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Not That Simple

Becoming a good trader doesn’t happen overnight. Just as with any other skill or discipline, it requires time and practice to become proficient at it:

One of the biggest problems I see new traders struggle with is the mindset that somehow trading can be approached differently from other ventures or activities. This is something which either comes from too much focus on the prospects of profits and easy wealth building (greed, in short) or from just not considering that it is an activity which requires skill to do well.
In Enhancing Trader Performance, Brett Steenbarger talks about trading as a performance activity. He relates it closely to athletics, but you could very easily extend the metaphor to any other activity which takes time and effort to progress in skill. The point is that you cannot expect to just jump right in and be an expert. You must progress through stages of understanding, competence, and experience.
Trading is easy. I mean pointing and clicking to buy and sell is about at simple as it gets.
Playing guitar is easy too. Just pluck or strum. No one thinks they are going to pick up a guitar and become the next Jimi Hendrix, though. They know it takes hours and hours of practice to develop even a basic ability to play, nevermind getting to the point of having people pay to listen to you.
Why do people think that things are different in trading?
Good trading requires learning and practice – just like anything else you want to get good at. There are no quick solutions. Don’t expect them, and don’t let anyone lead you to believe that there are.

Anticipation ,Action & Reinforcement

The ANTICIPATION Phase:  this is where all the left hand chart reading takes place in preparation for the right hand chart battle. It’s the PROCESS that precedes the ACTION to put on a trade. A technical trader anticipates that a past price pattern will repeat again, so he identifies the pattern, locates a current one and determines a suitable match is present.  Technical analysis is nothing more than finding previous price patterns matched with current market conditions.  Traders anticipate such repetitive behavior based on human nature and seek to take advantage of it.

The ACTION phase involves hitting the BUY key based on the previous ANTICIPATION process.  Since no one can tell the future or what the right hand side of the chart will reveal, the ACTION is based on the confidence that the trader will do what is right once a trade is put on, which is to exit gracefully at a pre-determined loss line or exit humbly at a pre-determined profit target (P2), fully accepting either/or, or an OUTCOME between one or the other, depending on current market conditions.

The REINFORCEMENT phase occurs after the trade is closed.  Whether or not the trade is a win, lose, or draw, the self-talk immediately following trade closure is vitally important for the next trade, and even the next series of trades, as future trades can be negatively or positively affected by building pathways to future success.  These pathways are neurologically based and can make or break a successful trading career.  While it is important to ANTICIPATE right side chart OUTCOMES, what is more important is DEVELOPING right side brain reinforcement.

Twelve Months -12 Rules

1. BE STRONG. have the courage to say “no”, separate yourself from somebody who doesn’t bring out the best of you, put yourself up when your world seems to be falling apart.
2. BE PATIENT WITH YOURSELF. don’t give up when something is being hard to you, don’t think you can’t do anything because it’s hard. work until you can do that because you can. don’t forget: “it never gets easier, you just get better”.
3. DON’T LET ANYBODY BRING YOU DOWN. don’t let what the others say about you, bring you down. be self-aware. your value and what you really are, aren’t defined by others.
4. SUPPORT THE OTHER PEOPLE. give them the strenght they need to believe in themselves, tell them they look flawless, tell them how much you love their personality.
5. DON’T LET ANYBODY DOWN. don’t tell him/her you don’t like his/her clothes because they like and you have nothing to do with that, don’t comment about the pimple he/she has on his/her forehead, don’t tell he/she should or shouldn’t wear makeup, don’t tell them their dreams are too high, don’t tell them they can’t do something.
6. WORK/STUDY HARD AND THE GOOD RESULTS WILL COME.
7. RELAX. you can’t do a good work when you’re stressed or tired. you can take 20 minutes or a day to rest.
8. CELEBRATE EVERY TINY VICTORY.
9. DON’T BE SHY. go to a concert and scream 374718 times that you love the artists, tell that boy/girl that his/her eyes look like stars, sing and dance when your jam comes up when you’re in the grocery store, tell your teacher that you like the way he/she is doing his/her work.
10. BE GENEROUS TO OTHER PEOPLE. help them when they’re in trouble without expect nothing in return – but, believe me, they will help you when you need.
11. BE YOUR OWN BESTFRIEND. take a relaxing bath when you’re stressed, tell yourself you look beautiful today, give yourself advices.
12. FIGHT FOR YOUR DREAMS. don’t think you’re not good enough and the others are way better than you. dreams don’t work unless you do. don’t try to be the best in the world from one day to another but try to be better than yesterday. your dreams will come true if you fight for them. it’s worth it.

Market Rules to Remember

Tradingrules-new1) Markets tend to return to the mean over time.
2) Excesses in one direction will lead to an opposite excess in the other direction.
3) There are no new eras — excesses are never permanent.
4) Exponential rapidly rising or falling markets usually go further than you think, but they do not correct by going sideways.
5) The public buys the most at the top and the least at the bottom.
6) Fear and greed are stronger than long-term resolve.
7) Markets are strongest when they are broad and weakest when they narrow to a handful of blue chip names.
8) Bear markets have three stages — sharp down, reflexive rebound, and a drawn-out fundamental downtrend.
9) When all the experts and forecasts agree — something else is going to happen.
10) Bull markets are more fun than bear markets.

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