I have been a bit quite on the post front and my last trades were all in the right direction but then I got clever. I took out a position on an equity trade which went horribly wrong. At one stage I was down over a grand and when something untoward like this happens the fear that goes through you is gut wrenching. My account was nearly wiped out and I had to ait it out. Fortunately the trading gods took pity and all I lost was 72 Euro, a slightly bloodied nose.

The controlling feeling of either boredom or greed in entering such trades is what drives a good trader (not saying I am) to take heavy losses. I thought I was being smart and that the trade would make me a tidy sum buy in the end I wasn’t familiar with the stock or could I handle the spread or minimum stake. All in all I’m luck to be out of the trade and will try to stick to what I know and keep trading indices.

The key to making money in this game is to be completely unemotional and objective. This is easier said than done. When it comes down to my own money and the small amount I’m trading with the overriding feeling is that of capital protection. This leads to unnecessary caution and risk aversion which gets you no where fast. I have to try and force myself to become more trade orientated and not look on my account as my money that I can lose. It is my trading resource and I should be making successful trades even if they are losses. The key is small losses big wins.

I have learned the lesson for now and yesterday opened another FTSE position on a -2 buy at 5738 which went positive and I upped my stop to 5750. I hope everyone out there thinking of trying something new take a very cautious approach as new waters have uncertain tides.

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