I started off with a core portfolio of resource stocks, and I still hold many, but most are way down on what I paid for them.
In March, I started short-term trading, and like most people here, had a bottler. 13 out of 15 trades in profit. The other two I still hold stubbornly.
My lessons were many - but the most important one was not learned properly: always have a stop loss point, and act on it. The proof is thus: my 13 profitable trades netted my almost $9000 (I have an ordinary job). The 2 trades I still hold are $3500 in the red. Those 2 are clearly out of all proportion to the winning trades and serve to remind me of the importance of cutting losses and walking away.
