It's always good to have a page like this — one that's honest about what went wrong. That's not to say you won't make the same mistakes. I say that because I read so many books on what to do and what not to do, and I still made those mistakes anyway.
I hope you learn a little from this. This journey is about making mistakes and failing a little so you can gain a lot more experience along the way. It would be great to go through life without any failures, but sometimes it's the only way to truly learn.
This is a continuing journey for me, and writing these notes is also a reminder to myself. I've started trading again with a fresh perspective, and my biggest lessons were keeping it simple, having patience, and knowing when to exit a trade without being too greedy. Trying to pick the top of the market doesn't always work — it can easily spiral downwards. Those were the two things I needed to understand before I could move forward.
KISS — Keep It Simple, Stupid
I had read many books on Candlestick Charting, Technical Indicators, and trading in general. I learned about all kinds of indicators and settled on a few I liked: Moving Averages, MACD, Envelopes, and Candlesticks. When I kept it simple, I could analyse clearly and was actually making money. So what did I do? I started adding more indicators. My charts were flicking between RSIs, Volumes, Rainbow Moving Averages, Envelopes... Before long, I had so many that it created confusion. I already had a system that was working — why I changed it, I still don't know. The answer for me is simple: go back to basics and KISS.
Don't Always Try to Get Out at the Top
When your indicators say it's time to get out, listen to them. If you make 10–20% profit, that's great. Compare that to the current bank interest rate of around 4% — anything above that is a bonus. Leave a little profit on the table for the next trader and move on.
Stop Swapping and Changing
I'd buy a share or crypto, then spend every day checking other stocks. Sometimes, when a share was doing fine and I should have left it alone, I'd get excited about something else. If I didn't have enough money to buy in, I'd sell what I already had to chase the new one. Maybe it was boredom. Maybe I just liked clicking buttons.
What I didn't realise was that every time I jumped in and out, I was paying fees. The trading platform must have loved me.
What I learned: trust yourself. If your indicators are in place, you have a good idea of what's happening. Occasionally a stock won't go the way you expected and you'll need to exit early — but more often than not, it does exactly what you thought it would.
Note: This tip applies to stocks only, not crypto. Be Careful When a Stock is About to Go Ex-Dividend
Occasionally a stock will just drop — instantly. It only happened to me once, but what a shock, and a loss of money. It can happen when a dividend announcement is made. I don’t trade stocks anymore but I used to check announcements every day.
The platform I used was Bell Direct. There's a lot of great information on there, and they've improved it a lot over the past couple of years. When you search a stock, the page shows a full list of announcements, making it easy to stay on top of things.
These are four things worth being aware of. As I think of more, I'll keep adding them here.