The worst trades I make now are reactions to trades I made prior.
Round tripped millions all the way back to my entry, so then I told myself I’d sell everything next time so I don’t give it all back.
Then I sold a 100x runners at 2x once because I was terrified of giving it back. So for the next trades I sold it all for chump change as they ran generational.
Stuck in a loop.
A scar from a previous trade teaches you a lesson, and the lesson is usually wrong for the next trade.
Get burned selling early, and you start diamond-handing garbage to zero just to prove you have discipline now.
Get rugged holding too long, and you panic-dump the next real winner the first time it dips 20%.
You stop reading the chart in front of you and start settling a score with a trade that already closed.
But the market has no memory of your mistakes. It’s not as simple as “I held last time and got burned so this time I’ll sell it all before that happens”.
The way out is separating the decision from the feeling.
One question does most of the work: “would I enter this position right now, at this price, if I had zero history with it?”
If yes, hold it or add.
If no, the only thing keeping me in is ego, greed or fear of missing out.
I still struggle with this greatly, especially after such a euphoric year last year that turned into one of the worst.
But I’m learning.
You can’t delete the bad trades from your last. But you can stop letting them control the ones you take next.