A trader’s number one job is NOT:
A traders #1 job is to be a great risk manager. (more…)
I just completed reading a book 8 WAYS TO GREAT. It is short (114 pages) but packed with great insight on what makes great people great. I read it in a few hours and as is the case in all the books I read I highlight major points and make margin notes about what strikes me as important enough to share with others. What follows are the eight principles or “ways to great” and the quotes I found worth passing along.
First Principle: Find Your “Why?”
“The reason most people go through life with big dreams but fail to achieve them is because they ask themselves “how” before they know their “why”(9).
Second Principle: Get To Know Yourself
“The perfect trader-if such a person exists-is methodical and careful about making decisions, extremely disciplined, resilient to setbacks, with a high degree of internal confidence. He holds strong opinions but is also able to admit quickly when he is wrong, not take it personally, and view it as a learning opportunity rather than a failure. He understands the value of leaving his ego at the door. He’s willing and able to trust his gut and place big bets when the opportunity presents itself. In fact, that pretty well describes the ideal blend of characteristics of any successful person, no matter what he is doing professionally or personally” (18-19).
Third Principle: Learn To Love The Process
“The best traders don’t think about how many millions they need to make each year. They focus on making the best trading decision they can with each trade they make. And if there isn’t a good trading opportunity right now, they have the discipline to do nothing and just wait. Concentrating on one trade at a time is their process” (38).
Fourth Principle: Sharpen Your Edge
“Gaining a competitive advantage is like having a two-edged sword, and you need to keep both of them sharp. On edge is internal-knowing what unique skills you bring to the table. The other is external and comes from gathering knowledge that makes it more likely you’ll succeed” (45).
Fifth Principle: Be All That You Can Be
“The takeaway lesson for everyone wanting to optimize their own performance without regard for what others are doing is fourfold: 1) know your edge; 2) act only when you have the edge; 3) avoid taking the outcome personally because it involves factors that are beyond your control; 4) measure your success in terms of how well you performed and not only the outcome” (70).
Sixth Principle: Keep Your Cool
“Deciding when to cut your losses is one of the toughest decisions for anyone to make, but traders at the top of their game know that they always have to make the decisions they need to make, which may or may not be the ones they want to make” (77).
Seventh Principle: Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable
“In the trading world, you will either make money or lose money on any given trade. All that matters in the end is making more money when you’re right than you lose when you’re wrong. Knowing this, traders have learned to accept failure as part of the game, but they also use the information they acquire from their mistakes as a learning tool. Frequently, what they learn from losing money is more valuable than what they learn when they make money” (90).
Eighth Principle: Make Yourself Accountable
“Commitment, perseverance, and discipline are the characteristics that move people beyond desire to action, that differentiate mediocrity from greatness, and that separate greatness from superstardom” (95).
And to sum up: “True success begins with a state of mind. But it takes specific actions and behaviors to move from intentions into action and get results” (2)
The stock market, just like life, can change on a dime. In the market, just as in life, we must learn to adapt to change. What separates the great trader from the rest of the crowd is his or her ability to change based on current market conditions. In other words, NO EGO ALLOWED. Mark Douglas, in his first book entitled The Disciplined Trader writes,
“There must be a difference between these two types of traders-the small majority of winners and the vast majority of losers who want to know what the winners know. The difference is that the traders who can make money consistently on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis approach trading from the perspective of a mental discipline. When asked for their secrets of success, they categorically state that they didn’t achieve any measure of consistency in accumulating wealth from trading until they learned self-discipline, emotional control, and the ability to change their minds to flow with the markets.”
We trade the current market conditions as they unfold with a plan to trade one way or the other. To do otherwise would be to fight an undefeated foe.
