I have spent some time this morning reviewing my trades for November, looking for any patterns that exist in the trades that failed and those that worked. I am sure that the results of my review are similar to yours ; Breakout trades just fizzled for example. The market just seemingly not in the mood for that type of trade.

I have a lot of good questions come my way regarding the notion of “failed trades” so I wanted to expand on this some for those that don’t know my perspective on this. For me, a “failed trade” is not just about a trade that loses money – a “failed trade” is one where your preparation or execution is where you fail.

Say what?

That’s right. My perspective is that if you have solid preparation and execute your trade according to your rules – like for example you are stopped out for a loss – I don’t view that as a “failed trade”. So be it. If you minimized your loss on the trade by sticking to your PLAN then I contend that the trade worked – it was just not profitable for you. On to the next trade, stick to the PLAN.

So give yourself a break on these trades that don’t work — because they don’t all work.