The #1 Cardinal Sin of Trading is...?

[Handle123]

Not having a method that has well tested edge.

 

[redman]

Letting a small loss turn into a something you regret. It only took once. Thank God. Took me 6 months to just get back to even.....20 years ago.

 

[Dustin]

Agree with size, you always have to live to trade another day.

 

[_eug_]

Buying fresh highs
Selling fresh lows

 

[redman]

Bud can't stop doing it,,.,

 

[MarketDiver]

Money management.

 

[smallfil]

No risk management at all. You might as well give me half your monies now. I would have saved you losing ALL your monies. You will blow up your account.

 

[KCalhoun]

not using tight stops, overleveraging & trading choppy charts

 

[comagnum]

Trading without a plan. or having a plan & not following it.

The plan needs to cover risk/trade mgmt. in depth. I bet that very few of all active retail traders have a comprehensive plan on how to deal with draw-downs or protecting large gains - you can sure bet the pros have this well planned out.

Suffering a growing draw-down or having large & fast gains are were traders often lose their discipline and begin spiraling down. Very few have any plans for dealing with either scenario.

 

[schizo]

Being a dipstick:

Buying the dip on the way down.
Shorting the dip on the way up.

dip·stick
/ˈdipˌstik/
noun

1. xxxxxxxxx (fill-in-the-blank)
2. a stupid or inept person.