Thanks, Martin - yes it fits with my experience, more or less.
I have held stocks that were supposed to be DT's - watched them slide only a couple of ticks and then switched to a "short term" view on the basis that "they're good stocks, they will bounce, etc. Then they slide further each day and a small paper loss becomes a very large one. At which point selling is no longer an option - or rather, it feels like it would be TOO PAINFUL an option.
From there it just gets worse - as many of us know.
I do now realise that one of the most important points is the first one from your post - when a trade goes bad or turns ugly, get OUT right away. This is my "future plan". Currently it isn't an option simply because I have quite a few bad positions and I now will wait for a turnaround. In some ways it is okay for me to do this - I feel less frustrated and angry with myself because I currently can't trade anyway.
