I have to let this out. I have had a exactly simillar experience. I got into the market early this year and after stumbling and loosing a bunch of money now my portfolio is down to a mere 1/3 . I finally pulled the trigger and liquidated all my holdings today.
I wish I had come across this web site earlier and I am sure I would have been keeping most of what I feel I threw down the drain.
I hope we all can make it back over time and now hope to trade with the “bible” above as my guide.

GLTA
Please keep the advise coming as there are plenty like me in this world who will benefit.

Case study……I’ve lost 66% of my once substantial (to me at least) portfolio over the past 3 months not applying rules and dicipline like the techiques Brian suggests.. ….instead kept holding on convinced (hoping) things would change and couldn’t get worse.

After coming to this site 3 weeks ago and watching the vids / reading the great posts found here, I decided to cash out and stand aside to await a more reliable re-entry point. Doing so was tough, (“as it might finally recover tomorrow”), but had I not done so that portfolio would now be a further 50% down today.

It’s now a very long road back …….. but thanks to Craig, Brian, Idan, Mohan, Daneric40 and many others here …. I at least have 33% left instead of 16%. Thanks guys, appreciate you sharing your experience.

I agree with most of what you wrote, but in point 2 you say:

“If the position has moved passed your stop loss, Get Moving! Sell 100 shares. If it moves against you more, sell another 100 shares. Starting to cut the position is action, and is preferred to inaction.”

Actually, what if the position moves past your stop loss, you’re not using stop losses. You think you are, but you’re not. A stop loss stops losses. You don’t move past it.

I wanted to clarify that because I lost a lot of money before I figured out that I was deluding myself into believing I was using stop losses when I wasn’t. If that saves somebody some money and some heartache, maybe it will atone for some of my past sins in some small way.

Good luck with your trading.