7 Reasons You Didn't Take the Trade

7 Reasons You Didn’t Take the Trade
 
On May 1, 2019, I sent out a push notification on my Dark Pool app and in my live online trading room that we were below massive Dark Pool prints on the $S&P 500 ETF the $SPY with a strong recommendation to put protection on.
Below is the tweet I sent out warning my traders to act on this information:


When corrections are happening, many traders freeze up.
I’ll admit, my traders got very quiet at that moment in my trading room. You could hear a pin drop! Many of my newer traders had never been through a correction with me, so I knew it was so important to lead the way for them. I started calling out my trades so they could follow along with confidence.

Below is my post from my live trading room. First, I bought the 290 protective puts on the $SPY that were set to expire that Friday.


Next, I added to my protection buying longer out puts into Monday.


Some of my traders started following by calling out their trades, but not all of them, so I continued to ask if everybody had protection on. It’s not everyday that I call a correction. In fact, I have only called 14 corrections in the past 6 years.

The traders that have been in my room knew the drill and knew what to do, but the new traders needed a little push and a little encouragement. They needed a leader to show them the way, which is why I run a live trading room. I wish I could click the button to enter everybody into a trade, but this is the next best position to be in. So, there I was 15 minutes before the closing bell asking if everybody had protection on. Helmets and seatbelts were not a bad idea. Below is my post to my room.


I warned again, saying we were below the prints, and must buy some puts.


I reassured them that we can make money on this ride down.


Even at the closing bell, I told my traders they could still buy puts on the $SPY because they were open for another 15 minutes.


Even with all these warnings, some traders did not take the trade!

Using my psychology degree, along with 25 years of teaching experience and observing traders, I have come up with 7 reasons why traders do not take a trade:

1. Brand new trader: Brand new traders are still paper trading. Most new traders don’t even have an account set up yet to trade, therefore they would miss this trade.

 

2. Never shorted before: Believe it or not, there are many traders who don’t know how to put on a short position. The market does move in 3 directions. Up, down and sideways and we can profit off all of these moves if we follow the Dark Pool. Trading options is the least risky way to trade on the short side. It costs a lot of money to short the ETF $SPY, which was at $292 a share, but you can buy very cheap options. The trades I take are very inexpensive. Keeping your risk low is the most important part of trading.

 

3. Do not know where and when to enter. Perhaps you didn’t know the levels to enter and exit. This is where education plays a vital role. Education and real-life trading experience are a must for all traders who truly want to be successful at it. The unfortunate part is that many traders just wish to gamble and don’t want to truly learn. All day long I call out levels to enter and exit. All day long until eventually, my traders learn how to do it all by themselves.

 

4. Do not trust the Dark Pool prints. How many times do you have to see something work before you can jump in the trade with confidence? Some of my traders trust me right off the bat and start jumping into my recommendations, while most need to see it work a few times before they leap into a trade. The question for you is, how many times do you need to see it work successfully? I personally need to see something work consistently for 6 weeks before I start trading it.

 

5. Do not trust yourself. Somewhere along your life, you made a bad decision and it didn’t work out well for you. Therefore, you question all of your decisions. This effects your trading career enormously. Every day you need to make trading decisions. You need to decide which stock to enter, and where you are going to get out.

 
If it goes against you, where is your stop loss?
 
If it goes in your favor, where is your target exit?
 
If you don’t trust your decisions, you probably won’t make any. If you do make any trades, you’ll second guess them all day long. I get into many trades every day expecting that not all of them will have happy endings.
 
Expecting that some trades won’t go your way is healthy trading. When they don’t work out, get out quickly and congratulate yourself for it. Those are my best trades, the ones that don’t go my way, stopping out with a small loss. Most traders only congratulate themselves when stocks do go their way but forget to do the same when we stop out with discipline. Change your mindset. Trading isn’t perfect and neither are you. If you follow the Dark Pool, you should see your success rate increase, but not every trade will be perfect. Sometimes you’ll be on the wrong side of the trade. That’s okay only if you get out and reverse. It’s not okay to stay there.
 

6. You were not at your desk to trade. Maybe you were working or on vacation and weren’t at your desk actively trading. I always make sure I put on very cheap protective puts when I can’t be at my desk, just in case something happens. Most of us have longer term portfolios and if I’m on vacation, I always buy some cheap protection.

 
If you read my book you know that every time I go on vacation, we get a correction…
 
My next vacation is the end of December 2019, so be sure to mark that on your calendar. 😉
 

7. Self-Sabotage. Self-Sabotage is the worst thing you can do to yourself. How many of you were having a great week, trading with amazing discipline and following rules but Friday comes along, and you turn into a different trader. You become reckless. You start breaking rules, going against the trend, or you start chasing and buying the top and selling the bottom. You lose everything you worked so hard for all week long in one day. You self-sabotaged yourself.

 
Many traders do this because they don’t think they deserve to be successful. How many of you were told by a friend or your spouse that trading isn’t a real career, or that you can’t make a living doing that? Or perhaps you heard the words “money doesn’t grow on trees” as a kid and that you need to work hard to make money. Even though we don’t’ think these negative thoughts are affecting us, they do go deep down and penetrate our inner core, our subconscious minds hold onto them. As soon as you realize you’re making money easily and this could be your career, you start to feel uncomfortable in your own skin.
 
You sabotage your trades so that money doesn’t grow on trees and you can’t make a living doing this.
 
For those of you who know me, you know that I’m a workaholic, putting in 18-hour days, 7 days a week. I make it look easy when I’m trading, but there were so many hours of tape reading and preparation mapping out dozens of possible trades behind the scenes before the opening bell rings.
 
If you’ve watched some of the Wall Street movies out there, they make it look like we just walk into the office, click a few buttons and make millions of dollars in just a few hours, so yeah, we do get a bad rap…
I hope that most of you took the trade, but if you didn’t, I can help you take the next one.
 
Remember there is always another trade like this one.
 
 

 
I'd love to help you learn how you can take advantage of the Dark Pools and accelerate your success! To learn how you can personally work with me and my team, call 1-800-544-6044 or click here to request a time to chat with us!
 
Until next time,
 
Happy Trading!
 
Stefanie Kammerman
 
Aka The Stock Whisperer