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5 Signs You’ve Matured as a Trader

1) Are Self Reliant: When you stop asking other people: “What do you think of the market?” While I respect the opinions of my colleagues, I DO NOT rely on them. I prefer to do my own homework, research and analysis. I LET THE MARKET tell me if I’m right or wrong.

The ultimate goal for traders is to make confident decisions on your own and trade with complete independence. You should not have to rely on the opinions of others because you should have conviction in your OWN ideas.

2) Stop Celebrating Winners: When you stop feeling the need to pound your chest every time you make 30 cents on a stock. (It is the flip side  of not getting depressed over every loss). Recognize what you did correctly and move on to the next trade.

The great Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll used to say, after you score a touchdown there’s no need to start dancing. Simply hand the ball to the referee, head back to the bench and “Act like you’ve been there before!”

Same thing goes for the stock market. Don’t act like you’ve never had success trading before.

3) Let the Trades Come to You:  When you stop feeling the need to trade every day and you get over the “fear of missing out.” This is the downfall of most traders.

It took me a while to shift my focus from worrying about “missing out” to playing great defense. Once I did this, I noticed an increase in my confidence level as a trader. Keep in mind, there will ALWAYS be opportunities and it’s okay if you miss a few.

4) Feel No Need to Brag: Those traders who compulsively tell everyone about every winner are over compensating for their insecurities. It is a sign of lack of confidence. When you make a good trade or a good call on the market, and you don’t feel the need to remind everyone — its because that is what is supposed to happen.

The key is to be consistent and to separate your ego from your trading. If you are doing a good job, people will notice.

5) Loss Management: When you learn to cut losses without hesitation. No one likes to lose, but cutting losses is part of the game. I have studied the best traders throughout history and they all have the same number one rule: CUT YOUR LOSSES! Learn to accept when you are wrong and move on!

Winning Qualities of Successful Traders

Discipline is the key factor towards the success of trading/investing. Lack of discipline will result a bigger loses when you hesitate in cutting lost or when you enter a trade too early. Discipline no doubt is the bigger key deciding factor in any kind of field.

You need passion to drive you towards the success that you are hunger. You need the passion to do the boring job yet very rewardable at the end of the trading journey.

Tough time come you need to press it on. Never say quit attitude!!! Most of the Good Trader or Investor will experience a major downfall before they succeed in this business. If they did not fight back again then they will never succeed. Once again tell yourself press it on till you succeed.

Many people including me lack the virtue of patience. Trading and investing require plenty of patience as most of the time we are waiting at the sideline and let the newbies to kill each other. Once the market decide to go in the trend then we as a professional trader and investor will act upon it very fast. Being Patience alone will save you plenty and tons of money.

The more sweat you put in the greater reward you will get. Then again if you are doing the wrong thing every time again and again, this mostly likely tell you that your system of trading is not working and thus you need to change. There are a big different between hardworking and just stubbornly sticking to the failed plan. If the system of yours is CLearly not working after you put in months of efforts then you should just change your strategy.

Last but not least you need to strongly believe that you will be able to take money out of the market consistently. Believe that your Tested system will be able to last as long as the market condition do not change much.

Top 10 Lessons from the Lehman Collapse

Sunday is the five year anniversary of the bankruptcy of Lehman.  So what have we learnt?

1 – Bank executives lie…

…they also got paid huge amounts, weren’t as smart as they thought they were and those that ended up at the top tended to be deeply flawed individuals…

On Sept 10 in a conference call with investors, days before Lehman collapsed, Dick Fuld clearly stated to his shareholders that “no new capital was needed” and that “real estate and investments were properly valued”. Yet only five days later, Lehman filed for bankruptcy.

 

At a congressional Committee just a few weeks later, Dick Fuld was defiant. He stood by his “no new capital was needed” statement: “no sir, we did not mislead investors”. And he added that “we (made) disclosures that we believed were accurate”. If no new capital was needed why did Lehman go bust five days later? And if he didn’t know the financial position of Lehman what was he doing as CEO?

As part of the Congressional Committee hearings, Dick Fuld was allowed to make a presentation before he was questioned. These are his exact words as to the cause of Lehman’s demise:

“Naked short sellers targeted financial institutions and spread rumours and false information. The impact of this market manipulation became self-fulfilling as short sellers drove down the stock prices of financial firms. The ratings agencies lowered their ratings because lower stock prices made it harder to raise capital and (it) reduced financial flexibility. The downgrades in turn caused lenders and counter parties to reduce credit lines and then demand more collateral which increased liquidity pressures. At Lehman Bros the crisis in confidence that permeated the markets lead to an extraordinary run on the bank. In the end despite all of our efforts we were overwhelmed.” (more…)

6 Random Thoughts

1) Everyone needs a “mental break” from trading once in a while. The best time to take one is during corrective markets. It helps you protect capital and confidence.

2) If you have a -50% loss, it takes a +100% gain to get it back. In other words, CUT YOUR LOSSES!

3)  If you have trouble with discipline and staying away from the market, turn off your computer and get out of your chair. If you sit in the barbershop long enough, you’ll eventually get a haircut.

4) The “fear of missing out” is the downfall of most traders.

5) Whoever said that money doesn’t buy happiness clearly didn’t know where to shop.

6) “There is nothing new on Wall Street. What has happened in the past will happen again and again and again. This is because human nature does not change, and it is human emotion that always gets in the way of human intelligence. Of this I am sure.” — Jesse Livermore

Learning to do nothing

This is a lesson I keep needing to come back to. I can see that trading for amusement has been my own downfall a thousand times in the last few years, and to just sit at the sidelines can be painful.
learntodonothing
I just read a brilliant quote by the trader John Piper.
“Once able to trade, it is very likely that a person will make the emotional decision to do just that when bored. This timing is unlikely to correspond with a low risk trading opportunity.”

Learning to do nothing

This is a lesson I keep needing to come back to. I can see that trading for amusement has been my own downfall a thousand times in the last few years, and to just sit at the sidelines can be painful.

I just read a brilliant quote :

“Once able to trade, it is very likely that a person will make the emotional decision to do just that when bored. This timing is unlikely to correspond with a low risk trading opportunity.”

5 Signs You’ve Matured as a Trader

1) Are Self Reliant: When you stop asking other people: “What do you think of the market?” While I respect the opinions of my colleagues, I DO NOT rely on them. I prefer to do my own homework, research and analysis. I LET THE MARKET tell me if I’m right or wrong.

The ultimate goal for traders is to make confident decisions on your own and trade with complete independence. You should not have to rely on the opinions of others because you should have conviction in your OWN ideas.

2) Stop Celebrating Winners: When you stop feeling the need to pound your chest every time you make 30 cents on a stock. (It is the flip side  of not getting depressed over every loss). Recognize what you did correctly and move on to the next trade.

Same thing goes for the stock market. Don’t act like you’ve never had success trading before.

3) Let the Trades Come to You:  When you stop feeling the need to trade every day and you get over the “fear of missing out.” This is the downfall of most traders.

It took me a while to shift my focus from worrying about “missing out” to playing great defense. Once I did this, I noticed an increase in my confidence level as a trader. Keep in mind, there will ALWAYS be opportunities and it’s okay if you miss a few. (more…)