I had a chance to check out a great seminar by Jack Schwager, author of the book Market Wizards. There was an interesting point that he hit on regarding winner and loser mentality. Every single trader loses at some point. They either take a hit, a loss, or lose some kind of money. If you are new, and it hasn’t happened to you yet – it will!

When one is in a bad trade and a stock dips lets say 10% – the loser mentality person will say “I will get out when I’m back to even.” This is basically setting you up to lose more. If the stock dives further – then you will take a larger hit. People say that they will get out when they are back to even because they don’t want to admit that they just took a loss. They don’t want that psychological burden of being a loser.

The fact is that anyone who trades professionally or made millions in the stock market had many losing trades. It’s about getting out of your losing trades quickly and letting your winning trades run as much as possible.

The winning mentality knows this. Make sure you don’t hold on to your losers. Let the ego go and get rid of the losers if they are past your rules and have gone through your stops.