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Be Unemotional

  
  Education
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UnemotionalIf you have ever played poker, you will know the high of going “all in”. Your heart is racing like there’s no tomorrow, and you are hoping and praying that the cards will go your way. It’s the thrill of knowing you can double your money in a few moments and also knowing it can all disappear if things don’t go your way.

This type of excitement should not exist in any form in your trading. If you are a thrill seeker, go skydiving. If you are a gambler, go to a casino. If you are afraid to lose money, open a savings account.

Successful Day traders do not let their emotions interfere with their trading. Too often, we let fear, greed, or pride get in the way.

Fear

Fear will prevent you from making the right trades and make you lose out on immense opportunities. Fear stems from lack of knowledge and proper education. You are afraid because you can’t see that a trade is the right trade since you don’t know what the right trade looks like. Once you acquire the knowledge and training, you can begin to trust your decisions because they are based on facts and not emotion.

Greed

Greed is another emotion we must overcome to be successful. Many beginners experience “beginners luck”, and come out on top on their first few trades. Then they start believing that they should have traded with more money so their profits will be larger. So on the next trade, they trade with a large sum of money and they lose it all. Logic will dictate that they should trade with a smaller amount the next time around since they have less capital now. Unfortunately, humans are not logical creatures. Our greed takes over, and we start believing that if we put in more money, we will make up for the lost amount, and come out on top. Sadly, this cycle can only continue until you are completely out of money. The worst thing that can happen to a beginner trader is to have a successful first trade. (more…)

How many of these actions or beliefs apply to you?

  
  Education
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1You do not believe in yourself.If you do not think you can do it, how can you build the confidence you need to do battle with seasoned traders?
2You do not trust in your ability.If you do not have the proper education, how can you honestly think you can compete in the world’s largest playground, which is ruled by the two most powerful emotions: Fear and Greed. Lack of conviction manifests itself in many ways in this business (for example early exits or entries).
3You fail to treat trading as if it were a business.If you do not start thinking of this as a business and filling in your areas of weakness with solid reason and education, how can you achieve any level of success? You may hit a streak, but dumb luck runs out and then what?
4You fail to plan.Failure to define and achieve specific short-, medium- and long-term goals is a recipe for failure.
5You are just lazy.Your self-motivation and continued education are the lifeblood of your business. You must be eager to learn at all times regardless of past experiences or level of current knowledge.
6You fail to equip your business properly.You must have the proper tools. Do you think a doctor would perform surgery with a shank instead of a scalpel? How does a carpenter build without a saw or hammer? You get the idea. Use a reliable data and charting provider; get high-speed Internet access, and so forth.
7You fail to understand how to accept a loss.The markets do not know you. You do not exist to them in any other form than as the other side of a transaction. They do not care if it is your last dime, and your kids will not have shoes, and on, and on. We need losers to make money in this zero-minus-sum game, but taking an acceptable risk-reward ratio position and being wrong is not losing.
8You fail to control your emotions.Whether you win or lose, you should strive to remain at a comfortable emotional state while trading. Building the proper business plan for trading is enormously helpful in getting you to do just that.
9You fail to learn and execute the fundamentals of trading.Read, listen to CDs, attend seminars, read the Trade2win forums daily and practice your newfound knowledge. Everything you seek to know about trading has already been written or spoken about by successful traders. Try to learn something everyday.
10You cannot cope with change.There are three paradigms your mind should be a slave to: Patience, discipline and money management. The markets change everyday, and it is these three skills that allow us to be rigid and flexible at the same time in order to take consistent profits. Fight it and fail.
11You cannot follow rules.Losing traders often think that the rules of trading are made for others. Think that they are not for you? Think again. Fight them and you will have a very short trading career.
12You are too greedy.Thinking about trading profits instead of how you could better execute your plan is an obvious sign of greed.
13You fail to do what you know.Many people know what to do; yet very few people are able to do what they know. It is the rules of trading that force one to take action.
14You fail to understand that hard work makes luck.Some people think good traders are just lucky. Quite the contrary. They are studious, knowledge-seeking people who understand the paradigms they need to operate by. Take a close look at the traders you see as successful, and you will find years of education and hard work that created that “luck.” You can be just as “lucky.”
15You blame others when the full responsibility is yours.Accepting responsibility is the fulcrum point for succeeding in anything, especially trading. Doing something about it is the criterion. Execution is the reward, not the money. Money is the by-product of executing to plan. Do not blame the broker for a bad fill, when it was you who hesitated. This is just one example, but we are all aware of many others.
16Your lack of persistence.Be willing to take a stop loss at a particular price and time and just accept it without a fight. Be equally able to jump right back in at the same spot if the chart patterns and price action dictate that it is prudent. Or, even reverse your position if that is the prudent course to take. If your plan is drafted properly, you can be successful over time, but only if you are still around to be in business.
17You fail to follow the first law of learning.The first law of learning is repetition. Write it down and study it several times a day. Commit it to memory. Execute your plan.
18You fail to establish and maintain a positive attitude.This one is self-explanatory.
19Yes, that’s right; this is the 19th reason for failure: BTNA (Big Talk No Action).Many “traders” are not honest with themselves regarding the actual results of their trading; therefore, it is impossible to build the level of trust in themselves needed to act in the proper manner as situations arise. For example they put on a trade and then change their stop loss, or, even worse, they don’t place a stop order. This is a self-defeating cycle that is hard to break. However, if you are honest with yourself, you have a shot at improvement.

