10 stock-trading dead traps every retail investor should know! Understand them to avoid years of detours

1. Thinking you can control the market?
Watching the chart every day and the gains, thinking if you just keep staring it will go up. The market isn’t run by your family—can looking at it a couple more times really make it rise? The real people who make big money read books; only gamblers stare at flickering numbers for self-entertainment.
2. Cut losses decisively, take profits and run instantly?
Make 3% and you run, lose 30% and you hold on. You’re literally uprooting flowers to water weeds! Great companies must be held with courage; leaving a trash company on your portfolio for another second is disrespectful to your wallet.
3. Profits come from “spare money,” losses are “principal”?
You don’t feel bad when profit disappears; it hurts only when the principal is gone. Money is money—what “principal” and “profit” is there? As soon as it hits your account, every dollar is your hard-earned sweat. Don’t give yourself excuses.
4. It’s up for two days, and you think “this time is different”?
After getting brainwashed by those two days of explosive gains, you think a bull market is coming. The most expensive sentence in finance is “this time is different.” Market conditions change every day, but human greed and fear haven’t changed for hundreds of years.
5. When others cut losses, you also rush to get smashed?
When the market panics, even if you know the valuation is cheap, you still smash it down. Others are fearful and I’m greedy; others are greedy and I’m fearful. If you buy stocks still have to look at what old Wang next door thinks, take my advice—close your account and buy an index.
6. The money you made by luck will be lost by “strength”?
You caught a wave and made a quick buck, and you really think you’re a stock god. Only when the tide goes out do you know who was swimming naked! Don’t treat luck as ability. If you can’t understand the business, don’t invest a cent—sticking to your circle of competence is the life raft.
7. Profits are thanks to yourself, losses are blamed on the big environment?
When you win, you’re amazing; when you lose, you blame the broader market, blame the pump-and-dump crew. Admit you’re not good—it’s not embarrassing. The embarrassing part is refusing to acknowledge mistakes and keep dying on the same hill. Write down your buy thesis— the market will slap you in the face at any time.
8. A “discount” price makes you think it’s cheap?
Dropping from 100 to 50 makes you think the bottom-picking opportunity is here. Price is what you pay; value is what you get. Forget the all-time highest price—only focus on whether this company can generate cash flow in the future.
9. Addicted to momentum trades, chasing thrills?
Every day you hunt for limit-up boards, enjoying dopamine stimulation. Nobody wants to get rich slowly. If you’re not planning to hold this company for ten years, then don’t hold it for even ten minutes.
10. Holding as a long-term shareholder?
You make a little by cashing out, but when you get deeply trapped, you comfort yourself that you’re doing value investing. Assumption: if you had cash right now, would you buy it at today’s price? If you wouldn’t dare to buy, then don’t leave it for even one second—close everything immediately!