Other's Opinions

 This is a reminder to not trade based on other peoples ideas or what they're doing. There are several reasons for this. One - it is not a system and definitely not your system. Two - Ideas are different. What someone else is looking for in a trade is different than what you might be looking for in a trade - you just don't know what they are thinking. Three - you don't know what size they are using - so maybe they're only using a couple shares as a feeler or something. Four - "Strong opinions weakly held" is a kind of market saying (I want to say it was Paul Tudor Jones who said it) - What you hear or read could be an idea that is no longer relevant because things change quickly and you probably shouldn't be trading off of someone else's ideas anyway (the whole point of this post). What you should do instead is listen to ideas and actually analyze them and see if there is something that works for your system. There is no harm in listening to opinions, learning from people, and trying things out, but you must do your own due diligence a bit because anything you do is on you not the person that you took "advice" from. In the market you cannot blame anyone else besides yourself. Trading off of other peoples ideas is not the other person's fault, it is yours. Anyway, I say all of this because the other day, I think I let what someone said in a meeting affect the way I traded a stock and I let it mess with my head and change my game plan enough to where I missed what I had wanted to do before the meeting. I missed the money. Today, I saw that someone else was in the "same" trade as me - that is trading on the same side even though I don't know the quantity in which they were trading.  It is nice to see a trader that  you respect doing what you are to some extent. The thing was that the other trader exited before I did, and this got me a bit worried. The good thing about today was that I didn't let it get to me too much. My trade, the one I was planning on was still valid. I stayed in it and made more than said other trader. I'm going to brag I guess, but it just pleases me to have done better on this one trade than a trader who makes 7 and 8 figures a year (mind you I know of several occasions where this other trader has done way better than me - but I'm learning, gotta have something to aim for!). Have an idea, think for yourself, stick to your plan, have stops. Cheers!