Could not agree more @gypaetus. I started last year on July 1 with 37k, a combination of my 15k super and what I had managed to save over many years. Within 4 months I had turned that into 68k and thought I was a genius. Had visions of having 100k to myself within 3-4 months, more money than I had ever dreamed of. Then the rot set in, within another 4 months that 68k had halved, and I was back to below where I started. I was doing nothing different, just most of my stocks turned against me around the same time. I was not prepared for this, and failed miserably by not taking some off the table. Started trying different ways to recoup, studying hard, different setups, time frames etc, nothing has seemed to work up until this day. After I had taken a couple of large losses, each one around 10-15% of my portfolio, after the initial pain, the money became nothing to me, it was like gambling at the casino, where you don't think of the chips as your hard earned cash that would determine your future. For some time there I had the didn't give a toss attitude, still do to some extent. I think to myself, nobody cares about me, why should I? On the other hand, half of me still wants to succeed, just to prove it to myself. Some say take profits, some say holding on forever is where the real money is made, who knows? Multiple mistakes over many stocks and many months. Ignoring stops, letting positions get too big, entering on impulse, listening to others, trading every day, just some of them. I am in a unique position right now that not many would understand. That is, it costs me nothing to live, and I have no income. I have plenty of time to do nothing (not in jail). Every weekend I run scans in Incredible Charts looking for uptrending stocks with varying parameters for short term entries. ADX, MA's Vol, etc. Seems a waste of time as all that come up have either reached their zenith or are too close to resistance to bother entering. Of course, back-testing my entering criteria is going to work on these as they are trending up, but now they have reached resistance its time to pull back and I am back to square one. I often look for stocks on this thread for ideas but everyone has different ideas, strategies, time frames, capital, criteria etc. Its hard to find something that suits me, and I have been trying for a long time, not just the past year. I have seen newbies come into the DTT and boast how many thousands they made this week and I just cannot understand how they can do it with next to no knowledge or experience in trading, and it makes me jealous. After those initial few months, when I was a genius, I thought yes, I can do this for a living one day soon, but those dreams didn't take long to shatter, not just are they broken, but have been smashed to a million pieces. During the last month or so, I had ended up back in the black, took some profits in two long term stocks that have since fallen, so am beginning to learn. What I should have done was sell them completely, rather than hold any, as they are now even lower and I am back in the red. Also, I now only hold about six stocks, rather than up to 20 which was ludicrous. Have been trying really hard, but have yet to find a consistent way of improving my capital, any ideas that I may try guys?
