| 1 | You do not believe in yourself. | If you do not think you can do it, how can you build the confidence you need to do battle with seasoned traders? |
| 2 | You do not trust in your ability. | If you do not have the proper education, how can you honestly think you can compete in the world’s largest playground, which is ruled by the two most powerful emotions: Fear and Greed. Lack of conviction manifests itself in many ways in this business (for example early exits or entries). |
| 3 | You fail to treat trading as if it were a business. | If you do not start thinking of this as a business and filling in your areas of weakness with solid reason and education, how can you achieve any level of success? You may hit a streak, but dumb luck runs out and then what? |
| 4 | You fail to plan. | Failure to define and achieve specific short-, medium- and long-term goals is a recipe for failure. |
| 5 | You are just lazy. | Your self-motivation and continued education are the lifeblood of your business. You must be eager to learn at all times regardless of past experiences or level of current knowledge. |
| 6 | You fail to equip your business properly. | You must have the proper tools. Do you think a doctor would perform surgery with a shank instead of a scalpel? How does a carpenter build without a saw or hammer? You get the idea. Use a reliable data and charting provider; get high-speed Internet access, and so forth. |
| 7 | You fail to understand how to accept a loss. | The markets do not know you. You do not exist to them in any other form than as the other side of a transaction. They do not care if it is your last dime, and your kids will not have shoes, and on, and on. We need losers to make money in this zero-minus-sum game, but taking an acceptable risk-reward ratio position and being wrong is not losing. |
| 8 | You fail to control your emotions. | Whether you win or lose, you should strive to remain at a comfortable emotional state while trading. Building the proper business plan for trading is enormously helpful in getting you to do just that. |
| 9 | You fail to learn and execute the fundamentals of trading. | Read, listen to CDs, attend seminars, read the Trade2win forums daily and practice your newfound knowledge. Everything you seek to know about trading has already been written or spoken about by successful traders. Try to learn something everyday. |
| 10 | You cannot cope with change. | There are three paradigms your mind should be a slave to: Patience, discipline and money management. The markets change everyday, and it is these three skills that allow us to be rigid and flexible at the same time in order to take consistent profits. Fight it and fail. |
| 11 | You cannot follow rules. | Losing traders often think that the rules of trading are made for others. Think that they are not for you? Think again. Fight them and you will have a very short trading career. |
| 12 | You are too greedy. | Thinking about trading profits instead of how you could better execute your plan is an obvious sign of greed. |
| 13 | You fail to do what you know. | Many people know what to do; yet very few people are able to do what they know. It is the rules of trading that force one to take action. |
| 14 | You fail to understand that hard work makes luck. | Some people think good traders are just lucky. Quite the contrary. They are studious, knowledge-seeking people who understand the paradigms they need to operate by. Take a close look at the traders you see as successful, and you will find years of education and hard work that created that “luck.” You can be just as “lucky.” |
| 15 | You blame others when the full responsibility is yours. | Accepting responsibility is the fulcrum point for succeeding in anything, especially trading. Doing something about it is the criterion. Execution is the reward, not the money. Money is the by-product of executing to plan. Do not blame the broker for a bad fill, when it was you who hesitated. This is just one example, but we are all aware of many others. |
| 16 | Your lack of persistence. | Be willing to take a stop loss at a particular price and time and just accept it without a fight. Be equally able to jump right back in at the same spot if the chart patterns and price action dictate that it is prudent. Or, even reverse your position if that is the prudent course to take. If your plan is drafted properly, you can be successful over time, but only if you are still around to be in business. |
| 17 | You fail to follow the first law of learning. | The first law of learning is repetition. Write it down and study it several times a day. Commit it to memory. Execute your plan. |
| 18 | You fail to establish and maintain a positive attitude. | This one is self-explanatory. |
| 19 | Yes, that’s right; this is the 19th reason for failure: BTNA (Big Talk No Action). | Many “traders” are not honest with themselves regarding the actual results of their trading; therefore, it is impossible to build the level of trust in themselves needed to act in the proper manner as situations arise. For example they put on a trade and then change their stop loss, or, even worse, they don’t place a stop order. This is a self-defeating cycle that is hard to break. However, if you are honest with yourself, you have a shot at improvement. |
Archives of “acceptable risk” tag
rssAccepting Losses?
The markets do not know you!
You do not exist to them in any other form than as the other side of a transaction.
They do not care if it is your last cent, and your kids will not have milk, and on, and on.
Markets need losers so they can make money in this zero-minus-sum game.
But please … do remember that taking an acceptable risk reward ratio position and being wrong is not losing!
Whether you win or lose, you should always strive to remain at a comfortable emotional state. Building a
proper plan is enormously helpful in getting you to do just that.
Many people know what to do; yet very few are able to do what they know! It is the rules that force one
to take the proper actions.
Losers often think that the rules are made for others. Think that they are not for you?
Think again!
Fight the rules and you will have a very short career!
The stock markets can be a great place to turn your savings into wealth.
On the other hand, if you do not keep the fundamental investment rules and do not follow certain
simple stock investing basics, you can lose your shirt.
Anirudh sethi says that IF: (more…)
Jim Rogers-I own the dollar.Will I own it in five years, ten years? I don't know.
Jim Rogers decries the growing uncertainty and recklessness of global central planners as the world enters unchartered financial markets:
For the first time in recorded history, we have nearly every central bank printing money and trying to debase their currency. This has never happened before. How it’s going to work out, I don’t know. It just depends on which one goes down the most and first, and they take turns. When one says a currency is going down, the question is against what? because they are all trying to debase themselves. It’s a peculiar time in world history.
I own the dollar, not because I have any confidence in the dollar and not because it’s sound – it’s a terribly flawed currency – but I expect more currency turmoil, more financial turmoil. During periods like that, people, for whatever reason, flee to the U.S. dollar as a safe haven. It is not a safe haven, but it is perceived that way by some people. That’s why the dollar is going up. That’s why I own it. Will I own it in five years, ten years? I don’t know.
It makes it extremely difficult for the investor looking for acceptable risk/reward, or the saver looking to protect their purchasing power; as in Rogers’ view, all options have their problems:
I own gold and silver and precious metals. I own all commodities, which is a better way to play as they debase currencies. I own more agriculture than just about anything else in real assets because of the reasons we discussed before. We were talking before about the risk-free or worry-free investment. Even gold: the Indian politicians are talking about coming down hard on gold, and India is the largest buyer of gold in the world. If Indian politicians do something — whether it’s foolish or not is irrelevant — if they do something, gold could go down a lot. So I own it. I’m not selling it. But everything has problems.