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Trade Journal

The Cost of Tuition

"It is very difficult to make back money... comes at a lot of cost and effort. Defend your capital."

Lessons Learned

These are expensive lessons - don't repeat them!

Stock Date Loss Mistake / Lesson
Tesla April 29 $500 No technical entry. News based. No stop loss. No alerts. No patience for positional trade.
Nvidia May 23 <$150 Earnings hype entry. No technicals. Played too close to earnings calendar.
Dell May 29 $1,300 Revenge trade. Close to earnings. No stop loss.
ANF June 10 $250 Trade went right direction, but didn't take partials or raise stop. Bad position management.
Coinbase June 12 $450 No stop loss. Bought dip but didn't recover fast enough. Sold for 10% loss.

Common Mistakes Identified

Patterns to Avoid

  1. No Stop Loss - Appeared in almost every losing trade
  2. News/Hype Based - No technical confirmation
  3. Revenge Trading - Emotional, not strategic
  4. Poor Position Management - Not taking partials, not moving stops
  5. Earnings Plays - Trading too close to earnings

Monthly Reviews

Trade Log Template

When logging trades, include:

  • Date and time
  • Stock symbol
  • Entry price and reason
  • Stop loss level
  • Target(s)
  • Actual exit and price
  • P&L
  • What went right
  • What went wrong
  • Lesson learned

Notes