1. stay away from what other traders think/predict
if you are trying to analyze and understand the market by yourself, you build your own expectations for the day or week. don't let other opinions throw you off your original expectations
i clearly stated that i don't understand the market after recent $BTC sideways movement, and was going to reduce risks or stay away from trading completely, but as soon as i saw another trader post their bullish analysis, i took it as my own, though i didn't understand it
it lead me to open positions that i didn't understand and didn't believe in, which resulted in losses
2. believe in your position and stay away from the chart
if you see a position that ticks every box of your strategy, no need to watch the chart every 5 minutes and see how it's going and exit if it dips below break even
$NEAR - short, risk: 1%, rr: 3.7, result: around +0.5% profit to my account, what could be +3.7%
i had this perfect short position that i went for - bearish structure, pullback to the order block in discount market, reversal pattern formed with liquidity sweep and break of structure, clear first target in bullish order block.
as you can see, it would work out well, but i closed the position 10 hours after it was opened because i was too scared of losing it
3. believe in your position and stay away from the chart
yes, again!
$GALA - short, risk: 1%, rr: 3.2, result: +1% to account, what could be +3.2%
a similar case to the previous one, but here the entry was placed at 4 hour fair value gap fulfill in discount zone. again, position would work out perfectly, but i closed it because i was too afraid of losing it as soon as price went the other way
4. stay away from other trader setups if you don't understand them
$bnb - short, risk: 1%, rr: 4.6, result: -0.5%
since i was lost and didn't understand the market, i decided to check what other traders think and found this trade. i did not completely understand, but i trusted the trader as i follow him for over 2 years.
i ended up closing this position together with the previous two, which saved me 0.5%
5. set reasonable targets and carefully define the structure, especially when you don't understand the market completely
$eth - long, risk 2%, rr: 2.8, result: +0.3%
i had a all short positions during this time, but this one seemed so good for a long (except i missed that it is a sub-structure). if only i set a better take profit target, it would close successfully, but i ended up closing it only after i notice a breakdown of a clear trend line
6. not having positions is ok - don't force yourself to find positions where you don't see them
$bome - long, risk: 2%, rr: 2.5, result: -0.3%
$bome - long, risk: 2%, rr: 3.6, result: -1%
i opened a weird position on this market just because i didn't have any positions opened - it was a bad setup that didn't follow my strategy, but i did that. i closed it manually in small loss upon realizing that
but then i opened another position on the same market, for the same reason - just to have a position 🤦
7. not having positions is ok, again
$ftm - short, risk: 1%, rr: 2.9, result: -0.6%
weird position that didn't fit my strategy, but i placed it as i didn't have any other open positions and forgot to cancel it. had to close manually in small loss
8. don't try to catch a reversal when its all time high
$btc - short, risk: 1%, rr: 4.5, result: -1%
i had this issue for years, i always think that i am the genius that can catch the market right at the very top and have a nice -50% drop afterwards. it is impossible, especially on lower timeframes
conclusion
trust in your analysis, don't let other opinions fool you
believe in your setups, don't stare at the charts - just wait
don't copy other traders when you don't understand their positions
set reasonable targets
not having a position is ok, don't force yourself in opening positions
never try to catch a reversal at the very top