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Just remember, without a discipline, a clear strategy and a concise plan, the speculator will fall into all the emotional pitfalls of the market and jump from one stock to another, hold a losing position too long, cut-out of a winner too soon and for no reason other than fear of losing the profit. Greed, fear, impatience, ignorance and hope, will all fight for mental dominance over the speculator. Then after a few failures and catastrophes, the speculator may become demoralized, depressed, despondent, and abondon the market and the chance to make a fortune of what the market has to offer.

Develop your own strategy, discipline and approach to the market. I offer my suggestions as one, who has traveled the road before you. Perhaps I can act as a guide for you and save from falling in some of the pitfalls that befell me. But in the end the decisions must be your own”.

“At the end of each trading day (week) you shouldn’t focus solely on your P/L. Instead, focus on your thought process during the day and how well you executed your plan. If you consistently execute your trades according to plan and still lose money, then you need to reevaluate your approach. While there is definitely a cyclical rhythm to the market, no strategy will always work. You need to constantly  and objectively  review what is working and what is not so you can make necessary adjustments to you plan.”

Brian Shannon

Having a plan of action allows you to be objective when others are often reacting emotionaly. Every weekend I sit and create a list with potential trading candidates for next week. I choose 5 longs and 5 shorts, representing different industry groups, which my analysis reveals that might have a significant move during the week. Watching such a small number of stocks helps me to be more focused and objective. Usually only 2 or 3 out of the chosen 10 stocks will behave the way I expected, but in my scheme of things this is more than enough.