Short Term Trading Weekend lounge 2nd-4th Dec, page-215

I think a lot of people end up having a stock that ends up being an Achilles heel for them like you mentioned above. For me it was actually two in MEO and KAR, both of which I finally sold this year and the feeling was cathartic. Both were once solidly in the money and as a newbie back in 2009/2010, you tend to get overconfident and overestimate your own abilities. Or as Monty Burns puts it so accurately, "wallowing in my own crapulence". In the end I got caught in the death spiral of "this stock owes me" and kept putting more money in trying to break even on those stocks.

For those who are currently struggling or experiencing similar and on the end of continuous losing trades, a stint out of the market is a good solution to clear your head and work out what you could be doing better. For me it took nearly six years before I felt I was ready but I was mentally scarred.

With regards to trading style that is still a work in progress for me but what I've found a big help for myself is partitioning my portfolio into LT plays and ST plays where I'm not looking for the sugar hit right away on the LTers but rather positioning myself strategically for the inevitable payday. I now try and have a timeframe in mind for any stock I'm considering and if that skews my portfolio too much one way or the other, with regards to a ST or LT hold, I leave it on the watchlist and evaluate the next prospect.

With regards to seeking an edge or a competitive advantage, your line of work or what you studied or your interests could also give you an edge in a particular sector but you have to be wary not be brought down by hubris. I work in O & G and thought it gave me an "edge" but my biggest losses were in KAR and MEO as I couldn't interpret charts back then and all or nothing moonshots on the end of a drillbit as tends to be the case with exploration wells tend not to end well.

On the topic of how to find prospective stocks, I had plans initially of running various scans every night and finding stocks in that manner and then researching them to get the "vibe" but I found I couldn't do that consistently. So now I find prospects from trawling HC mainly here or STT and also Brains Trust and then have a look at the chart and see where an entry might be likely.

Last week I got a bit of blood rush as I had a few runners so did some portfolio repositioning and on reflection broke some of my own rules. I FOMOed myself and sold the wrong stock to buy a LTer which ended up in a change of heart and buy back in this week. I mentioned it earlier this tread so won't rehash it again but it is safe to say I fOOKed it up.