nata12 / rayray1109, For many years I experienced the same as you guys. Then several years ago I spent a lot of time reviewing my prior performance and made some startling revalations:
Most importantly I discovered that my research was indeed identifying some outstanding investments (multibaggers) but the problem was that I had never believed in myself enough to hang around for the real gains. So I just wasn't getting the big profits to offset the small to medium losses that are inevitable in this game.
Here are some key thoughts / beliefs of mine:
Belief in Your Abilities: For many years I didn't believe that I had what it takes to be successful at trading. I can't tell you how important it is to visualise yourself operating as a successful trader and to believe in your abiliies. At the same time you must accept that you will always get trades wrong and make losses. Now I never question whether I can make a good living.
Continuous Research: It is important to undertake both detailed and ongoing research necessary to identify and maintain your knowledge about the potential "big" gainers for your portfolio which will more than offset the small to moderate lossses you will inevitably suffer.
Trade Size: My trade size is based on my available pool of capital. Earlier in my career as a trader position size was based on arrogance due to a few successful trades. The truth is that trade / investment position size should always be linked to available capital.
Entering a Trade: Now when I enter a trade I do so with confidence and I believe in myself, whilst accepting that some trades will result in losses. For this reason most of the time I no longer get any adrenilin pumping through my veins when I open a trade. When I feel like this after taking a position I know that I am trading in "The Zone". The only time I tend to feel some adrenalin is usually immediately after I have had a break from trading for some time.
Be Happy to Take Your Medicine: I don't hesitate to admit when I have got it wrong and am prepared to take a loss (sometimes still at later point in time than I should). Losses left unchecked usually become bigger and end up being a drag on yur confidence.
Detailed Record Keeping: Keep detailed records so you can measure and analyse your performance at both a summarised and a detailed level. I have a spreadsheet which is 5MB in size. It has one sheet from every stock I have traded in a financial year (currently 121 separate sheets for ASX and international stocks plus summaries), a budget sheet, a wealth target sheet and a summary sheet which brings all the detail together.
Most of all I honestly believe that it takes many years of training to develop the skills necessary to be successful in share trading. It took me more than 10 years before I got there so be prepared for a long road but when you achieve success it is definitely worth it.
And let me tell you I am still learning every single day!
