My Trading Mistakes

This journal is for the purpose of documenting and reviewing all my mistakes. I hope to have as little posts as possible, but reality is I will continue to make some mistakes and do things I shouldn't do at times. If I had made this thread years ago, it would probably be the longest thread of just me posting mistakes on all of forex factory

I trade intraday and long term, but more intraday, which is a mistake for my trading personality. I do better when I'm able to think about something for a while and come up with a plan. I've always been more accurate on bigger moves than the short term fluctuations. Hopefully I'll have the discipline to turn that around.

Good idea, I'm better at scalping but I keep trying to trade longer term. I look forward to reading your posts

Mistake #1. Was in a GU short from above 1.53 as I thought it would be a big move to downside according to my method on higher time frames, I woke up in the morning, saw it was in small profit but got the urge to day trade crude oil. Got out of the trade proceeded to lose money day trading crude oil while GU fell almost 200 points from that point in the next few days.


Lesson to be learned - stop focusing on day trading. Stick to bigger currency moves, be patient and let the trades run.

I trade 4hour charts and it works well for me. Well, I am happy with small profits.

So, I basically have a major issue with discipline. The problem for me is that I once had a lot of money (from poker winnings) and I lost them in the market trading back when I was new to trading. So ever since that happened I have been chasing, trying to get back what i once had. It always ends up in me over leveraging and trying to get rich quick, which doesn't work in trading.


Recently have over leveraged my way into trouble once again. While watching a position I really liked (two actually) go the way I thought they would and I didn't participate. It's a reoccurring theme for me... see a nice big move coming in a specific currency pair or commodity, and then don't participate in it while I over leverage and blow $$$ over trading, stuck to the screen.

If I ever squash this habit, by spending less time in front of the screen and lowering my leverage, I'm sure it will be a good future for me. Until then, pure misery and losses.

On the plus side you know what you did wrong, that's something many retail traders can't see. Try reading Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas, he goes into this side of trading problems a lot.

A Fatal Mistake

Something I still continue to mess up on, is the simple procedure of only sticking with trending pairs. There is absolutely no reason to be trading something that isn't clearly trending, and to not wait for proper set ups to go along with that trend. If every trader did that simple step, they'd all make money.

It is the best intraday trading strategy you can possibly have. And this, my friends, has been one of my #1 trading mistakes.

Looking to clean up my act and start doing things the way they should be done.