Top Trading Lessons: Allowed Too Much ’Wiggle’ Room on Profitable Trades in Wrong Environment

Coming into 2019 the top takeaway from the year prior was that I was a bit too selective as a result of trying to adjust to the low-volatility environment, so I decided to loosen it up a bit even if meant taking some trades with less-than-normal trading size. This turned out to be a good adjustment, however…

In loosening up, I also allowed the ‘hope’ for higher volatility to impede on my judgement as to how far I should allow profitable trades to run. I always set multiple targets for trades, but in extremely tight trading conditions (DXY range smallest in 40+ years), not very often did trades run beyond the first level before reversing.