Major mistake all traders make

[alyssa85]

In a nutshell, it all comes down to being unable to back out if something goes wrong. For example, you buy a few bitcoins at a December high and expect the price to continue rising, which is kind of obvious. Instead, the price starts crashing down and you find yourself in a situation that you didn't envisage or consider beforehand. So your best option would be to bring things back where they were as fast as possible even if it means some loss.

It depends entirely on how much you have staked in your trade. If you have gone all-in, then yes, you need to sell and take some losses in order to re-enter a trade at a different price point.

But if you have staked just 1/10th of your stash, you can afford to wait it out. Lend out those coins on Poloniex while you wait for the price to recover, and use the rest of your stash to continue trading.

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[teilwalL05]

Well everyone here has their own thing in doing their trading and I think you can certainly hodl for your dear bitcoins or other alts, and it can surely raise its value for you in the future but engaging in certain trades will sure give you decent amount of coins, I really think we need to learn from the history of movement of every coin, The recent drop was pretty obvious because of this historical pattern that bitcoin have gone through you can definitely get an idea about it, But not all of the movements from the recent pump or dump can be trace from the historical charts alone there are simply other unexplainable ones.

[Canis Majoris]

I don't really get what you're saying here. But I'm assuming that you're saying that people should ready themselves for anything and even if when SHTF they have a clear strategy of what they want to do instead of following their emotions?

If that's true, then yeah. It's definitely one of the skills you have to have trading and speculating on bitcoin.

Basically, you can't ready yourself just for anything which may potentially happen. It is simply impossible to prepare yourself for every shit that is likely going to hit the fan. But it is not required. And this is where I draw the distinction. Some people become kind of frozen when they get into an unchartered territory. Their instinctive impulse is to sit and wait till things get sorted on their own. I consider this a wrong attitude or approach. Whenever you find yourself in this type of predicament, you shouldn't wait, you should get out of it immediately until it becomes too late. Trading is just a particular activity where the devastating consequences of not making a decision at the right time are most visible and apparent.

[gabmen]

In a nutshell, it all comes down to being unable to back out if something goes wrong. For example, you buy a few bitcoins at a December high and expect the price to continue rising, which is kind of obvious. Instead, the price starts crashing down and you find yourself in a situation that you didn't envisage or consider beforehand. So your best option would be to bring things back where they were as fast as possible even if it means some loss.

It depends entirely on how much you have staked in your trade. If you have gone all-in, then yes, you need to sell and take some losses in order to re-enter a trade at a different price point.

But if you have staked just 1/10th of your stash, you can afford to wait it out. Lend out those coins on Poloniex while you wait for the price to recover, and use the rest of your stash to continue trading.

Well it's a difficult situation and its always the top option to hold. The problem is that many have invested for quick easy bucks. The mistake is to have a mindset that you'll get rich immediately. Id you have the right reason to back it up, even investing most of your stash will be worth it of you're ok with waiting out the drought

[fulmetal08larz]

Day trading is not for the meek, but do not be afraid to take risks and try. It can be profitable if you understand how the market moves and know how to anticipate. Always apply the rule: Buy Low, Sell High - which many day traders violate because of either greed or fear. In bitcoin, the recommended strategy is to do cost averaging and HODL.

[Canis Majoris]

The biggest mistake that day traders make (especially crypto day traders) is believing that they have an edge over everyone else because of the charts they look at. The biggest mistake is not believing that day trading is 100% gambling, because that is exactly what it is. The only way to consistently make money over the long term is to invest based on value and fundamentals.

Exactly, I usually consider day traders as gamblers whom have decided to take massive everyday risk. With the unstable price of bitcoin, I do wonder how they make their gain; though some traders claims it very gainful. Its takes one with huge capital and heart hardened to become a day trading. Because for me alone, bitcoin trading is a perfect risk on it own. I most times soley depend on long time investment.

You don't have to necessarily day trade with your whole capital, and if you do, then I would most certainly agree with you. On the other hand, if you set a small percentage of your deposit for day trading, you take the opportunity of both short-term volatility and long-term trends. This topic is likely worth a separate discussion of its own. For now, I can just say that it is definitely a profitable strategy if you know how to properly handle it. Besides, day trading also includes arbitrage and it can be quite profitable as well if done right. I hope you won't call arbitrage gambling.

[zarados]

An active day trader myself (sort of), I often think about common mistakes people make in trading. And it seems that I have traced back most if not all such mistakes to their root cause. In a nutshell, it all comes down to being unable to back out if something goes wrong. For example, you buy a few bitcoins at a December high and expect the price to continue rising, which is kind of obvious. Instead, the price starts crashing down and you find yourself in a situation that you didn't envisage or consider beforehand. So your best option would be to bring things back where they were as fast as possible even if it means some loss.

