rss

Patience, Preparation and Performance

Everything is difficult before it becomes easy.

With the current volatility of the financial markets, it is extremely important that each of us resolve to be patient in our decisions and not make snap judgments. These can create future disaster.

The most successful individuals around the world have a foundation of processes that they utilize consistently, no matter whether the markets are trending with clear direction or being extremely volatile.

Each of us needs to be patient and allow the trading plans that we use to provide points of execution for trades. We need to be prepared for any and all movements in the market, yet stay committed to our plan and then perform with a self-confidence that ensures that we do not stray away from the steps of our plan.

Patience, preparation and performance surrounded by a solid trading plan along with money and risk management will produce the highest probability for profitable success.

Preparation combined with Opportunity creates a new word I would like to give to you — Prepartunity. Every day provides new opportunities for us. If we are prepared then we will receive the highest results possible.

Patience & Confidence

The market, as much as anything in life, has a way of transforming us from cool, calm, collected individuals into irrational, impulsive, disoriented speculators. Clearly it’s in our best interest in terms of long-term profitability to spend the majority of our time in the former group rather than the latter.

Acknowledging when things aren’t going our way is the first step to becoming a more patient trader, but it’s having the patience to wait things out until we find a more harmonic rhythm that contributes immeasurably to our success.

It’s the losing positions that invariably do traders in. A number of the bigger losers many traders experience come as a result of not being patient and waiting on the right opportunity. Many of us tend to press when things aren’t working out, or we’ve just had a losing trade.

Traders can begin to play catch-up and go on an emotional tilt. It’s the paradox of trading in many ways. The same competitive drive we use to achieve our success has components that can hasten our failure.

When going through my daily checklist, I send out to members of my mentoring program, I always emphasize that the markets provide a multitude of chances to trade. One need not force action when the setups aren’t right. Traders who get into positions with “the best of it” or “an edge” significantly increase their chances for success in the long run.

Confidence comes from a number of sources and is developed through successful implementation of a strategy. It is also a byproduct of the unwavering belief that what you are doing will be successful. This is critical because, at the moment of truth, when you are in a position, self-doubt has a way of creeping in. It’s tempting to deviate from your plan at these times.

While I’m not suggesting that you be inflexible in your position management, I am saying that having belief in what you are doing goes a long way toward your success. In fact, it’s the confidence in your trading skill set that can give you the ability to make a decision to get out of a position, knowing that things aren’t working out. This conviction is a hallmark of great leaders and inspires others.

Selflessness

main_teresaThe markets are nothing more than a reflection of cumulative sum of human reactions to financial data inflow. As a trader, you are part of it, and millions like you create that entity that appears to be moving so intelligently in all time frames.
So how it is possible that you and millions like you can create the greatest illusionist, the market, and ironically fight against it in every moment of your trading life.
In other words, the market becomes the ultimate enemy of yours and you fight it all the time? As an unit reflection of the market’s image, can you defeat yourself?
Your fight can only be as good as your best, but you create your enemy with your best as well.
That is why this is an endless game because no one can win it all the time as no one can keep beating himself all the time… UNLESS YOU ARE A SELFLESS PERSON. (more…)

Trading Psychology

Your biggest enemy, when trading, is within yourself. Success will only  come when you learn to control your emotions. Edwin Lefevre’s

 Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (1923) offers advice that still applies  today.

 Caution
 Excitement (and fear of missing an opportunity) often persuade us to enter the market  before it is safe to do so. After a down-trend a number of rallies may fail before one  eventually carries through. Likewise, the emotional high of a profitable trade may blind  us to signs that the trend is reversing.

 Patience
 Wait for the right market conditions before trading. There are times when it is wise to  stay out of the market and observe from the sidelines.

 Conviction
 Have the courage of your convictions: Take steps to protect your profits when you see  that a trend is weakening, but sit tight and don’t let fear of losing part of your profit  cloud your judgment. There is a good chance that the trend will resume its upward  climb.

 Detachment
 Concentrate on the technical aspects rather than on the money. If your trades are  technically correct, the profits will follow.

 Stay emotionally detached from the market. Avoid getting caught up in the short-term  excitement. Screen-watching is a tell-tale sign: if you continually check prices or stare at  charts for hours it is a sign that you are unsure of your strategy and are likely to suffer  losses.

 Focus
 Focus on the longer time frames and do not try to catch every short-term fluctuation.  The most profitable trades are in catching the large trends.

 Expect the unexpected
 Investing involves dealing with probabilities ? not certainties. No one can predict the  market correctly every time. Avoid gamblers? logic.

 Average up – not down
 If you increase your position when price goes against you, you are liable to compound  your losses. When price starts to move it is likely to continue in that direction. Rather  increase your exposure when the market proves you right and moves in your favor.

 Limit your losses
 Use stop-losses to protect your funds. When the stop loss is triggered, act immediately 
 – don’t hesitate.

