This week turned out to be one of the most frustrating weeks I’ve had as a trader. Since my first week as a trader, I’ve been very/overly selective with my trades from being dead wrong and losing a big chunk of my account during my first week. – I only made 8 trades in August. My main goal for the last month or so has thus been to take more trades when they set up according to my plan, and to accept that I can’t be right on every trade – something I have a really hard time accepting.

 

September got off to a good start and two weeks in I’ve taken 4 trades and been profitable on 3 of them. I was up a little over 100 bucks, which I was happy about since I was on my way to my first profitable month as a trader – you have to start somewhere. Wrapping up this week I’m now back in the red for September having taken 3 trades and losing on every single one of them. This is where I start to feel like I take one step forward and two back. Not so much that I’m back in the red for the month, but more the way it happened.

 

My problems with my trades this week is that all three of them could have been potential winners if I’d just played them a little better – and yes I know it is very easy to say that in hindsight.

 

My first loss this week was a big one that took out all my gains for the month. This trade was a bad one for a number of reasons. First of all, I didn’t take it off when it broke my stop. Instead, I decided to move my risk and add to my position. When it broke my new stop I took it off for a loss 3 times the size it should have been. Dumb dumb dumb. Topping it off, the stock only went a few cents higher, before breaking down.  

 

My second trade of the week is the one I can’t really figure out if was a good exit or not. I’ve had a lot of problems taking trades when they consolidate near a support/resistance level but on this one I finally managed to do so. I shorted AVP 1 cent from a resistance level as it had bounced off it for a while. Shortly after AVP started to confirm my idea and fade back 3ish cents. However, AVP started to perk back, and after a while it broke my stop so I took it off losing a few cents. Usually, I would let it test a little but after my big loss the day before I decided to respect my stop and take it off right away. Looking bad this is what I regret, as AVP only went 2 cents higher than my cover before dropping 30 cents. On the one hand I know that I have to respect my stops to minimize losses but on the other hand it really sucks when it only breaks my stop with a few cents before it confirms the trade I was going for.

 

My last trade this week is in many ways similar to the one above. I longed SUNE as I overall believed it would go higher and it was near its support level. I only got a partial fill, before it started to perk going 9 cents higher and then topping out. It dropped back roughly all 9 cents in one candle and I decided that I would take it off if it topped out at the same spot. However when it did just that I failed to do so just to see it drop back even lower and crack my stop. When it cracked my stop I took it off, but within minutes it reclaimed the support level and started to go higher. This trade is annoying to me for two reasons. One of them is that I didn’t take it off when it topped out at the same level as the first spike, and the other reason is that I didn’t let it test my stop over/under just as in the previous trade.

 

 

Now I am aware that it is very easy to look back and say why didn’t I do that. I’m also well aware that the only one you have to blame for your loss is yourself, and don’t think that I’m trying to blame anyone else. Writing down my frustrations is just a good way for me to analyze what I did right or wrong on my trades and what I potentially can work on to get better – If anyone have any good advice on how my trades could have been better feel free to share with me. I will always appreciate good advice that can help me improve as a trader.