It is not so much about placing dumb stop-loss orders or other trading techniques aimed at minimizing losses as about your mental disposition or general attitude to immediately get out of what can be loosely called a decision limbo when you basically don't know what to do. In other words, search for the exit where the entrance is and do that fast.

Most of the active trader thought that better to cut loss before they're totally loss. The price crash and media That can trigger them to do such a thing like cut losses. let alone the current moment that has a very high fluctuation rate, the market continues to move in turns up and down. Surely no one can predict exactly how long this will continue.

[entrepmind23]

It is not so much about placing dumb stop-loss orders or other trading techniques aimed at minimizing losses as about your mental disposition or general attitude to immediately get out of what can be loosely called a decision limbo when you basically don't know what to do. In other words, search for the exit where the entrance is and do that fast.

This is why a trading plan is important before making a trade. Many people do the mistake of just buying a coin because he read and heard somewhere that it's a good buy so he bought without even bothering research about the coin and what is the position in the market. He would only notice afterwards that it's a mistake he bought that coin when it dumps and he finds out it was pre-pump. This is usually applicable in altcoins.

Panic buying and panic selling makes the market movements rapid that's why many traders have bigger losses when this happen because they don't know when to exit and if ever there is still a chance to not be in a lose, they would still hold the coin hoping that it would go up more becoming more greedy only to see the price continuously go downwards.

[TERA2]

Stop losses are more of an issue with altcoins and margin trading than with regular bitcoin which is very forgiving with tons of bounces. The biggest mistake in bitcoin trading is buying at the very bottom of a huge crash and then selling for a 5 or 10% profit while forfeiting the other 150%.

[Canis Majoris]

It is not so much about placing dumb stop-loss orders or other trading techniques aimed at minimizing losses as about your mental disposition or general attitude to immediately get out of what can be loosely called a decision limbo when you basically don't know what to do. In other words, search for the exit where the entrance is and do that fast.

This is why a trading plan is important before making a trade. Many people do the mistake of just buying a coin because he read and heard somewhere that it's a good buy so he bought without even bothering research about the coin and what is the position in the market. He would only notice afterwards that it's a mistake he bought that coin when it dumps and he finds out it was pre-pump. This is usually applicable in altcoins.

Panic buying and panic selling makes the market movements rapid that's why many traders have bigger losses when this happen because they don't know when to exit and if ever there is still a chance to not be in a lose, they would still hold the coin hoping that it would go up more becoming more greedy only to see the price continuously go downwards.

Having a thought-out plan and good strategy is all important. As experienced traders often say, if you don't have a plan plan to lose. But then again it is not what I'm trying to focus on here. You can't foresee everything which is possible and still less which is impossible even though it still happens. But however good and broad your trading plan can be and no matter what you do or ready yourself to, you will get caught unprepared and off guard one day. This is the part I want to address in this thread specifically, and as I come to think the common tendency among most traders just to sit passively on their hands in such situations is the root cause of most if not all their woes and sorrows.

[Tzupy]

Stop losses are more of an issue with altcoins and margin trading than with regular bitcoin which is very forgiving with tons of bounces. The biggest mistake in bitcoin trading is buying at the very bottom of a huge crash and then selling for a 5 or 10% profit while forfeiting the other 150%.

Touche!

[Sowik]

HOLDING is something that only newbies do. I had done it as well in the past, I had bought STRATIS @ ATH of $11 and I had to hold it for a few months for it to come back  to its ATH...

[Kevin77]

Important aspect for any trader is avoid trying to take advantage of each potential market movement. In case of the near peak levels of last year, it comes down to common sense, because it was pretty obvious that there was no room for any up movement left anymore. I have been a day trader as well, and the urge to constantly try to exploit the movements were what was holding me back. I turned out to make much more profit while take distance for a good moment, than being active all day in a forced manner. And yes, I do agree that if you did end up buy yourself in the market at what later turns out to be a horrible price, liquidate your positions as soon as possible. In some cases you just have to accept that the market is always one or two steps ahead of you, and that you have to take a hit. It should be considered collateral damage as long as you make more profitable than losing trades.

I love where you said it should be considered collateral damage as long as you make more profits than losses. Nevertheless, what I will point out is that we have a lot of noobs in the market and most of them trade without any strategy.

How will you expect someone who does not have any trading knowledge and is busy buying low and selling high to know where to place a stop loss or when to know when a market is going bearish ?

Any smart trader should know already that you plan an exit immediately from the point you are planning an entry and that includes stop loss. As long as you know what you are doing, even if you play with any trend in the market, you can always readjust your strategy to make some profit from it, but always know what you are doing.