 The biggest mistake you can make is to hold on to falling stocks, hoping for a recovery.  Falling stocks have a habit of declining way below what you expected them to.  Eventually you are forced to sell, decimating your capital.

 Human nature being what it is, most traders and investors ignore these  rules when they first start out. It can be an expensive lesson.

 Control your emotions and avoid being swept along with the crowd. Make consistent  decisions based on sound technical analysis.

You Need To Learn How To Dance In The Rain

Dance in RainEvery trader will experience storms during their trading career.

You might have days or even weeks without any storms, but they will come. Violent movements, large losses, markets that react opposite than your strategy tells you will happen and so much more.

We cannot keep these situations from happening; however we can make a decision to either wait for the storms to pass or step out and dance in the rain.

If we are planning on waiting until there are no storms, no struggles, no disappointments or no losing trades then we will be waiting for a very long time. Expect the storms to occur and have a plan as to how you will work through the storm.

When we work through the storm with a higher awareness of our risk management, money management and patience we will come out the other side stronger than before and will be ready for the next time a storm breaks out.

It is not the fact that storms happen, it is being ready to get out in the storm and still be productive. Instead of fearing the storm, learn how to dance in the rain.

The Same Winning Principles

In life, as in trading, the right mindset is crucial for success. You must be confident in your decisions because they are based on cause and effect, not on emotions or opinion. Negative people who are unsure of themselves are not successful in any field. You need faith in yourself and your methods to be able to persevere and not give up before reaching success.

• You can risk too much and lose it all in your business, life, marriage, friendships or family. You have to measure the potential cost of every action. One affair can cost you your marriage, just like one big trade with too much risk can cost you all your capital.

• In business there are certain methods which bring in customers and turn a profit, and others which cause a business to turn away customers and lose money. Trading is similar: methods which turn a consistent and long-term profit are essential for success.

• Having unrealistic expectations in a marriage, job, or business will lead to unhappiness and failure just like it will in trading. You have to set realistic expectations so
you do not get discouraged easily and quit in any of these areas. You have to be satisfied that the results are worth your effort over the long term. You need to understand what to expect before you begin a marriage, a job, a business, or trading. (more…)

Quotes for Traders

Planning, Discipline & Patience.
  • ‘Predicting rain does n’t count; building arks does’: Warren Buffett’s Noah Rule.
  • “To know and not to do, is not yet to know” – Courtesy of Tom Witters.
  • ‘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
  • ‘After spending many years in Wall Street and after making and losing millions of dollars I want to tell you this: It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!’ – Jesse Livermore

Fear

  • ‘Never let fear of striking out, get in your way’: Babe Ruth.

Perspectives

  • ‘It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future,’ – Lawrence Peter ‘Yoggi’ Berra.
  • “go as far as you can see, and when you get there , you will see further.” –
  • anonymous
  • ‘Don’t worry what others think… They don’t do it very often’ – Courtesy of Mark Carstens.
  • “A little learning is a dangerous thing, but we must take that risk because a little is as much as our biggest heads can hold.” – George Bernard Shaw.
  • “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – George Santayana.
  • “Glory is fleeting but obscurity is eternal” – Napoleon
  • ‘A long term investment is when I break even.’ – Courtesy of David Wong.
  • “There are many truths, but only one reality” – Courtesy of Robin Farrell.
  • ‘It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.’ – Vince Lombardi.
  • ‘We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.’ – Vince Lombardi
  • “Vision – It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own.” – Robert Collier.
  • “If you’re 30 minutes into the game and you don’t know who the patsy is, you’re the patsy.” – Courtesy of Saranjot Dosanjh.
  • ‘Price is observable and objective while value is perceived and subjective’. – John Murphy.
  • ‘In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.’ – Yogi Berra.
  • “As a rule, Panics do not destroy capital; they merely reveal the extent to which it has been previously destroyed by its betrayal into hopelessly unproductive works…. The Failure of great banks… and mercantile firms…are the symptoms incident to the disease, not the disease itself.” – John Stuart Mill (1867).
  • ‘You need three bear markets to know what to do. The first nearly wipes you out, the second you learn how to survive and the third you take by the scruff of the neck and enjoy it.’ – Crispin Odey of Odey Asset Management.
  • “Never in recorded history, has the supply of capital not overwhelmed the supply of opportunity.” – Joseph Lassiter .
  • ‘You only live once but if you work it right, once is enough’. – Joe E. Lewis.
  • “If you really know whats going on, you don’t even have to know whats going on to know whats going on… You can ignore the headlines because you anticipated them months ago” – Michael Steinhardt.
  • ‘Another lesson I learned early is that there is nothing new in Wall Street. There can’t be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again.’ – Jesse Livermore.
  • “Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend, and step off before it is discredited.” – Soros.

On Losses (and Profits). 

