I had a very disappointing 2018, my entire portfolio suffered a -19% loss. My stock picking only had 33% success rate, picking only 9 winners out of the 27 trades I took last year. Though I managed to keep my risk percentage within my limit, my poor stock picking numbers really hurt my portfolio's entire performance.
I forced some of my trades in a downhill market; and the market taught me a hard lesson. My strategy will not work on a down-trending market, I actually knew that, but still I tried to enter positions I thought are feasible. I knew I should listen to the market, but I still took some risk and I paid for it with my money. A different kind of market needs a different kind of approach, that's my main takeaway from this lesson. I cannot be a momentum trader in a market for swing traders.
This year, 2019, the PSE index started the year ranging between 7400 and 7600; a breakout of the range might show the direction of the market. I like the fact that we seem to be independent of what's going on with the world markets right now. Our market seems to be shaping it's own direction. It is exciting to see where this is heading.
Losing gives us opportunities to learn and evaluate our selves. I will consider my 2018 draw-down as just another lesson learned. Trading for me is a long game, and a year of negative return will not deter me but will instead fire me up to learn more. We all still have our best years ahead of us. Keep grinding , keep learning.