[Canis Majoris]

Important aspect for any trader is avoid trying to take advantage of each potential market movement. In case of the near peak levels of last year, it comes down to common sense, because it was pretty obvious that there was no room for any up movement left anymore. I have been a day trader as well, and the urge to constantly try to exploit the movements were what was holding me back. I turned out to make much more profit while take distance for a good moment, than being active all day in a forced manner. And yes, I do agree that if you did end up buy yourself in the market at what later turns out to be a horrible price, liquidate your positions as soon as possible. In some cases you just have to accept that the market is always one or two steps ahead of you, and that you have to take a hit. It should be considered collateral damage as long as you make more profitable than losing trades.

I love where you said it should be considered collateral damage as long as you make more profits than losses. Nevertheless, what I will point out is that we have a lot of noobs in the market and most of them trade without any strategy.

How will you expect someone who does not have any trading knowledge and is busy buying low and selling high to know where to place a stop loss or when to know when a market is going bearish ?

Any smart trader should know already that you plan an exit immediately from the point you are planning an entry and that includes stop loss. As long as you know what you are doing, even if you play with any trend in the market, you can always readjust your strategy to make some profit from it, but always know what you are doing.

Traders are not the only force which is active in the market. There are also long-term investors which are not looking for quick profits. They are more like Warren Buffett type value investors rather than speculators like George Soros. If they see a genuine potential in a coin, they would consider any dip as an excellent opportunity to buy more, at least as long as they feel confident about the coin's future. Obliviously, the idea of stop-losses simply doesn't make much sense to them. If their attitude changes for whatever reason, they will just get rid of this coin as soon as possible irrespective of its current price.

[pitiflin]

This is a common mistake and one more mistake is that traders try to sell too quickly without analyzing the market situation. The one that you mentioned is more common because there are investors who rely on investments and investments only as their income. Some even rely on this to pay their debts/ loan borrowed from bank. Most people did know that the price will go down but still they took a bad step.

[Slark]

As a long-term holder, I just HODL. That saves me a lot of headaches and a lot of trading commissions. You just put an example of what newbies do: to buy after the last ath out of FOMO and to sell after the dip out of panic. This is the opposite of what I usually recommend

My style exactly. I don't want to be associated with all that daily drama of day trading.
In hindsight, I can say that holding coins and not dealing with all that minor price fluctuation is far better if you have a normal job and don't have time to react accordingly to ever-changing trading patterns.
I recommend only to sell, buy at major breaking points - ATH is a great time to sell and crashes and corrections are great entry points.

[wildflower18]

HOLDING is something that only newbies do. I had done it as well in the past, I had bought STRATIS @ ATH of $11 and I had to hold it for a few months for it to come back  to its ATH...

That's also the best solution holding your coins if you had bought it at Ath. If you cut loses you will surely losing at all. Sometimes too much panic is not good as our performance in trading. We do a lot of mistakes in trading but that mistakes gives us a lesson. So in this case, yes holding it until such time price could recovered that can give you profit.

[btcmegastar]

An active day trader myself (sort of), I often think about common mistakes people make in trading. And it seems that I have traced back most if not all such mistakes to their root cause. In a nutshell, it all comes down to being unable to back out if something goes wrong. For example, you buy a few bitcoins at a December high and expect the price to continue rising, which is kind of obvious. Instead, the price starts crashing down and you find yourself in a situation that you didn't envisage or consider beforehand. So your best option would be to bring things back where they were as fast as possible even if it means some loss.

It is not so much about placing dumb stop-loss orders or other trading techniques aimed at minimizing losses as about your mental disposition or general attitude to immediately get out of what can be loosely called a decision limbo when you basically don't know what to do. In other words, search for the exit where the entrance is and do that fast.

Most of the active trader thought that better to cut loss before they're totally loss. The price crash and media That can trigger them to do such a thing like cut losses. let alone the current moment that has a very high fluctuation rate, the market continues to move in turns up and down. Surely no one can predict exactly how long this will continue.

In this case most of the traders will always face some loss because it will not work according to their analysis. Even though they tried but some times we have to face loss and people start recovering their investment in other sources of investment.

[shinjunobi09]

Don't get caught if there is a flurry of price dump in the bitcoin's price that makes you lose on what your goal setting is. Instead of what is upcoming ahead, because everybody is like "Ahh there is price dump, it is the end of bitcoin". Definitely not because what is important is what you believe in trading is all about your belief on your investment not on the opinion of other people, because people's voice are supporting tools for your analysis and decision making.

[hurry_hore]

As I posted in other topic (link : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2960563.0) even I am new in this crypto, but trading in principal most similar for all stuff. The key is UNDERSTAND the market, how to understand can use two basic analysis. This analysis to different trading with gambling, the analysis can predict where the market will move regarding use fundamental analysis or technical analysis. Both analysis is very useful, avoid us to be gambling and still in the track of trading regardless how long you will be in the market. This time in market classify you as short trader or long trader, some term for short trader called Scalper and long trader perhaps in this case to be called investor. Investor, scalper or may be a true long trader (time in market usually in more than 1 week and less than 3 month), I say all of them are trader.