10 Things I Wish I Knew When Getting Started With Trading

Here are ten key points I wish I knew 11 years ago

1. Position Sizing: Trade with suitable position sizes to minimize the emotional impact on decision-making. Ensure your trades are neither too small nor too large, balancing the potential for profit and the ability to make rational decisions.

2. Avoid FOMO: Don't trade based on the fear of missing out. Make informed decisions by analyzing the market and potential trades, rather than being swayed by others' excitement or panic.

3. When to Exit a Trade: Focus on trading based on technical analysis, not your profit and loss. Exit a trade when the conditions you entered the trade no longer apply. Consider using mental stops over hard stops, but only if you have enough experience.

4. Journal: Keep a detailed record of your trades to analyze and improve your performance. Track your wins, losses, and the specific conditions of each trade to identify areas that require improvement.

5. Buy High, Sell Higher: Embrace the concept of buying into strong trends for greater success. While "buy low, sell high" is a common mantra, buying into a growing trend can be a more effective strategy.

6. Different Types of Trades: Understand and become comfortable with various trade types, such as scalping, momentum trading, technical-based trades, and options trading. Each type requires different strategies and scanning techniques.

7. Resources: Choose educational resources wisely. Avoid get-rich-quick schemes and focus on informative materials that teach essential concepts like candlesticks, indicators, options, and scanner settings. Look for resources that acknowledge the difficulty of trading and offer well-rounded, sustainable strategies.

8. Stop Predicting Tops and Bottoms: Focus on following the charts and resist the urge to predict tops and bottoms. Counter-trend trading is a common reason new traders lose money.

9. You Are Not an Economist: Trade based on current market conditions, not long-term predictions. Avoid developing a market bias that could negatively impact your trades, even your day trades.

10. Don't Trade What You Don't Know: Gain sufficient knowledge before trading a particular instrument. Jumping into a trade without understanding the underlying mechanisms can lead to costly mistakes. Educate yourself before diving into new trading instruments.

Yours,