The Thing That Has Cost Me the Most Money in the Markets by Sam Eder

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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