  • ‘Tradings only real secret is… The best loser is the long-term winner’ – Phantom
  • “Trading is a losing game, the best loser is the long-term winner” – Anonymous.
  • ‘Losses can either be lost money, or tuition in the school of trading’ – Courtesy of Mark Moskowitz.
  • ‘The worst advice I use to get was. – ‘No one went broke taking a profit’’. – Courtesy of John Berra.
  • “It seems that the necessary thing to do is not to fear mistakes, to plunge in, to do the best that one can, hoping to learn enough from blunders to correct them eventually.” – Abraham Maslow
  • ‘“Learn to like your losses”. Why? Because they are small!’ – Courtesy of Stuart A.Brown.
  • “One common adage…that is completely wrongheaded is: You can’t go broke taking profits. That’s precisely how many traders do go broke. While amateurs go broke by taking large losses, professionals go broke by taking small profits.” – William Eckhardt.
  • “Its not about being right or wrong, rather, its about how much money you make when you’re right and how much you don’t lose when you’re wrong.” – George Soros.
  • “The first loss is the best loss.” – Jim Rogers.
  • “Losers average Losers”…Paul Tudor Jones.
  • “You learn nothing from your winners and everything from your losers.” – Courtesy of Jeff Horn.
  • ·“To become a Master Trader, you must first be a successful loser.” – Jeff Horn.

Ego

  • “Don’t be a hero. Don’t have an ego. Always question yourself and your ability. Don’t ever feel that you are very good. The second you do, you are dead.” – Paul Tudor Jones

Personal Responsibility and Self-awarenss (more…)

5 Characteristics of Successful Trader

Knowledge – A trader must put in the time and effort to study and learn the proper skills in order to be successful. Whether that is through technical or fundamental analysis, one must invest in their education. They must completely understand their market, and its ideal as a beginner to focus on one market and be a specialist. A part of the knowledge and education is devising a game plan or strategy for trading. Writing down your rules and sticking to your trading plan is a key to success.

 Controlling your emotions – The ability to control your fear and greed is paramount to success. A successful trader will have a balanced emotional state regardless if he/she is winning or losing. Ensuring the trader has a clear head and is able to pull the trigger and take trades every time an opportunity presents itself.

  Patience – A successful trader can sit on the sidelines for days waiting for the proper setup. They don’t jump into a trade just for the sake of trading. Yes there may be opportunities, but the smart trader waits for trades that meet their trading rules and system. Over trading by beginner traders is a big obstacle to overcome. A need to always be in the market will lead to taking trades that are likely too risky. Learn patience, it’s a key to success. A winning trader usually has an extraordinary amount of self control, and often the best trade is no trade.

 Discipline – There are no 100% winning traders and taking losses are part of the trading profession. It is about finding high probability opportunities and managing the risks on each trade. A trader must stick to their trading plan and discipline is the key to success.

Confidence – Having the confidence in yourself and your system to make your profit or take a loss when your method tells you to is a winning trait. Confidence usually comes from experience and knowledge.

3 things that will kill your trading success.

Not having a plan. Get a plan, who cares if it is bad, start with something. You can build off of it and refine it. You have to be willing to spend the time to make the plan yours. You do not start anything without some level of planning. Trading is hard; your brain spends a lot of time in fast forward, affecting your memory. You can slow it down by having a plan and increase your brains ability to remember.

Thinking trading is easy. It is not, there are times when it can be slightly less difficult after a lot of time, patience, and hard work. When I think to myself “this is easy” I lose my sharpness. My focus is adverted from my goal. I will lose. It may not be on that trade but maybe the next.

Thinking you have finished. There is only one thing that every trade is guaranteed to give me: a chance to learn about myself, the market, and the interaction between the two. You have to be willing to be relentless in your learning. It will enable you to learn the cheapest.

To become a profitable trader, you must

  • 1. Manage Risk: Learn to trade a manageable portion of you portfolio .Always establish a risk/reward ratio before making a trade. Without the ratio, how do you know your risk?
  • 2. Understand Position Sizing: All traders must learn to know “how much” to trade on each position. Do not overtrade or you will runt he risk of ruin. Position sizing is rule number one of managing risk.
  • 3. Cut Losses: Do not allow losses to run wild. You must learn to cut losses and understand that losses are a part of the game, a large part of the game. Check you ego of winning at the door. We are here to make money, not go undefeated. Play sports if you want to keep score with a record rather than your bankroll.
  • 4. Learn when to Sell: You must learn when to sell. Selling is more important than buying as it ties directly to risk management. Use stops if you haven’t yet developed the discipline to get out at your predetermined stop or profit goal.
  • 5. Average up in Price: I will never hesitate to add shares in a stock that is moving higher  but I always avoid averaging down. Remember, cut losses and never throw good money after bad because we know that’s a quick way to the poorhouse.
  • 6. Have Patience: It takes years to master trading as an advanced skill; even then, you are never done learning or adapting.
Go to top