📝 Trapped by Perfection: When Good Trades Feel Like Mistakes

This week, I took a trade on $CRSP, one that I had been monitoring for several weeks. Once I got the entry trigger, I entered the trade, and within one day, it reached my first take-profit (TP) target. I took my planned first TP, securing profit and reducing open risk.

Instead of feeling fulfilled for executing my trade well, I found myself fixating on the fact that I exited slightly early. I had originally placed a limit sell order at $51.12, but I executed a market sell at $50.25—just before price moved 1.7% higher to my target. I should have been happy—I was up +17% on the day, but instead, I couldn’t sleep. So, here I am journaling at 5 AM. 😅

The Crispr Therapeutics $CRSP trade

The Desire to Be Right

Trading psychology is crucial—arguably one of the most important aspects of a trader’s success. Over time, I’ve learned that working on my mindset has led to some of my biggest breakthroughs in trading.

This blog category, Trade Journal Chronicles, is my space to reflect on lessons learned and areas I need to improve to become a better trader.

One of the biggest psychological traps traders fall into is the need to be right. We feel this urge to prove ourselves by hitting our exact TP levels rather than focusing on what truly matters: following the strategy and making money consistently.

In reality, it doesn’t matter if every trade reaches the exact TP level. What matters is executing your edge consistently and sticking to the process over time.

The Joy & Frustration of Trading

Trading is an emotional rollercoaster. When you hit your exact TP, it feels amazing—like validation that you were “right.” But that’s not what trading is about.

• Trading is about following your strategy
• Trading is about managing risk
• Trading is about paying yourself from the market

The real danger arises when you start making decisions based on ego rather than your trading plan. When you focus on being “right” instead of executing your system, you set yourself up for frustration and emotional decision-making, which can be harmful to your long-term trading performance.

Avoiding the Ego Trap

As traders, we carry a lot of pressure. If we let it, trading can become an ego-driven game, where we seek validation from the market instead of focusing on execution. But that’s a dangerous place to be.

For me, my trading has been very successful over the past year, and I know that if I let my ego grow unchecked, it will eventually come back to bite me. That’s why I need to step back, reflect, and ensure I stay disciplined and grounded.

Shifting the Focus to What Went Right

Instead of obsessing over what I could have done better, I need to focus on what I did right:

• I followed my strategy
• I monitored this trade for weeks and waited for confirmation
• I took an aggressive but well-planned entry
• I executed based on clear rules
• I secured TP1 profit and am still in the trade

That’s what I should be focusing on — not the fact that I took profit slightly early.

I’ll keep working on this part of my trading psychology and keep reminding myself:

I’m not here to be right. I’m here to be profitable. {: .prompt-tip }

Have you ever struggled with this? Let me know on X or Substack.