The thing that probably has cost me the most money in the markets is a lack of organization.
We all have different pressures on our time: family, work – all that jazz.
I am no different. Even though I work full-time in the markets, much of my time is not spent on trading. This means that often, even though I have an opportunity or an idea, I end up missing it.
And it’s not like I am looking to place a lot of trades. My trading style is longer-term, but I still fail to take some of the lay-up trades that I have been stalking entries on. Not through fear, or because I don’t know how to construct my trade, but through dis-organization.
Here are some of the things I have done wrong due to lack of organization in my trading processes:
- Gone to place a trade, only to find out I had run out of margin on my account. (I keep a minimum amount of margin in my account for these reasons). This happened more with stocks, where the margin available is lower, and my position-sizing model dictates a large trade.
- Had the wrong lot size on my account, so I couldn’t take the trade at the size I wanted.
- Not had the market I wanted to trade set up on my account.
- Got distracted, forgotten to run my screen, and missed my entry point.
- Forgotten to trail my stop-loss correctly, and then the price dropped rapidly and I lost my profits.
- Didn’t record my trade idea, forgot to watch it, and (of course) missed my entry point
- Failed to identify the market type correctly, because I had not done my weekly planning, and so not noticed my entry until after the fact.
- Not taken the time to get in the correct trading state, and therefore not noticed my entry.
- Not had my Broker’s phone number on hand when I needed to contact them about my trades.
- Done the wrong thing per my plan, as I had not been organized enough to practice my scenario planning (this has cost me big).
I could keep going, but I am sure that you get the picture.
Now it’s your turn.
What have you done wrong in your trading due to lack of organization?
About the Author
Sam Eder is a currency trader and author of the Definitive Guide to Developing a Winning Forex Trading System and the Advanced Forex Course for Smart Traders (get free access). He is a co-owner of Forex Signal Provider FX Renew (Get a FREE 30-day trial). If you like Sam’s writing you can subscribe to his newsletter.
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