Invest Like a Shark in 2026: Trade in Resolutions for a Game Plan

Most people treat New Year's resolutions as a wish list rather than a strategic plan. They start with high aspirations, but within weeks, they retreat into the comfort of old habits and lose sight of the actions that actually improve results.

In trading, trying harder is a recipe for disaster. It usually leads to overtrading and revenge trading. To succeed in 2026, you don't need more effort. You need a better approach. You need resolutions that aren't broad generalizations but specific, measurable behavioral shifts. Here is my blueprint for the year ahead.

1. Bridging the Discipline Gap

The most painful lesson I've learned in over 30 years of trading is that the market doesn't care what you know. It only cares about what you do. There is a massive gap between intellectual knowledge and emotional execution.

Even Stanley Druckenmiller, one of the best investors of all time, fell into this trap during the dot-com bubble. After losing over a billion dollars in a poorly timed trade, he was asked what he would have done differently. His answer is one every trader should print out and tape to their monitor: "I already knew that I shouldn't have been doing it. I was just an emotional mess and couldn't help myself."

It isn't bad luck or market conditions that cause losses. Losses are caused by not doing what you know you should do. To deal with this issue in 2026, I am implementing a formal post-mortem framework. Every week I will audit my trades against three key metrics:

• Was this an impulse entry? Did I buy because of a setup, or because I was bored or fearful of missing out?
• Did I honor my stop? When the trade hit my exit point, did I move the goalposts or exit immediately?
• Was my trading plan documented? If I didn't write down the reason for the trade before I took it, it counts as a disciplinary failure regardless of the profit.

2. Sizing for Slugging Percentage, Not Batting Average

The resolution I make every year, and the one most people find the most troubling, is to take more risk and trade bigger. Retail traders often obsess over their win rate. They want to be right 80% of the time or more. Trying too hard to avoid bad trades is a recipe for poor performance.

Superior returns are built on slugging percentage, which means making a killing on the small percentage of trades where you have massive conviction. This requires the courage to trade larger sizes in volatile names. The stress of increased size is the primary reason traders stay small and mediocre. To manage this, I use dynamic sizing. I don't just bet the farm at the entry. I build a pyramid into strength:

• The starter: A small position to test the water.
• The confirmation: Adding size when the chart clears a key level or a catalyst develops.
• The hammer: Going to maximum exposure when the macro, the chart, and the catalyst all align.

George Soros famously said, "It's not whether you're right or wrong that's important, but how much money you make when you're right and how much you lose when you are wrong." In 2026, I'm focused on the "how much."

3. Style Clarity

In 2026, one issue I will focus on in my writing is the difference between managing an investment portfolio and aggressive trading of individual stocks. They are two very different things, but few folks really distinguish between them. Portfolio design requires different priorities and skills than picking stocks to produce maximum gains.

My skill is stock picking. I have consistently generated very good returns in a small account that focuses on trading just one or two stocks in shorter time frames. Style drift is a major problem for many investors. There are many nuances to this, and I will focus on these distinctions in my upcoming columns.

4. Accountability

One disadvantage of being an independent trader is the lack of a boss. In a professional firm, there is a manager or clients watching your screen. In a home office, you are the CEO, the trader, and the risk manager. When you're alone, it's easy to hide your mistakes from yourself.

Ask yourself: If someone was watching over my shoulder, would I have made that last trade? To address this lack of accountability, I am putting my ego on the line and entering the U.S. Investment Championship for 2026. This isn't about vanity. It's about the psychological pressure of public scrutiny. When your returns are public, you are less likely to let a small mistake turn into a catastrophic loss, because you know the scoreboard is watching. My historic returns in my small trading account would have consistently put me high in the rankings every year. This year, I'm going to track my results and discuss them here.

5. The Monthly Implementation Grade

Intentions are fleeting, so I plan to use documentation to hold myself accountable. On the first of every month, starting Feb. 1, I will reread this column and grade myself.

• A: Perfect execution of stops and aggressive sizing on winners.
• C: Made money but broke discipline or stayed too small on high-conviction plays.
• F: Allowed emotions to dictate sizing or ignored technical exits.

There will be some subjectivity in this, but I plan to be a very tough critic. I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead in 2026. Volatility will be elevated, and the only question is whether we have the discipline to capture it. Let's get to work.

At the time of publication, Jensen had no position in any security mentioned.