In another thread the topic of learning from our mistakes came up. It probably deserves it own thread.

I feel that in order to learn from our mistakes it is necessary to do the following;

1) Identify and define your mistake
2) Take responsibility for your actions
3) Analyse; Determine the WHY (what was the thought process)
4) Develop an action plan to keep you from repeating the mistake
5) Review.

It might be of value to other traders if we were to share some of the mistakes we made and what we learned from them.

The question I ask is "What aren't you doing now that you did when you started?"

What I didn't have when I started was a written trading plan.

Why would you need a trading plan? The market is fluid, you have to adjust to what the market is doing, all you have to do is find or buy the secret then take the set-ups and rake in the profit. Every book or article I read had a section on planning but I skipped over that because it didn't apply to me.

I now have a plan that I can refer to. If I follow the plan to the letter and still consistently lose money then at least I know the fault lies with the plan, not with the trader.

For what ever reason it seems you will more than likely follow something that is written down.

deaddog 

In another thread the topic of learning from our mistakes came up. It probably deserves it own thread. The question I ask is "What aren't you doing now that you did when you started?"

Manually entering the market. I too follow a strategy. A good day, win or loss, is a day I followed my strategy.