I have been working with traders now for over 5 years. In that time, I have experienced incredible highs as well as lows. Today, I am going to write about some of those experiences.
Every single person I have coached had a great desire to become successful in this business, some were attracted to the lifestyle choice, some the intellectual challenge and others just making money. Despite the motivation some people went on to become very successful and others struggled. This phenomenon causes me to reflect on why?
My coaching and mentoring approach is very structured with specific goals and objectives throughout the process combined with drills and exercises. I also use a couple of texts to support the key messages.
One thing that separates the successful from the unsuccessful is dedication and shear hard work. Somehow many traders have bought into the idea that this business is easy. “Hey, all you have to do is work out whether the market is going up or down, press your mouse and bingo, profits appear in your account.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
I run a trade room where the focus is on education not simply calling trades, it amazes me how few people actually engage in conversation. Now I know that trading can be a lonely business, sitting in your home office staring at screens. Here they have opportunity to engage with someone who knows what they are talking about (if I could be so bold), who’s performance is there for everyone to see, who shares their experience freely, yet they don’t engage. With 200 people in my room each day, only around 20 ask questions, share insights, and talk about what they are doing. The rest are the silent ones, I call them the ‘voyeurs. Maybe that’s just what they want, just pay to go into a room and copy someone’s trades, but how does that help them learn, develop and grow as a trader? What happens if the moderator stops moderating?
In contrast, those that do engage reap enormous benefits, I have seen people grow from making $500 a day to making $2,000 a day. Consistency is the key.
One of the strategies I advocate is keeping and maintaining a trading journal, I talk about it every day in the trade room, yet few people do it consistently. What’s the definition of madness? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Keeping a journal or rather not keeping a journal is one thing that is common to virtually all inconsistent traders. This is easily fixed, it does not have to be complicated.
The other issue is life, sometimes life gets in the way. I fundamentally believe that we always find time for the things that are important, and therefore when I set an activity or exercise to be completed by a specific date, I have an expectation that it will be done. For example, reading a chapter in a book, doing some market replay work, or working on their trade plans. These all make a great contribution to underlying profit and consistency. This problem goes back to the concept of discipline. Disciplined traders are disciplined in all aspects of trading activity, they develop structured processes and execute those processes flawlessly.
You see, in trading there are no rules. You can literally do whatever you want, trade whatever size you want, set you stops where you want (or not have any stops at all). Get in where you want, get out where you want. You can also lose as much as you want, and no one will tell you off (maybe apart from your partner). This creates great opportunities for traders as well as potential minefields. Without structure and discipline, you are guaranteed to fail.
Then we have the issue of ‘shiny object syndrome’ (SOS). It comes from the belief that” my trading is not working; therefore, I need to buy the next sexy looking trading tool”. I know of people that have spent $20,000, $50,000 and some even as much as $100,000 on software and trading systems only to find that their results remain inconsistent. The best trading system you carry around with you every day, it that grey matter between your ears.
And finally, the search for the ‘holy grail’. I have been trading now full time for over 10 years, and I can tell you, it does not exist! I really don’t care what trading system vendors tell you, there is no system that you can buy off the shelf and it will instantly make money for you.
So, in summary, consistent profitable traders exhibit the following behaviours. They have a high degree of motivation, enthusiasm and discipline. They work extremely hard at mastering their craft. They engage with others (trade room) and learn from other people’s experiences. They keep and maintain a trading journal and are constantly learning. They find time to do this job properly. They recognise that it’s only through hard work that they deserve the right to reap the unlimited rewards that this business offers us all.
If you would like to experience how to make this breakthrough get in touch michael@neurostreet.com.
Happy Trading;
Michael Black
