What was the ***last*** thing you had to master before becoming profitable?
- Thread starter Kovacs
- Start date
I was out of work for a year and felt like I had to trade every day. Since I went back to work, I started looking at several stocks I am familiar with, and basically traded on what I felt were over-reactions to to a particular event.
My strategy (simplified) was the lower a high quality stock like AAPL or CVX got, the more I would buy, but keeping with this thread, what I learned not to buy every dip. I found that dollar cost averaging as market panic became worse, I could just call it an investment if there was no immediate reversal.
If the stock turned around and there was a 15-20 percent gain over a couple of days, I took the money and ran. This is not scientific enough for technical traders, but so many stocks are trading in a range that I've done well by multiple buys and sells on CVX between the low and high 60's.
As far as I'm concerned, this is a difficult market that trades sideways, and the movements are artificial and many on low volume.
My strategy (simplified) was the lower a high quality stock like AAPL or CVX got, the more I would buy, but keeping with this thread, what I learned not to buy every dip. I found that dollar cost averaging as market panic became worse, I could just call it an investment if there was no immediate reversal.
If the stock turned around and there was a 15-20 percent gain over a couple of days, I took the money and ran. This is not scientific enough for technical traders, but so many stocks are trading in a range that I've done well by multiple buys and sells on CVX between the low and high 60's.
As far as I'm concerned, this is a difficult market that trades sideways, and the movements are artificial and many on low volume.
Patience.
I remember in the early days being so very desperate to bank money (so I could 'feel' like I was making a living-) I'd blow out a great trade for a paltry $.25 gain and leave $4.75 of profit on the table.
I remember in the early days being so very desperate to bank money (so I could 'feel' like I was making a living-) I'd blow out a great trade for a paltry $.25 gain and leave $4.75 of profit on the table.