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Robert Krausz’s basic tasks necessary to become a winning trader

  1. Develop a competent analytical methodology.eye
  2. Extract a reasonable trading plan from this methodology.
  3. Formulate rules for this plan that incorporate money management techniques.
  4. Back-test the plan over a sufficiently long period.
  5. Exercise self-management so that you adhere to the plan. The best plan in the world cannot work if you don’t act on it.

Mental Toughness

The mental part of the game. Its an aspect of trading that can easily be ignored, we all choose how we approach this game. Some see failures as opportunities to learn and progress, while others see them as outright failures and road blocks which should be avoided at all costs. Its all about attitude. 
 
I feel that trading should be ‘easy’ It should be effortless and without conflict. If we are going to be in this game for 20+ years. I feel its important to make the experience as easy as we can. We shouldn’t be ‘fighting’ with the market, in the boxing ring, hoping, fearing and stressing. 
 
There is RISK management, but SELF management is equally as important. When we are actively trading the market, we are free to make buy and sell decisions whenever we want. The tough part is consistently making the correct buy/sell decisions. These decisions come with conflict!
 
 
Taking Profits

So this is the hardest part of trading. It can be made simple if we accept a few hard facts. 
 
1. You will never sell at the top. 
2. Your going to be wrong when you sell. 
 
This is fact. As soon as you sell, the stock will probably keep going up. You may look at it 5 months later and its up 100% since you sold it. Point is, when you sell, your probably going to be wrong. This creates a conflict. 
 
As humans, we do not want to be wrong. We seek perfection, we want to nail the top! It can help explain why people run up stocks 20% to watch them come all the way back down to break even. The reason why they did not sell is because they are afraid to be wrong. By selling you are forced to draw a line under your mistake. But being wrong in the stock market is inevitable.  (more…)

Important goals for traders

1) Risk management goals – Goals pertaining to trade sizing and drawdowns;

2) Idea generation goals – Goals pertaining to the process of generating sound trading ideas and formulating these into plans;

3) Execution goals – Goals pertaining to implementing trade ideas/plans so as to maximize reward and minimize risk;

4) Position management goals – Goals pertaining to the management of positions once they’re entered, including hedging and scaling in/out;

5) Portfolio management goals – Goals pertaining to achieving good diversification among ideas and allocating capital effectively to those ideas;

6) Self-management goals – Goals pertaining to maintaining a constructive mindset for optimal decision-making;

7) Personal, non-trading goals – Goals that reflect desired outcomes in areas of life outside trading that might spill over into trading performance, including physical fitness, relationships, spirituality, etc.

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