More PMA!
“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”
-Sir Winston Churchill
This is what we all should be doing! Taking charge of our own futures and not let the world decide for us what it will be. Pick five things in your live that you can change today, this week or this month and set out to make those changes. Trading is only a thread of your life not your life. Make a difference to those who are counting on you. Let me end this with one more form Sir Winston Churchill. “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”
Positive Mental Attitude
There was a man who took journey in the wilderness with his family to find a new place to live in peace and freedom. They had to hunt and gather for food. To survive on this trek they were on. One day while hunting his bow broke. This posed a serious problem. No bow, no food! Instead of wasting his time and energy complaining about the situation he took action. He thought his situation through carefully, pondering and praying for guidance. He took an inventory of the resources he had around him. And fashioned a bow and arrows out of wood from saplings along a nearby stream, he was soon back on the hunt for food. He was successful and able to provide meat for his family.
This story can shed light on every aspect of life. But as traders we can learn a great deal from this. We need to keep our wits about ourselves and stay up beat. If we let our fear and or negative emotions get in the way. We will not be able to see the trades that our right in front of us. By staying positive and tapping into our higher power. We will be more apt to find success in trading in life.
Why Do You Do What You Do?
“There are two things that I want you to make up your minds to: first, that you are going to have a good time as long as you live - I have no use for the sour-faced man - and next, that you are going to do something worthwhile, that you are going to work hard and do the things you set out to do.”
- Theodore Roosevelt a talk to school children in Oyster Bay, Christmas time 1898
The 5 Steps to becoming a trader
This is an article I ran across a little while ago and I would like to post it here for you to read because I found it describe the journey of a trader very accurately. Unfortunately somewhere between this blog and where I found the article I lost the name of the author. I would really like to give them credit and link to their site so if anyone knows the author and their site I would love to add it here.
The 5 Steps to becoming a trader
Step One: Unconscious Incompetence.
This is the first step you take when starting to look into trading. you know that its a good way of making money because you’ve heard so many things about it and heard of so many millionaires. Unfortunately, just like when you first desire to drive a car you think it will be easy - after all, how hard can it be? Price either moves up or down - what’s the big secret to that then - let’s get cracking!
Chin UP!
“Thrice happy is the man that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
-”The Strenuous Life”
Trading With Emotion
Here is a comment from a trader that is trading with price movement rather than the trend.
“This really reminds me of my experience as of late. Every time the market moves against me, I wait until I just can’t take any more unrealized loss, then reverse the position hoping that the momentum will help me recover some of the loss, get me to BE, or even profit. Soon after I do this, the market reverses its direction and instead of putting me back in the green, exacerbates the situation. Worse yet, I come to realize that had I kept the original position, I would not lose or even gain from it. Effectively, the initial bad decision soon snowballs into a serious loss.
Great Success, Small Success
Can anyone be trained to trade for a living? I would say a LOUD yes…. and no.
A great deal can be “taught” like a working strategy. But a lot cannot be taught. One trader will have great success and another just a little success trading the same strategy.
There is something that some traders have and others don’t. That doesn’t mean you can’t be trained to make money trading; many can, but the level of success varies greatly. The love of trading has a lot to do with it. How you think and feel about money plays a big part in your trading also. A trader must understand that there are no absolute systems in the trading arena. Trading systems will give you the advantage but time and study have to be put in to become a good trader. Planning, practice, disciple, control over your emotions and greed, and a fresh outlook on life can go a long way to determine the level of success you may have.
There are many good trading systems, and trader must find the one that works for them. If you find a flaw in a system move on to something else. We would caution you not to spend much valuable trading time trying to perfect something that is flawed to start with. Find a trading strategy that fits you then learn how to use it. Do not spend time trying to change it or perfect it. Spend your energies learning how to trade, and then trade.
Market Guessing Game
I found this amusing. I was asked to go to this chat forum and see what they were saying about the market. Here are four of the comments I saw.
Hi, I join the tread started by ……. and ask you guys the same question about GBPUSD the coming week, any views on where we are going?
My strategy when the market opens above 1.8950 i will set long because the market opens above the resistance
It’s very risky now.
It might have bottomed near term at 1.8834/36 and managing to rally beyond 1.90 again. And if someone expects this, he may not be wrong because stochastic made a positive cross, a doji plus a bullish candle but that’s not too enough.
Someone else might come.. and say no, It’s going down. and he also has good reasons. Why? GBPUSD almost touch the 1.8967-65 resistance, and it might be a place to find plenty of sellers. Also the bullish candle didn’t close above 1.8953 bearish candle open. rather closed at 1.8946
Traders Don’t Change Because… Traders Can Change If…
I came across a couple of quotes I want to share with you:
“Wall Street never changes, the pockets change, the suckers change, the stocks change, but Wall Street never changes, because human nature never changes” Jesse Livermore
“In order to make a success, the trader must act in a way to overcome the weak points that have caused the ruin of others” W.D. Gann
The reason indicators work in any financial markets is because human nature never changes. We remain greedy, emotional, and want things right now. If we can trade by using a system and following rules then we are doing the things other successful traders do. If we chase trades get caught up in one trade that is causing us problems and want more than the market is willing to give then we will do what most of the unsuccessful traders do and that is flounder.
Another way of looking at the quote by W.D. Gann is: If you keep doing the same thing you have always done then you will keep getting the same results you have always gotten. A trader needs to identify their strength and weakness then work on correcting their weaknesses and improve their strengths.
I once heard it said that: “It is insanity to think you can keep doing the same thing and expect to get different results.” Successful traders are successful because they are willing to do the things that unsuccessful traders are not willing to do. Successful traders will keep a trade journal, follow a trading system, and use a set of rules when trading just to name a few things they do.
First of all we must decide why we are trading. Then we must do what it takes to become successful. If we are not willing to do the things that successful traders do then we should never put money into the market we should just continue to demo trade and keep our money in a safe place.
If we trade the news and always lose, stop trading the news. If we chase trades and lose then stop chasing trades, if we trade against the major trend and lose then stop trading against the trend. If we trade without a stop loss and lose then start putting stops on our trades. Success leaves clues so look for the clues. We can be successful at trading if we are willing to change the way we trade when we lose.
Which Is Best: Trading on Offense or Defense?
We have all been told that we should only trade with money we can afford to lose. This does not mean to be wild and care free with your trading money. So we do not want to think of our trading account as money you can afford to lose. We just have to know that we can lose this money and not affect our life style. You want to be stingy with this money and try to keep it and guard it with all the skill we have.
Playing offence is important but you will keep and make more money by playing defense with your money. Before making a trade you should always think defense and check the risk before you place the trade. Once you have the risk figured out and you are willing to accept that level of risk you need to figure out the number of lots you will trade. It is best to think about how much you will lose rather than how much you will gain. When you approach trading defensively first, then money management will have a higher priority in your trading decisions.
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