Losing discipline is not a trading problem; it is the common result of a number of trading-related problems. Here are the most common sources of loss of discipline, culled from my work with traders:
10) Environmental distractions and boredom cause a lack of focus;
9) Fatigue and mental overload create a loss of concentration;
8) Overconfidence follows a string of successes;
7) Unwillingness to accept losses, leading to alterations of trade plans after the trade has gone into the red;
6) Loss of confidence in one’s trading plan/strategy because it has not been adequately tested and battle-tested;
5) Personality traits that lead to impulsivity and low frustration tolerance in stressful situations;
4) Situational performance pressures, such as trading slumps and increased personal expenses, that change how traders trade (putting P/L ahead of making good trades);
3) Trading positions that are excessive for the account size, created exaggerated P/L swings and emotional reactions;
2) Not having a clearly defined trading plan/strategy in the first place;
1) Trading a time frame, style, or market that does not match your talents, skills, risk tolerance, and personality.
Focused on entries, traders often don’t explicitly identify where they would harvest profits. They hold trades too long, exiting in a panic after reversals, or they take profits quickly, missing opportunity. They don’t factor current volatility into estimates of how far the market could move on their time frame, and they often don’t explicitly look for targets based upon prior moves and ranges.
Have you ever stopped to consider how many different trading strategies there are? How about time frames for each strategy? And what about the best instrument to trade that strategy within the time frame selected? What about the indicators? Which ones are we planning to apply to the strategy? If we were to add it all up there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of strategies, just in one time frame! And what about the other traders trading one of these strategies that may be designed specifically to trade the opposite of what you trade? There is absolutely no way humanly possible to master all, or even a large number of, the strategies available to us. Therefore, we must focus on a particular strategy and become a strategic specialist. In doing so, we defeat the ego’s need to know everything, which we know is impossible in the first place. With focus, we can think clearly about our specialized strategy knowing when and where to enter and exit the market since we know exactly what the market is supposed to look like to do either one. This focus helps eliminate the confusion and frustration we experience when the market does not make sense (which is most all of the time!).
I feel certain that my discipline in executing each and every trade according to my trading methodology is the secret to my success. If you want to improve your trading, what you need to do is very simple. Before you enter any trade, imagine that you will have to explain this trade to a panel of your peers, by explaining to them the reason for your entry, your money, trade, and risk management guidelines, and why you exited the trade. Imagine having to explain why you chose this particular market and this particular time frame, along with how you set objectives for the trade, and how you determined where your initial protection would be. If you can truly do this, I strongly believe that you can be successful.
The true trader, the consistent winner, is not concerned with any price or where prices started from. He or she is concerned with what it takes for people to believe strong enough, and with enough commitment, that they will place their capital at risk.” So, with that in mind, the four basics: 