You Enter Too Fast and Exit TOo Slow

Drafted with Claude 4 Sonnet. I heard someone say the phrase: “You enter too fast and exit too slow.” It’s been banging around in my head as I’ve been watching the markets on high timeframes to see if I can make good decisions. Much like in day trading, eventually you see something way too clear, too much confluence. I threw a paper short out into the aether on thursday against the TSX and I’m rearing up to get an options account that can sell me the contract. But old habits die hard – I’m already analyzing my behaviour around this trade. I’m thinking it’ll go against me first, so I should only put a third of the weight on. I have to build an entirely new playbook and rule set for swing trading – it’s very difficult to quantify anything from datapoints systematically, but my lens on the macro is very sharp. I’m going to start firing with real bullets on high timeframes.

There’s this old trading saying that took me way too long to really understand: “You enter too fast and exit too slow.” For years, I thought I got it. I’d nod along when more experienced traders mentioned it, but I was still making the same mistakes over and over again.

Here’s the thing about spotting a good setup—your brain gets excited. You see that perfect chart pattern, maybe a clean breakout or a bounce off support, and every fiber of your being screams “GET IN NOW!” The fear of missing out is real, and it makes you want to slam that buy button with your entire position size.

But markets have this cruel sense of humor. They love to shake you out right after you enter. That beautiful breakout? Yeah, it’s probably going to dip back down first, just to mess with your head. That support bounce? It might test support one more time before really taking off.

I learned this the hard way, watching perfectly good trades turn red immediately after I entered, only to eventually work out exactly as I’d predicted—after I’d already been stopped out or panic-sold.

Now I try to think of entries like dipping your toe in a swimming pool instead of cannonballing in. Start with a small position. If the market wants to go against me initially, fine—I’ll add more at better prices. This approach has saved me so much stress and actually improved my returns because I’m getting better average entry prices.

The exit side is where things get really psychological. When a trade goes against you, your brain starts playing tricks. “Maybe it’ll turn around,” you tell yourself. “This is just a temporary pullback.” Meanwhile, what should have been a small loss grows into something that actually hurts.

I’ve noticed that my best trading periods happen when I’m ruthless about cutting losers and patient about building winners. It’s completely backwards from how we’re wired as humans, but that’s exactly why it works.

The market doesn’t care about your feelings or your mortgage payment. It’s going to do what it’s going to do. Your job is to react appropriately—slowly and deliberately on the way in, quickly and unemotionally on the way out when things go wrong.

It sounds simple, but it’s taken me years to actually implement this consistently. Some days I still catch myself rushing into trades or holding onto losers too long. But recognizing the pattern is the first step, and every time I stick to this approach, I’m reminded why experienced traders keep repeating this same advice.

The market will always be there tomorrow. Your capital might not be if you don’t learn to enter slow and exit fast.