Let’s talk about some valuable lessons I’ve learned from my biggest trading mistakes.
One of the best ways to grow as a trader is to admit what you’ve done wrong and learn from it.
When you face difficult periods in your trading, don’t curl up in the corner and feel sorry for yourself. Be proactive and start making changes.
Remember that there are ways to overcome even the most difficult obstacles.
If you aren’t honest with yourself about your mistakes, it’s nearly impossible to avoid those errors in the future.
But if you look your mistakes in the face and vow to avoid them moving forward, your past errors can become positive catalysts for growth.
After nearly two decades of professional trading, I have every trading scar, every wound — and I’ve learned every lesson possible.
With that in mind, let me tell you about my biggest trading mistakes (so you don’t have to make them)…
My Blue-Collar Beginnings
I mentor traders because I’ve been doing this for 17 years. I started trading way back in 2006.
Thinking back on my elementary school days in the 1980s … I grew up as blue-collar as it gets on a farm in Michigan.
My dad worked at a factory and farmed at night, while my mom was the cleaning lady at the local hospital.
My dad would get home from his factory job, drop the newspaper, eat dinner, and go work at the farm until dark.
Meanwhile, I would get the Detroit Free Press, flip to the business pages, and all the tickers were there.
I don’t remember the charts from back then, but just tickers, fields of tickers, and the previous day’s closing price.
I always had an interest in finance and the stock market, but hadn’t acted on that passion.
Out of high school, I built a business. I was busy running my company and didn’t trade during the dot-com boom.
But by 2006, my business was about a decade old and I was making good money. I’d hired employees, so I wasn’t working 100 hours a week anymore.
Most importantly, I wasn’t broke anymore. I was ready to trade.
And that’s when I started learning valuable lessons from big trading mistakes…
Mistake #1: Trusting Mainstream Media
When I started trading on my own, I didn’t have the resources you have today.
There was no StocksToTrade or IRIS. I don’t think YouTube even existed at that point.
But I also had a family, so evenings were busy. I would record Mad Money with Jim Cramer on my Tivo … remember Tivo?!
These days, we all know that Cramer is a buffoon. He’s wrong about practically everything to the point of becoming a meme.
But back in the day, he was a legit trader, he was real.
At some point, he just got lazy and became a caricature of himself when he sold his soul to the corporate media devil. But I didn’t know this back then…
I would get up at 5 a.m., watch Mad Money, write down every ticker that Cramer said “Buy, buy, buy” about, and then try to trade those stocks.
SPOILER ALERT: It ended terribly.
I did that for six months, thinking “There’s got to be a way to crack this code, there’s got to be a way to figure it out.”
And while I’m sure I made money on some of his plays, 90% were losers.
So, mistake number one was believing the mainstream media.
Remember: The people on CNBC are cartoon characters providing entertainment, not education.
If you want a real trading education taught by proven traders, join us in the Daily Income Trader System today.
Mistake #2: Following ‘Mentors’ Without a Proven Track Record
After my lack of success trading Cramer’s plays, I started looking for mentors — real mentors.
But this is where I made my next big mistake…
Unfortunately, I didn’t immediately discover Tim Sykes’ Trading Challenge (the course that would eventually change my trading career forever).
I started by getting into these very dubious trading chat rooms. These guys would have no track record and no bios — they were random weirdos with random names.
This is back in the days of Yahoo Finance newsgroups. I don’t even think they’re around anymore — they were all full of pumpers, liars, and scammers — but I foolishly thought that was the way to go.
I didn’t even know who these people were, but they were posting trade alerts, saying “Buy this stock, sell this stock, short this stock, etc.”
You can probably guess, I didn’t do too well in these rooms…
So that would have been the next big mistake — following alerts from people without a proven track record.
Take it from me: I’ve been doing this for nearly two decades and I’ve shown up every single day for eight years to teach others how to trade.
But I didn’t start making profits until I joined Sykes’ Trading Challenge.
And that’s because Sykes has proven his skills over and over again, helping 20+ students become millionaire traders.
One of those multi-millionaires is Jack Kellogg — whose Next Big Trade is getting REVEALED TONIGHT (more on that later)…
Getting trade ideas from random weirdos is very easy in this day and age.
You don’t have to look far online to find some talentless clown with no track record shilling a trading service.
But please, don’t trust ‘trading mentors’ who haven’t proven themselves.
Mistake #3: Trading Sectors Outside My Niche
My next big learning lesson came around 2012 when I got caught up trading stocks that I had no business trading.
At this point, I’d found a reliable strategy in shorting penny stocks.
Not to toot my own horn, but I was really good at it. I had a killer win rate with 90% of my trades shorting crappy penny stocks.
But then, the summer of 2012 was kind of slow, with nothing happening in my niche…
One day, I was bored, and I saw these idiots in this chat room talking about two triple-leverage ETFs: Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3x Shares (NYSEARCA: FAS) and Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3x Shares (NYSEARCA: FAZ).
FAS is triple-leverage long, while FAZ is triple-leverage short, and these guys were yapping about them.
So I thought, “Hey, why don’t I trade some triple-leverage ETFs?”
When what I should’ve been asking myself was: “What do I know about these funds? What is my edge here?”
Well, I didn’t know anything about them. I had no edge. Why were they moving? I didn’t know.
But I was naive, traded one of those funds, and lost about $8,000 in fifteen minutes — one of the biggest losses of my career.
I just saw this ticker, knew these guys were talking about it, and figured, “Let’s try it.”
No stop loss, no risk management, no price target — I didn’t even know what I was doing.
So, learn from my past mistakes…
When you don’t do research, when you’re not invested in the trade, when it’s not your idea — these are some of the big things I’m always cautioning up-and-coming traders about.
Don’t trade stocks you have no idea about. You’ve gotta find your niche and stick to it, like Jack Kellogg…
Jack Kellogg’s Next Big Trade
Tonight’s the night, folks…
This evening, you’ll discover the rare seven-figure profit cycle that’s already made Jack Kellogg rich.
The last time this rare cycle hit … Jack generated seven figures in trading profits.
In just two years, he earned an astounding $8 million.
It was so shocking, Business Insider reached out to interview Jack — asking to verify his trading profits…
It’s been 2 years since we saw this rare profit cycle, but now…
Jack believes that’s all about to change.
And that’s why, TONIGHT, May 9th at 8 pm EST, he’ll be breaking down everything you need to know about his Next Big Trade … before it’s too late.
This is the first time Jack has EVER agreed to go public like this.
Thanks to Jack’s incredible strategy, 28 of his top trades have ALL returned over 100%* or more, with 12 soaring over 250%* and 4 skyrocketing beyond 600%.*
So if you miss this LIVE event … you might miss out on Jack’s biggest trade ever.
SIGN UP NOW because time is running out — Click here to secure your spot for tonight’s urgent briefing.
Have a great day everyone. See you back here tomorrow.
Tim Bohen
Lead Trainer, StocksToTrade
*Past performance does not indicate future results