“Worth a Go”? Not in Trading

The Pitfalls of Half-Committed Trades

Be super honest…
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Have you ever said one of these phrases (or similar) before a trade?

  • “I’ll have a stab”
  • “Worth a go”
  • “Let’s take a punt”
  • “Have a nibble”

Yeah?
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And how did that trade go?
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Well, maybe you got lucky that time…but think about what that phrase is really saying.
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​“I’ll take a stab” is basically saying… “I don’t really like the trade, the setup is not what I want to see, but f*&k it, why not”
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​And the problem with that is this…

  1. You start to condition yourself that it’s ok to take substandard trades.
  2. You’ll never manage trades like that properly… the slightest move against you, or some tricky price action on the way to target will have you reaching for the close-all button.

After all, you weren’t that committed to the trade in the first place, were you?
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So you really can’t win…
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You’re either reinforcing behaviour that’s not going to serve you.
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Or you’re taking a trade that probably has a negative expectancy over 100 trades because you’re closing winners at the first sign of trouble!
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​Ban the wishy-washy stuff from your vocabulary.
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​“I’m long, I’m short, or I’m flat, no dabbling”