Common Trading Mistakes

  
  Education
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In trading, as in life in general, we all know that experience is the best teacher. However, failures in stock market trading bear more weight since you stand to lose thousands of dollars (or more) with each mistake that you make. So as to help you recognize red flags and prevent you from losing money further, here is a list of some common mistakes you might want to avoid.

# 1: Lack of proper knowledge
Many people who come into stock trading with the notion that they can simply learn the ropes along the way may be fatally mistaken. This is because this kind of activity requires some degree of stock market know-how, as well as experience. First, you have to learn how to trade stocks, because this is the only that you can be familiar with terms, such as “stocks,” “shares,” “dividends,” “trends,” and so on. Without proper education, you might make decisions that could prove to be costly in the future. If you want to engage in trading, the first rule is for you to learn about the basics-read a book, enroll in a course, attend lectures by experts-anything that can help you understand what this is all about.

# 2: Acting on Impulse
In learning stock trading, you will realize that many emotions may come into play as you go through each and every transaction-impatience, greed, fear, and over confidence are some of these emotions. One of the most common mistakes people commit while trading is making decisions based on impulse. While it is true that you can feel a wide range of emotions as you evaluate the data in front of you, do remember that a cool, logical reasoning must prevail. Do whatever you can to always make decisions on a clear head.

# 3: Not having enough practice
As you engage in trading, the saying that “practice makes perfect” could not be truer. Again, if you want to learn how to trade stocks and are serious about engaging in trading, then you should also enhance your skills apart from just learning the basics. However, you could not afford the trial and error method using real money, because this is impractical and a waste of time. Fortunately, there are now some sophisticated tools that can help you practice through simulated trading and practice accounts. For a fee, companies can help you set up a practice account, through which you can execute “simulated trading.” What this does is it helps you learn how to trade stocks by honing your skills without the risk of losing actual money.

# 4: Having unrealistic expectations
Finally, another common mistake in trading is having unrealistic expectations. Sure, we may have all heard of those who got rich quick because of the stock market, but you cannot expect to earn millions without being able to make sound decisions based on fact. In the process of learning stock trading, you must be able to set a clear set of objectives, and not unrealistic expectations that could lead you to make rash (and costly) decisions.

In the future, try to avoid committing similar mistakes so that you can truly benefit from the time and effort you are trading in the stock market.

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