Hey traders! It seems as if it has been forever since I've written a post for my own site. However, thanks to the contributors for the new "Trading War Stories" section and the "Good Vibes" posts that Devon has been writing for Motivational Mondays, I hope that you've been entertained in my absence. Recently it's seemed like I've had a million ideas for new articles yet haven't had the time to complete them in a way that is worth sharing. My most recent idea was an article titled "Trading & Golf" which I still plan on writing, it will just have to be tuned down from how I originally planned for it to be. With that being said, I've been somewhat inspired by the Live Trading Room over the past few days and thought it would make for a good write up.
The past two days have been pretty even in the room. My win percentage is a little down but overall the room is at about break even for the month. With that being said, between yesterday and today I've had two structure based trades that went on to win without me being involved. Let me take that back, I was involved, but was stopped out before the market decided to roll over into what would have been profit. Am I mad or have any regrets about these two trades? No. I fully understood the situation when I entered them and in order to keep the target I wanted, along with a proper risk profile, the stops could only be a certain amount away from my entry. But just because I don't regret the decisions doesn't mean that I can't learn from them
One thing that often hurts a trader the most is having to much pride. I've seen instances where a trader continues to ignore a perfectly good system or strategy simply because they didn't develop it themselves. Yes they want to make money, but they also want to feed their ego by saying that "I" developed a way to conquer the market. Basically wanting to feel that they're smarter than everybody else. I've also seen examples of traders that get in denial about losing trades because of their pride. When a trade loses, instead of taking it for what it is, they come up with some type of excuse for why it lost. "Well it would've won if I didn't place it during the opening bell." Sure, this excuse could actually be true, but then again every losing trade we take "could have won" right?
I haven't been around the trading game long enough to make a distinct statement, but from the 100+ traders that I have met and am in constant communication with, it seems like the best traders are also the most humble ones. When I say humble, I don't mean the ones that never brag or get excited about calling a winning trade. After all, lets be honest, if you predict a big time trade, then see the market proceed to do exactly what you projected who doesn't get excited. Rather I mean the ones that don't make excuses when their wrong, and more importantly understand that our job isn't to reinvent the wheel. It's more like using the wheel in the most efficient way possible.
Well, I've seemed to have gotten off topic as I tend to do, but the original point of this post was to say that professional trading is all about making adjustments. We all make good calls, we all make bad calls. What's important is that we take each trade, bad or good, as a learning experience and try to improve on it for the future. There is no such thing as a perfect trader. But that doesn't stop me from wanting to be as close to perfect as possible.
The past two days have been pretty even in the room. My win percentage is a little down but overall the room is at about break even for the month. With that being said, between yesterday and today I've had two structure based trades that went on to win without me being involved. Let me take that back, I was involved, but was stopped out before the market decided to roll over into what would have been profit. Am I mad or have any regrets about these two trades? No. I fully understood the situation when I entered them and in order to keep the target I wanted, along with a proper risk profile, the stops could only be a certain amount away from my entry. But just because I don't regret the decisions doesn't mean that I can't learn from them
One thing that often hurts a trader the most is having to much pride. I've seen instances where a trader continues to ignore a perfectly good system or strategy simply because they didn't develop it themselves. Yes they want to make money, but they also want to feed their ego by saying that "I" developed a way to conquer the market. Basically wanting to feel that they're smarter than everybody else. I've also seen examples of traders that get in denial about losing trades because of their pride. When a trade loses, instead of taking it for what it is, they come up with some type of excuse for why it lost. "Well it would've won if I didn't place it during the opening bell." Sure, this excuse could actually be true, but then again every losing trade we take "could have won" right?
I haven't been around the trading game long enough to make a distinct statement, but from the 100+ traders that I have met and am in constant communication with, it seems like the best traders are also the most humble ones. When I say humble, I don't mean the ones that never brag or get excited about calling a winning trade. After all, lets be honest, if you predict a big time trade, then see the market proceed to do exactly what you projected who doesn't get excited. Rather I mean the ones that don't make excuses when their wrong, and more importantly understand that our job isn't to reinvent the wheel. It's more like using the wheel in the most efficient way possible.
Well, I've seemed to have gotten off topic as I tend to do, but the original point of this post was to say that professional trading is all about making adjustments. We all make good calls, we all make bad calls. What's important is that we take each trade, bad or good, as a learning experience and try to improve on it for the future. There is no such thing as a perfect trader. But that doesn't stop me from wanting to be as close to perfect as possible.
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