FireWalker
my hands won't type the exit order.
So I'll look for reasons to rationalize my hold even though I know I want to be short.
Then I hold through some pain, and if price does go back up, I promise myself "This time when I see an exit/reversal signal, I'll take it".
well, I'm just a newbie here on ET, and I haven't the experience of knowing which posts are "fun" and which posts are "real" and which posts are "real fun" ...
and the same goes with the posters themselves ....
matter of fact, I'm on the verge of checking if ET has an "Ignore" button, for I've already read some stuff from some folks who I've decided that I'm wasting my time even reading what they have to say ...
BUT
and, in this I'm perhaps being naive ..
BUT
I feel as if you're serious, and, therefore I'll attempt to answer in a serious manner ..
a goodly number of answers from various posters have already expressed the thought that many, if not all, have gone through similar feeling and costly inaction....
I know I HAVE ...
your self analysis, to me, seems very well thought out and exhibits a rare ability of inner inventory taking ....
matter of fact, it seems almost too good for it not to be a baited trap for the unwary (like me) to reply ...
but .. what the heck ...
I wish someone had informed me way back when of the simple fact of which I'm going to inform you ....
be that as it may ...
I'll chunk out this meager tidbit of advice ...
it cost me a nice pile of lucre to discover it myself, as I was in similar straights as regarded a LOT of my actions ....
trading AND other important facets of my life
I'm elderly and have been in the market for a long time .... matter of fact it'll be 50yrs next month I made my first trade ....
about five or six years ago I'd be what I call "agonizing" over relatively simple matters ....
trading was becoming a perilous pursuit due to inaction and just seemed to exemplify what I was doing in other areas also ...
ok ...
here was MY solution ....
I was diagnosed *(late in life, needless to say) as having ADD **(ADHD without the hyper portion)
and
was put on medication for nearly a year for it
and
from time to time, even now, find that I must take remedial action to assuage the effects ....
here are a couple of websites that I think you'll find interesting, and it could well start you on the journey to being more comfortable within yourself ....
http://www.adultadd.com/2_2_recognizing/screener.jsp?ccd=adultadd262
http://www.oneaddplace.com/addcheck.htm
now, as I said at the beginning, I know I've left myself open for all kinds of ridicule from some posters on ET ....
LOL
well, I can hopefully find an Ignore button, or if not , I can just not read some posts ....
or course, this could be of NO value/help to you, and if not, perhaps it will to some other reader of this message .....
simply KNOWING about ADD has been one of the giant steps forward I've taken in my life
good luck