What to do during bear market as a stocks trader?

My answer is to stop trading.

Maybe my above answer is not for you. It depends on your profile as a stock trader. I consider my self a quickie trader. I do not sit on a stock position for a long time. A swing or a bounce is enough for me. I sell quickly once my favorite progressive support line (a type of moving average indicator) is breached.

So far, whenever I entered a trade on any particular setup, my support line was breached. So, as you can see (above picture), I don't have any position.

I had a total of eight trades for the month of January and February 2020. I lost all eight. Minimal losses on each trade. My trading system/strategy protected me.

As you can see the global financial market is down. Most likely the reasons are the following:

• Trade War (between China and the US).
• COVID-19.
• Saudi Arabia, Russia Oil price war. 

The trade war between China and the US started like two years ago. The trade war somehow made investors and businessmen wary. The global growth slowed if not declined. Early this year, the first phase of the deal was inked between China and the US. The first deal was a good indication that both economic heavyweight can find middle ground. Few markets rebounded, but here comes the second problem -- COVID-19.

COVID-19 was discovered early this year in China. As of this writing it affected more than 100K people and 4000 people died as per WHO website. The virus triggered massive selling last week. 

Still no vaccine and the market still bloody here comes another problem -- the oil price war. Oil price nose dive this week to as low as USD 29.

Well, enough reasons to short sell?

    

In other financial markets where short selling is in place, I might not stop trading. I'm just started to learn trading, and my focus is PSEI. Short selling stocks at PSEI are still not allowed or not yet implemented to say the least. 

With the above being said, It is safe to stop trading and keep the cash. Sometimes the best trade is not to trade at all. The best offense is defense. Like boxing, protect yourself at all times. Protect your capital during market conditions like now. In warfare, retreat and fight another day.

I think this is the time to review trades. Study the mistakes. Fine-tune system. Backtesting strategies. Developing new strategies that suit the market conditions.

As a trader, what do you recommend to do? Share your thoughts in the comment section. It's for free!