I always like to start the day out with a winning trade, so I am fairly careful to pick out a trade that has a very high probability of success.  I suppose this is some psychological disorder that I may suffer from, but I abhor starting the day stopped out and out of the money.  It is sort of like starting up a hill and immediately falling back down to the foot of the hill, bruised and battered.

Of course, there is always a compulsion I fight and that is to get “back in the money” immediately.  The temptation to increase the number of contracts being traded and straighten things out is irresistible.  This is a very normal attitude, after all, who wants to be a loser in the market?

Don’t do it.  It’s as simple as that…

A very common mistake traders make is to try to get back in the money in one fell swoop.  Often times a trader will take a trader of lower probability to accomplish this just to quit looking at the red numbers on his DOM.

Don’t do it.  It’s as simple as that…

Don’t try to overtrade, or make back your loss all at once, no matter how irresistible the urge is to do so.  It is a recipe for disaster.   A good trader stays with his game plan and trades his account using his pre-defined money management technique.  A few good smaller trades will right a poor opening trade.  And the opening trade may not have even been a poor trade, sometimes the market just will does not cooperate…for a variety of reasons.

My point is, stick to your trading plan and trading strategy, and don’t let a losing trade force you into unnecessary trades, overtrading or trading an excessive number of contracts.