The classic retail mistakes

The uncomfortable truth: most retail losses come from a short, well-documented list of behaviors — not from lacking a secret strategy. Knowing the list is most of the defense.

The list

1. Trading without a stop — "it always comes back" works until the one time it does not, and that one time is the account. Every position has an exit price before it has an entry.
2. Oversizing — the fastest destroyer. A good strategy at 10x proper size is a losing strategy, because the first normal losing streak is fatal. Size from the formula, always.
3. Averaging down losers — adding to a position that is proving the idea wrong concentrates capital in your worst ideas. Add to winners if anything; never to losers.
4. Chasing news — by the time a headline reaches you, algorithms repriced it seconds ago. Buying the spike means providing exit liquidity for earlier entrants.
5. Strategy hopping — abandoning every method at its first normal drawdown, forever restarting the learning curve. Variance guarantees drawdowns; hopping guarantees never crossing one.
6. Ignoring costs — spreads, commissions, and overnight fees compound against frequent traders. A marginal edge minus costs is a negative edge.
7. All-in on one story — one meme ticker, one earnings bet, one "sure thing." Concentration plus leverage is how accounts make headlines, not returns.
8. Learning with size — paying full-size tuition for lessons that replay and small size teach at a discount. Prove the process first, scale after.