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Sticking to the Plan

  
  Education
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A Trading Plan only has value if it is utilized as intended. It does you no good to have one if you do not stick to it. We all know this, yet traders find reasons to deviate from their Plan, almost always with negative consequences. Why? There are several reasons.

  • The Plan does not match the trader: A Trading Plan is a personal thing intended for a specific trader, based on her/his personality and circumstances. If it is not created honestly based on reality rather than hope, then it will not match the trader, and likely it will be neglected.
  • Lack of Patience: Trading Plans are intended to be long-term, at least relatively so. Many traders give up on their Plan, or often more specifically the trading system in the Plan, after a period of sub-par performance rather than sticking it out through the inevitable rough times.
  • Lack of Discipline: Trading according to a plan requires continuous performance of a set of actions in a proscribed manner. Doing so takes discipline. Traders lacking discipline do not stick to Trading Plans. (The word “discipline” is probably the most frequently used in regards to trading success.)
  • Self-Destructive Behavior: Sometimes traders have deeply ingrained issues of a psychological nature which tend to sabotage them. It is something which can be overcome with work, but first it must be recognized and addressed.

These are not the only reasons traders fail to stick to Trading Plans, but they do represent a large portion of the explanations for it happening. The point is that a Trading Plan is little more than a document if not put in to practice.

I hope this sequence has been helpful to you. Definitely feel free to drop me a question or leave a comment with your thought, experience, or ideas on the subject.

Stick to your game plan

  
  Education
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the-game-plan-poster-425Sticking to your game plan is the hardest thing to do as a trader.The reason it’s so hard is that it take strict discipline and an emotional detachment from the outcome.Knowing what to do and doing it are two seprate issues.Trading involves so many unforseen elements and market fores the mishaps and fuzzy thinking materialize even at the most advanced levels.The only way to trade suscessfully through this sea of uncontrollable elements is to have the discipline to stick to your game plan.Your plan is the shield that no market force can penetrate ,unless let it.

The main reason experienced traders lose is that they fail to follow their own rules.There are hundreds of reasons and excuses for deviating from a trading plan-for breaking your rules.In the long run ,the reasons make zero difference.In the end ,people are judged by their results ,not the quality of their excuses.In an unstructured environment with multiple sources of reason pulling you in different directions ,rules become the cornerstone for success.

A trading plan is predictable.It provides sources of reason given any number of existing circumstances.It filers out noise and encourages discipline.Remember that having a trading plan and sticking to it is invaluable.The simple recognition of this fact can provide the stimulas to adhere to your own plan.

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