Trading Stocks ?Never Forget About A Past Trade

We all know that emotions control every decision that an investor makes in any type of money related vehicle. Whether is be the stock market, real estate, art work or antiques, emotions ultimately set the final price on both sides of the transaction. Some investors have greater control over their emotions while other investors are destroyed by their emotional reactions to certain events.

One common occurrence that I have seen many investors make, including myself, is placing a position in a stock at the wrong time. My last article detailed the importance of timing, while this article will concentrate on the importance of staying focused and emotionally stable when things don't work out as expected. In the past, I would study a stock's chart, the fundamentals, the general market health and everything else that I felt necessary before placing a large sum of cash behind my beliefs. When things went wrong and I was forced to sell for a small loss, I would drop the stock from my watch lists and remove it from my memory. This was one of the biggest mistakes that I was making during my earlier years of investing. The greatest investors study their mistakes and learn why they were wrong. If you don't learn from your mistakes, you will continue to repeat them and never move to the next level.

I was usually correct with my analysis on the particular stock but many times I was too early with my entry point during a new up-trend. Months later, I would come across the same stock in my screens but it was now up 25%, 50% or more from my initial buy point and stop loss. I would be frustrated for selling my stock too soon and was getting tired of using rules and missing big winners that I sold for a loss. I knew money could be made in Wall Street by using the law of averages to my advantage and employing strong money management skills but I needed to employ the rules more consistently. I started to practice what I was taught by selling my losers quickly and allowing my stronger stocks to ride their trends. Over time, I was experiencing a few more losers than winners but my stake was growing because these losers were smaller in size than the winners. The words written in the books were true; Jesse Livermore, Gerald Loeb and William O'Neil were all accurate with their lessons about cutting losses quickly.

More importantly, I learned to keep strong stocks on my radar even if I bought too soon and was forced to sell for a loss. My timing was wrong and my ego was shot because I was wrong, so I typically decided to stay away from that specific stock because it had already taken my cash and my pride. Emotionally, I was burned by the stock even though this was not entirely true. Investing is a game of trial and error. It is okay to buy a stock at the wrong time and sell, only to buy it again because they timing may be better. If you cut the losses small and allow winners to grow, the averages will ALWAYS work out, I promise. You must be honest with yourself to allow the averages to work out. You cannot allow a stock to drop past your sell point and you must try to always hold the strongest stocks without selling them during a premature pullback. This all sounds so easy but it is not! If it was so easy, we would all be extremely rich and the stock market would be everyone's full time job.

I kept using my system of trial and error and started to record every thought and transaction I made. With my revised philosophy in place; I continued to study the stocks that I was forced to sell and tried my best to re-purchase, even at higher prices than my original position if the time was right. Even now I have these issues, the greatest traders of all time always had these issues and every fund manager must decide if the time is right. My latest example, which can relate to almost everyone in the community is Paincare Holdings, a stock that was purchased solely as a "test buy" that I was forced to sell. If things turn around and the general market starts to rally, I would have no problem buying the stock at a higher price than my original position if the opportunity presents itself.

LaBarge is another example, first showing up on the screens at $9.35 but during a down-trending market. The new pivot point and buy area was $14, over 50% higher than the original price but a solid entry point regardless of past gains or prices. Mentally it is always the toughest to buy a stock at a higher price than you were watching it at an earlier date but it can be the most rewarding strategy. Never look at a chart and toss away a candidate because it has moved up 50% or even doubled in recent months, the real move may just be beginning.

The moral of this article is to make you understand that timing may be your only issue when buying stocks so never throw away a possible superstar because you bought too soon. Keep it on your watch list and be prepared to initiate another position, even if it will cost you an extra point or two. If you buy again and it doesn't work out, re-peat the process, there is always a chance that the stock was not meant to be or your analysis was slightly faulty. In either case, learn what you are doing right and wrong so you can be prepared to use those lessons with the next stock.

Chris Perruna - http://www.marketstockwatch.com

Chris is the founder and president of MarketStockWatch.com, an internet community that teaches you how to invest your money with solid rules. We don't stop at just showing you our daily and weekly screens, we teach you how to make you own screens through education. Through our philosophy, you will be able to create your own methods and styles to become successful.

---

Different Ways of Buying Stocks

Let's say you are interested in this one company. You... Read More

Hill of Hope

Just about now everyone is confused as to which way... Read More

High Price/Earnings Ratios and the Stock Market: a Personal Odyssey

After some forty years of banking and investments, I retired... Read More

The Golden Goose is Sick

It is finally catching up with them. The brokerage companies... Read More

E-mini Day Trading - Day Trading for Beginners - Stock Market Timing Software

I mean it when I say that. While plastic silverware... Read More

Stock Trading Diversification

This is the continuing story of our two imaginary traders,... Read More

Never Lose Money

Never lose money in the stock market again. Yeah, I... Read More

Performance Funds

Mutual funds are doing more and more to discourage investors... Read More

The Surgeon General

The Surgeon General of the United States says that smoking... Read More

The Stock Trading Plan - Why You Must Have One To Trade Successfully

This is the continuing story of our two imaginary traders,... Read More

Stealth Bull

If you have been watching the stock market at all... Read More

Gurgle Gurgle

Caught in a whirlpool and being sucked under. No life... Read More

Finding A Good Stock

One of the things people are always asking me is... Read More

Dividend Reinvestment Plans: Investing on Automatic Pilot

If you're like many investors who squander those small dividend... Read More

Will the Stock Market be Lower in October?

The stock market often closes a week in the middle... Read More

Smart Day Trading Strategies to Help You Make Money in the Stock Market

Stock trading can be a very profitable activity. You can... Read More

It Cant Be Done

Wouldn't it be nice if you were only in the... Read More

Duct Tape

Did you run out to buy that duct tape yet?... Read More

The Holy Grail (of Investment)

Every year I go to the Money Show in Orlando,... Read More

Prosperity

It has fallen upon the consumer to make our economy... Read More

Does Japan Matter?

For the last 12 years we have seen the Japanese... Read More

Traders, Defend Against the Dreaded Death Spiral.

It has often been said that there is only two... Read More

Leverage - Margin Debt

What is leverage?Here is a definition of leverage from an... Read More

Trading Systems

To become a successful trader you must have some kind... Read More

A Personal Stock Market Investment Philosophy

∙ Make every investment in the stock market a long-term... Read More

Never Fall In Love!

Recently I watched my favorite football team lose a vital... Read More

No Load Mutual Funds: Boost Your Portfolios Returns

Investors who exclusively use broadly diversified, no load mutual funds... Read More

Which Way The Market

I am hearing predictions by brokers, financial planners, talk show... Read More

Historical Briefing: Stocks, Finance and Money

The World Bank claims that some two billion of the... Read More

How Much Money Can I Make With Trading? What Account Size Do I Need To Start?

What account size do I need?How much money can I... Read More

Robert Rodriguez Weathers the Stock Market

Robert Rodriguez likes to buy stocks at their lows. When... Read More

Pathways

During our travel down life's path we come to many... Read More

Selling

The stock market has been going up for more than... Read More