In a volatile market, it is a trader’s market and not an investor’s market. If you hold positions too long, you lose a lot of your portfolio amount and you never know when the rebound comes back. There will be a few days of up trends thinking this is already the turn around point, but it isn’t. And if you decide to just hold your stocks and wait for the turn around which will eventually happen, you may have lost too much already that you will just be winning back what you lost and not earn more. But in a trader’s mentality, you have to be nimble and on your toes to make trades when they should happen.
Mistake/Lesson #1: Invest the time to plan your trades
I do have a watchlist of stocks. But even that watchlist is not planned well. I should plan based on different scenarios of market movements, so I can react properly as the stocks move. If the direction does not go my way, what is my secondary plan? This past week I didn’t have back up plans when things go wrong. I just assumed things would go my way as how I wanted them.