William Eckhardt once said that “If you’re playing for emotional satisfaction, you’re bound to lose, because what feels good is often the wrong thing to do.” If any trade makes you feel like “kicking yourself,” then you’re likely trading for emotional satisfaction and that’s a problem. In other words, if every trade you make has the purpose of trying to make you feel good, prove you are right, feed your ego, eliminate pain from a prior mistake you refused to deal with early on, or something other than just making money for you, you need to learn how to put trading in the proper frame of mind if you desire to become a better trader and investor.
“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way” – Babe Ruth
“If you can’t take a small loss, sooner or later you will have to take the mother of all losses” – Ed Seykota
“Don’t think about what the market is going to do. You have absosutely no control over that. Think about what you are going to do if it gets there.” – William Eckhardt
“I turned from a loser to a winner when I was able to separate my ego needs from making money. When I was able to accept being wrong. Before that, admitting I was wrong was more upsetting than losing money” – Marty Schwartz
“The worst mistake a trader can make is to miss a major profit opportunity. 95% of the profits come from only 5% of the trades” – Richard Dennis
1. Loss of opportunity is preferable to loss of capital
2. Picking safe, readable, and ultimately high probability trades is the way to go
3. Use logical profit objectives for all positions. Know your exits and stick to them
4. Markets are squirrelly animals – make your trading plans ahead of the market
5. Don’t buy new highs or sell new lows – wait for the market to come to you. Buy retracements. If you miss the train, don’t beat yourself up – another one will come by shortly
6. Above all, follow your own trading plan and no one else’s
7. Trade quietly – with the exception of a mentor, tell no one about your positions, profits, or losses. This is especially true for those who are close to you, like your wife, husband, or friends. This self-gratification process or sharing process will put you under psychological pressure to win on every trade and can be a primary reason for failure to follow your plan
8. Don’t carry a sizeable position when traveling. The market will always catch you off guard at the most inopportune time
9. You are only one trade from humility. A swelled head does not belong on a trader’s shoulders
10. Add to your knowledge before attempting to add to your wallet. Newbie traders think they can become pros with little more than a computer and hope. In this business, hope is a four letter word. Show me a humble trader, and I’ll show you someone ready to learn
11. Develop your sense of humor – you’ll definitely need it
12. Help other traders whenever you can. This is more practical than philosophical – giving keeps the ego in line and when you need help, and you will, you’ll find it.
Ego: I never feel the need to prove myself to anyone by saying that I am always right, or that I am some trading genius that has it all figured out, nobody is. But I have one friend in particular that thinks he can trade in stocks, yet every trade he has ever made has been a complete failure, but you could never get him to admit it. He has more excuses and more reasons why he thinks he is still right, even though he constantly losing money. Leave your ego out of the markets, admit when you’re wrong, and stay humble when you’re right.
Impatience: Not having enough patience has forced me to put on some horrible trades, having patience has lead to some of my most profitable ones. Pretty self explanatory.
Think for myself Dont spent all your time admiring the fancy tools in the magazine.
First learn how to use the basic ones well. Its not the size of your tools that counts but how you use them.
Keep it simple. Simple time-tested methods that are well executed will beat fancy complicated method every time.
Trading with poor methods is like learning to juggle while standing in a rowboat during the storm. Sure, it can be done, but it is much easier to juggle when one is standing on a solid ground.
Trading is not a sprint; it is boxing. The market will beat you up, screw with your head, and do anything it can to defeat you. But when the bell sounds at the end of the twelfth round, you must be standing in the ring in order to win.
The market does not care how you feel. It will not prop up your ego or console you when you are down.
Therefore, trading is not for everyone. If you are unwilling to face the truth about the markets and the truth about your own limitations, fears and failures, you will not succeed. (more…)
If any trade makes you feel like “kicking yourself,” then you’re likely trading for emotional satisfaction and that’s a problem. In other words, if every trade you make has the purpose of trying to make you feel good, prove you are right, feed your ego, eliminate pain from a prior mistake you refused to deal with early on, or something other than just making money for you, you need to learn how to put trading in the proper frame of mind if you desire to become a better trader and investor.
