rss

What is the Purpose of Trading?

It seems clear, doesn’t it? The purpose of trading is to make money. The trade is planned, entered, and exited with the goal of increasing the size of one’s trading account. What other purpose would there be?

The dictionary says this about purpose:

“something set up as an object or end to be attained : intention b: resolution, determination”

What about:

The purpose of trading is to not lose money.
The purpose of trading is to practice discipline.
The purpose of trading is to use my talents.
The purpose of trading is to grow.

Or how about:

The purpose of trading is to express my true nature. I was meant to be a trader.

Maybe the purpose of trading is simply to trade. Because that is what you have been called to do, or what you are meant to do, or it’s the highest expression of your nature as a producer rather than a consumer. When you trade successfully, you are disciplined, you are growing, you are using and developing your talents, you are making money, and you are creating wealth from scratch. But most of all, you are trading because it’s the right thing to do for you.

Trading Quotes and Advice

  • ‘Successful trading comes down to this: overcoming your personal psychological barriers and conditioning yourself to produce feelings of self-trust , high self-esteem, unshakable conviction, and confidence which will naturally lead to good judgement and winning trades based on a proven methodology’ – Courtesy of James Buzzard.
  • “If everything feels under control, you are not going fast enough” -Mario Andretti, 1978 Formula One World Champion.
  • “If you sit by the river long enough, a dead body will sooner or later float down there” – Japanese Proverb.
  • ‘Buy High, sell Higher AND Sell low, buy back lower’, – Anonymous.
  • ‘The most important rule of trading is to play good defence, not great offence.’ –
  • Paul Tudor Jones.
  • “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” – John Maynard Keynes.
  • “Holding cash is uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as doing something stupid.” – Warren Buffet
  • “Trade the market, not the money…if you exercise your strategy with discipline, the money will follow.” – Courtesy of Umar Ali.
  • “If you ACCEPT the risk of the trade and SHARE SIZE appropriately then you should be able to trade in a relaxed and optimum state of mind.” – Courtesy of Tom Willard.
  • “The trend is your friend” – – Courtesy of Umar Ali.
  • ttitude; Success, Failure, working hard.
  • “Mentally write off the work you do, as soon as you have done it” – Courtesy of Robin Farrell.
  • “There are old traders and there are bold traders, but there are very few old, bold traders.” – Ed Seykota
  • “Falling knives have to land somewhere…..” – Courtesy of Aidan Philipson.
  • ‘The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work!’- Vince Lombardi.
  • “Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent” – Langston Coleman.
  • ‘Traders (Leaders) are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.
  • It’s easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you’re a winner, when you’re number one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you’re not a winner.’ – Vince Lombardi.
  • “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
  • ‘What sets successful traders apart?……Most people think that winning in the markets has something to do with finding the secret formula. The truth is that any common denominator among the traders I interviewed had more to do with attitude than approach’. – Jack Schwager.
  • “There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. That little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.” – Robert Collier.‘Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to sell and buy.’ – Courtesy of Mark Moskowitz.
  • “Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier.
  • “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” – Richard Bach
  • “Golf is a game played on a 5 inch Course- the distance between your ears.” – Bobby Jones.
  • “…It’s all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you’re properly trained…” – Queen Elizabeth II.
  • “The person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.” – Dale Carnegie.
  • “You are – face it – a bunch of emotions, prejudices, and twitches, and this is all very well as long as you know it. Successful speculators do not necessarily have a complete portrait of themselves, warts and all, in their own minds, but they do have the ability to stop abruptly when their own intuiition and what is happening Out There are suddenly out of kilter. – Adam Smith, The Money Game.
  • ‘“Everyday my trading skills are getting better and better”. I repeat it like a daily mantra’ – Purportedly attributed to Emile Coue.

Greed and Fear Are Two Sides of the Same Coin

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines greed as simply “… a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed.” Greed is often referenced as one of the main contributors to trading loss. Greed mangles the mind by distracting the trader from what matters most in the trade, which is quite frankly to protect your capital by prudent planning and following rules. It also distorts your judgment regarding high probability strategies and effective follow-through.  Additionally, it is the other side of the fear coin; that is, greed can arguably be thought of as a fear of not having “enough.”  Of course, having enough is a purely subjective notion, but for the reasonable person, someone who wants more, more, more as in getting every cent in a move, or wanting more than one’s share, is considered “greedy.”  Whether we’re talking about the fear of loss or the fear of not having enough, either way it is a very difficult emotional challenge to getting the trading results that you want.  Now, the question is what do you do about those bouts with fear/greed that takes your trading effectiveness south?  The important thing of course, is to manage your fear/greed one trade and one incident at a time.

Managing errant emotions is one of the most important trading skills that you can develop. Emotions are an inextricable part of being human and cannot be totally taken out of the trading equation.   However, you wouldn’t “want” to take emotions out of your trading even if you could. Yes, negative emotions throw a monkey wrench into your process; for instance, anxiety, fear, greed, guilt, self-doubt, impatience, apathy, to name a few are what mangle your thinking.  (more…)

SNIPER LESSONS

One of the trader’s biggest psychological barriers to overcome is over trading. Of course, over trading is relative depending on the type of trader you are and the time frame(s) used to make trading decisions. However, if you have a well formulated trading plan, you will know from past experience when you are walking the line between planned trading and over trading.

Here are some of the symptoms of over trading:

1. not sticking to a plan or system

2. taking trades for no clear reason

3. taking on larger than normal positions

4. second guessing your system

5. jumping the gun (entering a trade in anticipation of an affirmative signal/pattern)

6. obligatory trading (if I am not in a trade, then I am not working)

The underlying cause of over trading is purely a lack of confidence either in yourself and/or your system. If you truly believe that your trading strategy provides X number of high probability set-ups over X number of days, then why would you waste your energy (and capital) taking high risk, low probability trades? The answer: lack of confidence. The solution: think and train like a sniper.

According to the dictionary a sniper is a skilled military shooter detailed to spot and pick off enemy soldiers from a concealed place using long-range small arms. The word originates from the snipe, a game bird difficult for hunters to sneak up on. (more…)

What is the Purpose of Trading?

What is the purpose of trading?purpose-driven-life

It seems clear, doesn’t it? The purpose of trading is to make money. The trade is planned, entered, and exited with the goal of increasing the size of one’s trading account. What other purpose would there be?

The dictionary says this about purpose:

“something set up as an object or end to be attained : intention b: resolution, determination”

What about:

The purpose of trading is to not lose money.
The purpose of trading is to practice discipline.
The purpose of trading is to use my talents.
The purpose of trading is to grow.

Or how about:

The purpose of trading is to express my true nature. I was meant to be a trader.

Maybe the purpose of trading is simply to trade. Because that is what you have been called to do, or what you are meant to do, or it’s the highest expression of your nature as a producer rather than a consumer. When you trade successfully, you are disciplined, you are growing, you are using and developing your talents, you are making money, and you are creating wealth from scratch. But most of all, you are trading because it’s the right thing to do for you.

Go to top