Tag: top 10 penny stocks

Make no mistake about it, if you trade good penny stocks for a long enough period, expect to experience drawdowns. We all go through periods when things simply don’t go away. However, there is a difference between going through a trading slump and having losing trades.

With that said, let’s take a look at both, and how they affect our trading.

Now, depending on your strategy the number of drawdowns will vary. For example, if someone primarily only trades M&A deals, they might make money 95 out 100 trades. However, those five times that they are wrong can be costly. On the other hand, a discretionary trader might be right 40-60% of the time, and still manage to be very successful.

A drawdown is simply a trade that is closed out for a realized loss. On a more macro level drawdowns can also be expressed in time periods. For example, one could say they drew down on the day, week, or month if they ended up realizing losses.

As mentioned, drawdowns are a part of the game. It’s important to understand that trading good penny stocks, in many ways, is a probability game…there are very few, if any certainties. The sooner you accept that, the better you’ll be.

You can learn just as much from your losing trades as you can from your winning trades. If you’re going through a losing period, take a step back and start scrutinizing your previous trades.

Ask yourself, “Are these mistakes are avoidable, or am I just a victim of variance?” Sometimes, we let our emotions interfere with our game plan, which ends up being a costly mistake. Of course, it can be more than that.

For example, maybe there has been some shift in the market, and your strategy or thesis is no longer valid. Maybe a CEO resigns, or a new government law is comes into effect. A number of factors could come into play that would affect the dynamics of a company and its stock price.

Is the root of the problem in your mechanics? Analyze your execution and see if there is anything is different. Have you not adjusted your position sizing for the added volatility? Go through your process and see if there is anything different and worth noting.

Maybe you’re going through some personal changes. Ask yourself if you’re getting enough sleep, eating well, or dealing with stressful relationships. These are things we don’t think about  that could affect our trading of good penny stocks, but they can…therefore, they’re worth addressing and trying to correct any of these problems.

For some, a series of losses could lead to confidence issues. It’s generally best to focus on improving your process. For example, instead of trading your normal tier size, scale down the number of shares down and just focus on executing your game plan.

Do this until your confidence comes back. What you don’t want to do is trade bigger in order to regain losses. You want to be trading your biggest when you’re most confident in your ideas, not when you’re having doubts and are unsure. That’s the secret to making the most of good penny stocks.