Swing Trading For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 15

Ten (Plus One) Deadly Mistakes of Swing Trading

IN THIS CHAPTER

Sticking to your plan to avoid unnecessary pain

Making sure you have enough money to start investing

Avoiding keeping open positions while traveling

To excel in swing trading, you must not only follow the rules but also avoid harming yourself. After all, just because you speed to work every morning without getting caught doesn’t mean you’ll get away with it tomorrow. The same principle applies to swing trading: Committing one or more of the mistakes in this chapter won’t necessarily bring about immediate punishment (and by that, I mean loss of account value). But you’ll eventually be called to account for repeated infractions.

Violating Your Trading Plan

If you can’t stick to your trading plan, you’re unlikely to make it as a professional swing trader. Your trading plan is your strategy. It governs how you trade, when you trade, and how you exit. Your trading plan should impose certain restrictions, such as how much you allocate to a single position or how you respond to losses. Those restrictions are in place to protect your capital, because the markets often lull people into a sense of confidence — only ...