The Problem Lies In My Way Of Thinking

My last post was way back in October which was roughly 2 months ago.
I'm really a crappy writer and barely have time to update this blog.
I'd rather do post-analysis of my trades than update this.
But right now, I'm not seeing much opportunities in the market.

If we go below 6,500 we're doomed.


And since I have time, I'll post my winning trades.
Don't ask me why I won't post losing trades because come on, who in his right mind would choose to take a screenshot of a losing trade instead of cutting his losses right away?
That's why you don't see the ZFTribe post losing trades.
Cutting losses is more important.
I'm not a member of the Tribe.
Just a fan.
A BIG fan.

I just noticed that I started this blog October so I wasn't able to post my trophy trade which was in September.

Here it is:

As you may have noticed, my total account equity before the ION trade was a mere P35,000 which is roughly 30% of my total invested capital P114,000.
Yes, I was down 70% for my entire career as a trader.
But this ION trade, not only gave me a 3x bagger (4.5x bagger if I had more experience), it also changed my mindset A LOT.

I realized that I have no problem in finding stocks that I believe should be going up in a few days or weeks. I can find them. (or maybe it's just because we're in a bull market)

THE PROBLEM LIES IN MY WAY OF THINKING.

I am able to catch a trend/momentum early before it spikes or goes parabolic, but:
- I don't have the confidence to trade the set-up
- I don't have the patience to wait for optimum risk-reward ratio (i just go in)
- And when I'm in, I am not able to maximize my gains

I have no problem cutting losses.
When you buried yourself -70% deep, you should have experienced cutting losses like crazy by now.

On this ION trade, I went all in at 0.69 but it didn't get filled. So I bought at the close of 0.72. It went up, I sold at 1.00 which was ABSOLUTELY A TERRIBLE DECISION. I realized I just wanted to book my profits right away. Next selling point was at 2.32, which was ANOTHER ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE DECISON because it was making new 52-week highs. It went as high as 4.18 and I held. It went down -12% and I held. I knew in myself that I had to sell because it was a BLOW OFF. But something's telling me not to. Maybe a colleague or a rumor that the target was 8.00 pesos. So much error. So much greed.



And greed got me.

I held until it went back to 2.31 which was technically a sell signal for me because it closed below the 20day Moving Average. I closed all my positions at this point.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.