Letting losses ride and living in denial

Nothing feels better than a clean slate. Sell/cover and regroup. Thats the great part about this game...everyday is a new one as long as you have equity.

good trading to you.
 
Quote from tireg:

When in doubt, exit half. Don't think, just do.

If still in doubt, exit half again. That way your position size will be relatively small in the end yet if you still want to hope (and pray) that it'll come back you still have some in. If it doesn't, then at least you cut your losses short.

You can always re-enter later.
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No. When in doubt, you have no business having on any position at all.

Only have positions when you understand what is going on in the market at the moment, when your past experience tells you this is a good opportunity, and thus you can reasonably form a strong and credible conviction in your trading idea.

Any time you don't fully understand what's going on, any time you have been surprised by the market or lost more than you planned for, you should be flat, not long half, or long 1/4. Taking risk when you don't have an edge is ridiculous.
 
Quote from a529612:

My equity was at 120k in Jan but now down to only ~100k. I don't have problem pulling the trigger on a small loss but how do you pull the trigger on a big $20k unrealized loss? It's easier said than done... :(
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unrealized loss is LOSS !!!
 
Pull out 10,000 dollars and go on a 2 week long drunken bender in Las Vegas. The market will turn or might not. But, at least you will have gone a bender instead of losing your cash to the market black hole.
 
Take your loss and figure out how it could ever get this far and never forget it. Some day because of this lesson you learned you will make back this money.

Ivo
 
I was accumulating TASR:NASDAQ last year when suddenly they were given a warning of possible delisting because of a failure to submit some filing ON OPTIONS EXPIRY DAY!!! October, I believe.
Anger at the company kicked in, I phoned them up trying to get someone on the line who I could chew out but alas failed.
White hot with anger I sold the entire position crystalized a loos and bought March 2006 $7.50 strike price call options and sold them a month later just breaking even
Just out of curiousity what was the stock you invested in?
 
"The only thing to do when you are wrong is to be right by ceasing to be wrong. Cover your losses quickly, without hesitation."

"Losing money is the least of my troubles. A loss never bothers me after I take it. I forget it overnight. But being wrong -- not taking the loss -- that is what does the damage to the pocketbook and to the soul."


Jesse Livermore
 
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