Why am I not a successful trader yet?
After blowing up another 10K account (luckily a demo account) I thought it was about time to start ranting again. About the things that aren’t going too well. Also, stand still by the things that are going well. Let me start with the bad things first.
The Bad
I recently had an epiphany. ‘Just because you can connect the dots, doesn’t mean there’s a link.’ Now this sounds trivial I know. I was thinking about something personal when I came to this realization. I’m probably more paranoid-inclined than most, but I’m sure I’m not one of only few. How often do we see people doing ‘innocent-looking’ things thinking they are up to no good. Only to find out later that there actually was nothing going on. Now, if you had jumped the gun and confronted this person you’d look like a jerk, right?! I think similar things can happen when we look at other pieces of information. Information like the news and how we think we can connect certain dots and ‘see’ links that probably aren’t there. Talking to you conspiracy nuts! Just kidding. I have a tendency to do the same. I believe it’s always good to ask questions. Just when you start creating your own answers to fill in the gaps and think you ‘see’ a link there. That’s when you get a little nuts. Can we be so mature to acknowledge that? What does this got to do with trading? Well… Just because I see patterns doesn’t mean they are there. I think by overthinking trading too much I create obstacles for myself. And who needs obstacles when trying to tackle a complex financial ‘game’ as trading. It’s just that my personal inclination is to basically reinvent the wheel. Or even redesign it thinking I’m that good. Now there’s definitely something good to be said about that as well, namely to not let other people’s opinions weigh so much. On the other side I am creating extra work for myself and that can get confusing real fast. My intuition tells me to keep things simple so that is what I’m going to do.
The ugly
Now, even if I keep connecting these dots and creating irrelevant links it would still mean ‘more’ if I would stick to the plan. I would have to keep trading the same plan to be consistent at least in finding out it doesn’t work. Following my trading plan is my biggest challenge. I have set rules for myself and I need to follow them. Be more methodical in my approach and not let the sudden burst of price action excite me into prematurely (ejaculating over my keyboard) taking trades. I have to keep a cool head and ONLY trade my plan.
The good
It’s not all bad over here. I can feel myself evolving from a beginner to a novice. Seeing the things you do wrong is the first step to fixing them. So that’s what I will keep working on. A friend once told me ‘Progress, not Perfection’ and I believe these words to be very powerful. Often times I find myself wanting too much, too fast. Although I know that it will come with just being diligent in my approach to find the mistakes in my ‘game’ and then to better them. I am certain I will become a success in trading, because I am putting in the time and energy. It’s that simple.
Thanks for reading
I hope that in some way I contribute to your journey to become a successful trader. Thanks for reading and please leave a comment and/or subscribe. Let me know what you think and where you are in your journey.