From the Desk of S&P Trader, Larry Levin:
Secret Trading Tip # 7 Avoiding Mental sabotage
We've all heard that 95% or more of all traders ultimately fail. Have you ever wondered why? When asked, most failed traders will tell you it was the system or method they were using. They'll also tell you they had a few bad trades they couldn't recover from, or their dog chewed through the telephone cord just as their computer crashed and they couldn't get out of a losing trade. Everyone has a different reason, but when you hear enough of them, a pattern begins to develop. I believe most traders fail because they sabotage themselves.
You see the markets work very differently than most other things in life. There is more freedom in this business than probably any other business in the world. You can do what you want, whenever you want to do it. You can trade 1 contract or 100, buy the market or sell it, it's up to you. The only thing that holds you back is running out of money. Most people are just not accustomed to that much freedom.
So, If You Can't Control the Market, the Only Thing You Can Control is Yourself
Trading the markets is also much different than most things we normally do. In everyday life we exercise some control over our environment. If the room is too dark we turn the light switch on. If we want to go somewhere we jump in the car and turn the key. In trading you can't control what the market does. No matter how much you want the market to go in a certain direction; there is absolutely nothing you can do to force that to happen. You can't turn a key or flip a switch. Hoping, pleading, negotiating, screaming, --- nothing will make the market do what you want. So, if you can't control the market, the only thing you can control is yourself. Successful traders all understand and embrace this concept. Unsuccessful traders continue to try to make the market conform to their wishes.
No comments:
Post a Comment