I don’t want to sound pessimistic, in fact I’m one of the
most optimistic guys I know, but I’ll tell you right from the start: it’s gonna
get rough out there and no matter who you are, no matter how well trained you
are, the market is going to bring you to your knees…and that’s when winners
will choose to get up and losers will walk away. Who am I and what’s my right
to talk? Just a guy who weathered the storm and chose to keep on going.
Losing…That’s the first step forward.
I had my share of losing and I learned the hard way that
success in trading is not achieved overnight. Like a fool I failed to see the
difference between luck and skill and I thought I am good…in fact I was just
wrong. One of the things I didn’t realize in my early trading days was that I
will lose some and win some. I naively thought I will enter the trading game
and hit it big, without ever losing…then the first loss came along; and the
second… and they kept on coming. My confidence started to shake and I wasn’t
sure of myself anymore. I couldn’t make a sound decision anymore and probably a
deer in the lights of a speeding car was more determined than I was…all because
I wasn’t prepared and I didn’t know how to deal with defeat. Or rather, I
didn’t understand at the time that loss does not equal defeat; it’s just a part
of trading and a step forward because it will make you see things you were too
blinded to see before.
Give me your best shot!
It is no secret that the psychological aspect of trading
plays a big role but maybe sometimes we fail to see just how big that role is.
I often compare a great trader with a great boxer. Bear with me and you will
see where I’m getting at: no matter how good a boxer is, he knows for a fact
when he gets in the ring that he will be punched in the face. He will take some
and give some, but after the first couple of punches he takes, he doesn’t start
to question his skills or his strategy, he keeps on fighting because the punch
he just received is no surprise to him…he knew this will happen even before he
stepped inside the arena. In other words, when you see something as a distinct
possibility and prepare for it, you are never caught off guard and you carry on
with your plan. Just how the great boxer knows he will have his hand raised
when the final bell rings if he follows his plan, a great trader must have the
same mentality: ok, I will lose some, but my overall balance will be positive
if I keep on track. And if I think of it, we have a major advantage over the
boxer: he cannot control how hard his opponent will hit him, but we can control
how much we want to lose on a trade. Cool advantage to have!
Wrapping it up
To be honest, I started writing this article because I read
Jason’s article “How
I blew up my account” which made me remember some of my mistakes (yes, I
have plenty) but it also gave me a feeling of confidence because I saw how
somebody can overcome adversity and still manage to move forward. The ability
to do that lies within us; losses don’t have to make us stop and just like
George Soros said, “It doesn't matter how
often you are right or wrong - it only matters how much you make when you are
right, versus how much you lose when you are wrong."
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I love the boxer analogy - so true - and you comment about controlling how much we can potentially lose on a trade is a great point. Never trade more than you can afford to lose is great advice.
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