Milan Cutkovic | Market analyst | Common trading mistakes to avoid as a trader

 Trading seems so simple. After all, a price can only go up or down so all traders have to do is pick the right direction then sit back and wait for the money to roll in, right? Well, not quite.

The trading world can be full of surprises for those who have big ideas but little in the way of preparation. When ill-prepared traders won't recognise that mistakes in trading are all a part of the learning process and can actually shape a person into becoming a successful trader.

Legendary Wall Street trader Martin Schwartz shared both the lows and highs of his stellar trading career in his book 'Pit Bull: Lessons from Wall Street's Champion Day Trader'. In his typical flamboyant fashion, he recalled how he lost $10,000 within a few hours of opening his first trade.

But what’s outstanding about this book is how Schwartz openly discussed the trading mistakes he committed, particularly when he was brand new to trading. He details how he learned and corrected those mistakes, and from then on the rest was history as he became one of the most successful and famous traders in the world.

Schwartz’s book is a practical and realistic reference to the most common trading mistakes.

And there’s no doubt that most traders – if not all – would have made or are still making the same mistakes.

Making trading mistakes is part of every trader’s journey. Whether someone is completely new to trading or has been trading the markets for decades, chances are they will make some common trading mistakes.

Some of these mistakes are more costly than others. And the fact is there are some mistakes that are hard to accept. For some traders, ignoring a mistake and repeating it over and over again can spell the difference between becoming a successful trader or losing one.

 

Table of contents

Trading without a trading plan
Trading too much, too soon
Emotional trading
Guessing
Not using a stop-loss order
Taking too big positions
Taking too many positions
Over leveraging
Revenge trading
Letting profitable trades turn into losses
Not tracking trades in a trading journal
Don't forget about your investment time horizon
Being able to accept losses
Following the crowd
Trading in multiple markets at once
Chasing markets with strong performance