We all make mistakes, but it is best to try and avoid mistakes that lose you money. Here are a few mistakes I see a lot in the stock market.
1. Avoid the Self Proclaimed Guru’s
People believe it will be easier to buy a stock advisory newsletter and follow what the guru’s say they should buy and sell. The problem is no one provides precise timing and results reports. They are often delayed and also have a vested interest.
The person providing the tips usually has bought the stock already. Also, they will usually have sold this stock before they advise you to Sell it.
They also will not be held accountable for any losses you may make. Most “Stock Picking Gurus” are self-proclaimed and often fail to beat the market.
2. Don’t Hit and Hope.
People fail to realize that you cannot simply buy any stock and hold it and hope for it to go up. Market timing is critical, only buy when the market, in general, is going up, because as we know, even the best stock in the world will go down if the whole market is plunging.
3. Thinking It’s Easy to Buy Stocks.
It is easy to buy stocks, but it takes discipline and an understanding of Market and Stock fundamentals and technical analysis to buy the right stock at the right time for the right price.
You will need to learn how the market works, what technical analysis is, and how to apply the principles.
4. Using Low-Quality Investing Tools
Most of the stock market tools and services available on the internet are useless. If you want to select from the best tools, try our great free stock charting software review; after all, using free online charts is better than using none at all.
If you have the budget for $20 per month, check out our Best Stock Market Software Review. Premium products are really advantageous when it comes to making a profit in the market.
- For long-term investors, I recommend Stock Rover.
- For international markets & the social community, I recommend TradingView
- For free stock trading, I recommend Firstrade
- For US stocks, I recommend the Award Winning Worden Telechart 2000.
5. Belief in Automated Stock Systems.
Automated stock systems mostly use very simple techniques such as moving averages and Open High Low Close on prices. These techniques are very simple to learn for yourself and enable you to make your own decisions. I would strongly advise you never to take the decision-making process out of your own hands.
It is extremely important that you own your own decisions and really learn how to trade. With just 30 minutes per day and the right tools, you can begin to trade like a professional. Try out our Trading Academy for a start.
You need to find the right resources to help you on this quest. There are a lot of websites that claim to provide these services but end up providing supposed “hot tips newsletters.”
You need to seek out a provider that bases learning on openness, honesty, and empowerment.
You also need a service that will help you understand how to Screen for Winning Stocks and evaluate market direction.
Also, a picture can be worth a thousand words. A movie can be worth a thousand pictures. Look for a training provider that can provide you the relevant training in a multimedia format to suit you—Itunes, youtube, video, DVDs, etc.
To your success.
Summary: Stock Market Investing Mistakes Video
In my small unique book “The small stock trader” I also had more detailed overview of tens of stock trading mistakes (http://thesmallstocktrader.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/stock-day-trading-mistakessinceserrors-that-cause-90-of-stock-traders-lose-money/):
• EGO (thinking you are a walking think tank, not accepting and learning from you mistakes, etc.)
• Lack of passion and entering into stock trading with unrealistic expectations about the learning time and performance, without realizing that it often takes 4-5 years to learn how it works and that even +50% annual performance in the long run is very good
• Poor self-esteem/self-knowledge
• Lack of focus
• Not working ward enough and treating your stock trading as a hobby instead of a small business
• Lack of knowledge and experience
• Trying to imitate others instead of developing your unique stock trading philosophy that suits best to your personality
• Listening to others instead of doing your own research
• Lack of recordkeeping
• Overanalyzing and overcomplicating things (Zen-like simplicity is the key)
• Lack of flexibility to adapt to the always/quick-changing stock market
• Lack of patience to learn stock trading properly, wait to enter into the positions and let the winners run (inpatience results in overtrading, which in turn results in high transaction costs)
• Lack of stock trading plan that defines your goals, entry/exit points, etc.
• Lack of risk management rules on stop losses, position sizing, leverage, diversification, etc.
• Lack of discipline to stick to your stock trading plan and risk management rules
• Getting emotional (fear, greed, hope, revenge, regret, bragging, getting overconfident after big wins, sheep-like crowd-following behavior, etc.)
• Not knowing and understanding the competition
• Not knowing the catalysts that trigger stock price changes
• Averaging down (adding to losers instead of adding to winners)
• Putting your stock trading capital in 1-2 or more than 6-7 stocks instead of diversifying into about 5 stocks
• Bottom/top fishing
• Not understanding the specifics of short selling
• Missing this market/industry/stock connection, the big picture, and only focusing on the specific stocks
• Trying to predict the market/economy instead of just listening to it and going against the trend instead of following it
Mika (author of “The small stock trader”)
Hey, I really enjoy reading your site, I’ve made it my home page! Cheers, Jane
I’m still learning from you, but I’m trying to reach my goals. I definitely liked reading everything that is written on your site.Keep the aarticles coming. I enjoyed it
awesome comment about investing
Thanks for the information. I am always looking for more information on trading and your posts are good.
I was wondering if you had ever tried options trading
Yes I have traded options before.