Read your full mega post as per the link you provided.
All good stuff.
Over time I've been guilty of nearly all the mistakes mentioned in your 40 points.
Just recently I was humbled by point 34 on your list.
In general, having your head in the right space is the most important thing of all imo.
This is a difficult one, because it only comes from a lot of time/ experience.
.............................................
I only trade the XJO
Usually a day trade.
Often, but not always, closed out before 11 am
Long or short.
KISS principle.
My logic is simple.
I'm lazy so:
Only one thing to be concerned with and look at....the XJO.
Not dozens or hundreds of companies, commodities, indices, charts etc.
Some lead is given each day as to how it may perform based on overnight overseas markets.
Takes only a few minutes to look.......I keep daily tables of a few major o/s indices.
A quick look at the major local financial news for the day.
Things like scheduled interest rate announcements etc.(although they are pretty much anticipated and built in to
the market prior to the announcement)
A perception of the overall trend of our market and where it's at within that trend.
(One chart to look at)
And of course the XJO, when it opens can go in the opposite direction to what happened overseas.
So there are no guarantees.
Quite often the CFDs at around 9.30 -10 am, ......prior to our open and just after the open, are some distance from the previous day's XJO close.
The decision to trade depend on this distance......... follow or fade.......or do nothing.
The thing is, there is no compulsion to trade. ONLY open a position if it looks favourable.
So doing nothing is ok.
And as mentioned at the start, when it looks extremely favourable .......beware of point 34. :>)
