I was swing trading. The options were near exp and rather then cut them and sell for a loss I was in deep. A few water slides later with my family and I went back to get my phone to see I lost about 4K to just go down a few slides…. Tough lesson. Cut losses quicker, don’t get into trades if you have events coming up during trading hours, or change trading styles. If the time sucks listed above hit you, consider more swing trading, which is a few weeks to a few months in my definition. Day trading or scalping is playing positions open and closing within the same day or maybe a hold overnight. Even safer is look for long term plays like calls that are 4 months out. Whichever you choose, base it on your current schedule. Have stop losses in place and find a way to stay connected. Thank you for apps. I often now change my trading timelines and plays based on what I have going on each week and month. Another time I once lost 5k because a work meeting. That was before I added stop losses to most my option plays. It’s also ok to take a break and not try to make plays when you are too busy.
Will continue with timing next. To Be Continued…
with posts like these, this blog post section lowkey just as good if not better than the actual dd section
thank you JB! keep these coming please.
That was deep insight. Thank you. I just had a big loss. I overlevaraged on one play. Never again.
Hey at least your kids will have those memories of going on those slides with you. And in 10 years you can tell them they rode the most expensive slides paid for in the Nation!
No but for real thank you for this. I need to do a better job implementing stop loses because I am too greedy that I might get fished out and miss a big gain, but instead I end up hitting a big loss. I also appreciated your “stop profits” strategy you mentioned in VC, locking in profits with a stop loss.
This is a great lesson and everyone should listen to it.