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Better to be Profitable Than Right

The ultimate goal of a futures trader should be to have overall trading success by being profitable. There is no single-best path one can take on the destination to trading success and profitability. However, there are a few general trading tenets to which all successful traders have subscribed. One such trading tenet is “losing your ego” when trading futures.

Mark Cook, a well-respected trader and trading educator from rural Ohio, for many years has stressed that traders need to lose their egos before getting into trading futures markets. He is also an advocate of survival in futures trading. One must survive in this challenging arena before one can succeed. I enjoyed listening to Mark at a trading seminar a few years ago. He even used to wear bib-overalls (with no shirt) at some of his trading seminars – just to drive home the point that trading futures is not easy and that ultimate success takes a lot of hard work.

My good friend and respected trader and educator Glen Ring also espouses the notion, and may have even coined the phrase, “it’s better to be profitable than right in futures trading.” Those who know or have talked to Glen know he, too, is a no-nonsense, no-hype trader who takes a yeoman’s approach to the business. When asked what direction a specific market “will” go in the future, Glen is never afraid to say, “I don’t know,” before he adds that, “successful trading is not a business of predictions but one of probabilities based on past price history.” (more…)

Better to Be Profitable Than Right

ego” when trading futures.Mark Cook, a well-respected trader and trading educator from rural Ohio, for many years has stressed that traders need to lose their egos before getting into trading futures markets. He is also an advocate of survival in futures trading. 
One must survive in this challenging arena before one can succeed. I enjoyed listening to Mark at a trading seminar a few years ago. He even used to wear bib-overalls (with no shirt) at some of his trading seminars—just to drive home the point that trading futures is not easy and that ultimate success takes a lot of hard work. 
My good friend and respected trader and educator Glen Ring also espouses the notion, and may have even coined the phrase, “it’s better to be profitable than right in futures trading.” Those who know or have talked to Glen know he, too, is a no-nonsense, no-hype trader who takes a yeoman’s approach to the business. When asked what direction a specific market “will” go in the future, Glen is never afraid to say, “I don’t know,” before he adds that, “successful trading is nota business of predictions but one of probabilities based on past price history.”  (more…)

6 Personality Traits and impact upon trading

Locus of control – The degree to which a trader believes that the ability to be successful is within his or her control;
Maximizing tendency – The degree to which individuals seek optimum outcomes from their decisions, not just outcomes that meet or exceed expectations;
Regret susceptibility – The tendency to look back on outcomes of decisions and focus on negative aspects, creating regret;
Self-monitoring – People’s tendency to track and control their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors;
Sensation seeking – The degree to which people seek varied and stimulating experience;
Type A behavior – The degree to which individuals are driven to achieve.  (more…)

How Trader Personality Affects Trading

A recent pilot study addresses the interesting topic of how a trader’s personality affects his or her trading performance. The researchers focused on six personality traits and their impact upon trading:
Locus of control – The degree to which a trader believes that the ability to be successful is within his or her control;
Maximizing tendency – The degree to which individuals seek optimum outcomes from their decisions, not just outcomes that meet or exceed expectations;
Regret susceptibility – The tendency to look back on outcomes of decisions and focus on negative aspects, creating regret;
Self-monitoring – People’s tendency to track and control their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors;
Sensation seeking – The degree to which people seek varied and stimulating experience;
Type A behavior – The degree to which individuals are driven to achieve.  (more…)

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