The fourteen mistakes that cost you

Fourteen mistakes that cost you, each with its symptom and its rule. They all have the same shape: a layer skipped, a number left unchecked, a rule negotiated because the reading looked obvious. None of them is a reading mistake; all of them are mistakes of order or of discipline, and that is why one rule is enough for each. Reread this list on Friday, with the week's journal open.

The three families of mistakes

Mistakes 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are mistakes of order: a layer read before the one above it, or a signal taken before its confirmation. Mistakes 3, 4 and 14 are mistakes of verification: a setting, a time, a source left unchecked. Mistakes 9 to 13 are mistakes of discipline: a rule written cold, negotiated in the heat of the moment. The first are fixed in replay, the second with the pre-market checklist, the third with the journal and the Risk Manager. Knowing which family today's mistake belongs to tells you where to fix it.