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GEMS from :The Daily Trading Coach

The Daily Trading Coach covers just about any psychology or behavioral issue  the trader may face.  I cannot help but recommend it.  There are 101 lessons here divided into 10 chapters.  Let’s dig into each chapter and uncover a gem within.

Today again completed reading this Book…Yes 5th time !!

1. The Process and the Practice:  “Confidence doesna’t come from being right all the time: it comes from surviving the many occasions of being wrong” (27). 

2. Stress and Distress:  “Thinking positively or negatively about performance outcomes interfere with the process of performing.  When you focus on the doing, the outcomes take care of themselves” (56). 

3.  Psychological Well-Being:  “We can recognize the happy trader because he is immersed in the process of trading and finds fulfillment from the process even when markets are not open” (72).

4.  Steps Toward Self-Improvement:  “Your trading strengths can be found in the patterns that repeat across successful trades” (105).

5.  Breaking Old Patterns:  “Many trading problems are the result of acting out personal dramas in markets” (133)

6.  Remapping the Mind: “When we change the lenses through which we view events, we change our responses to those events” (168)

7.  Learn New Action Patterns: “Find experienced traders who will not be shy in telling you when you are making mistakes.  In their lessons, you will learn to teach yourself” (203)

8.  Coaching Your Trading Business:  “Long before you seek to trade for a living, you should work at trading competence: just breaking even after costs” (230)

9.  Lessons From Trading Professionals:  “If you don’t trust yourself or your methods, you will not find the emotional resilience to weather periods of loss” (267)

10.  Looking For the Edge: “The simplest [trading] patterns will tend to be the most robust” (311).

And a final admonition:  “Know what you do best. Build on strengths. Never stop working on yourself. Never stop improving. Every so often, upset the apple cart and pursue wholly new challenges.  The enemy of greatness is not evil; it’s mediocrity.  Don’t settle for mediocre” (341).

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.

Trading ,Not So 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. (more…)

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