Part 2.Organization, Evaluation and Planning as Success Tools.
SKY'S THE LIMIT!
~~~~Life is WAVES!..~~~~
Waves that go Up. Waves that go Down.
Give and Receive.
Selling and Buying.
Yang and Yin.
Sun and Moon.
Good and Bad.
Happy and Sad.
Man and Woman.
Black and White.
Devil and God.
Right and Wrong.
Birth and Death.
OK, you catch my drift! LOL
Trading is a lot like this. There's major highs and lows. Euphoria and Hopelessness. There are high points in the downtrends; and then there's lows on an uptrends. In every good there's bad, and in every bad there's good. Nothing is what it seems, but if you can learn to recognize the big picture, if you can have an awareness of your abilities and the world around you, then you can have hope. And hope will turn into profits. And profits will turn into confidence. And confidence will bring larger profits. And larger profits will bring hope to others!.. There's no stopping us now!..
Are you headed up? Are you headed down? Or, are you stuck in a rut- ranging, thinking about your next move?. You can ride the waves of market consciously or you can be taken down by a giant wave because you didn't expect it. Life is anticipating waves and riding them with STYLE. Overcoming and triumphing with glory - yes, trading is a lot like LIFE itself and that's why I fell in love with it! .
Market is a wonderful sea of buyers and sellers - market makers and big money become buyers and sellers too. There's really no true separation because buyers and sellers are all one and the same person, wearing different hats and taking profits in a billion dollar industry of trading. It is in the knowing to be on the winning side for the given moment, where we retail traders can also thrive, even in turbulent waters!
HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL.
SUCCESS IS CONSISTENCYSuccess is achieving something on a consistent basis. Success can only be defined by stable profits, its not really about winning once and then losing for the rest of the month. Its not 10 ITMs, 20 ITMs or even a 100 ITMs. It's not one good day or a one good week when Lady Luck just seems to favor your decisions. Because nobody can be 100% right, trading is not about being right: its about handling of being wrong! How do you handle losses, what is you loss policy, do you keep your emotions in a separate room (or building. or town) or do you become frustrated, angry, sad (i.e. you lost control of your emotional capacity, and instead of money making powerhouse MACHINE you are now an average Joe, an an average Joe works for the Man, and earns what other people dictate to him.)
This is where risk and money management come in handy - of course - but overall it is an honest assessment of SELF and awareness. You may think of yourselves as a money making machine that runs on Oil graded 80%. If other, inferior oils are added into your tank, your machine won't run. You can't trade before that honest assessment is made and you have successfully achieved constant profit. What is the PROOF of success? A proof of success is not a bank account with a stale amount of dollars in it. To me, the proof in the pudding is a Loss and Profit statement - a table - with constant account growth, week-to-week. If you have monthly projection table and you have a plan which you follow religiously, great. If not, GET ONE. For if you don't know where you are going, you are lacking a map. Every winner needs a GOAL, and let the goal, like FIRE, drive you.
THE MYTH OF CONFIDENCE. How can one become confident? As in, a confident trader? Basically confidence comes only after profits. All in all, confidence is not a requirement to be successful in trading. Trading brings experience of daily calculated risks, endurance, careful planning/strategy - and practice, practice, practice! Practice is what makes you good. ENDURANCE is a part of life, it is the ability to recognize obstacles as distractions and opportunities for growth - it's in the times of retracements down we, as traders, can enter market, and ride it all the way to the top.
I too have experienced losses. The psychology behind losses is - learn from this, but tomorrow is a new day when you will more than make up for your losses. There are no traders who never experience losses - it's a part of the game. We work on minimizing losses by not over-trading and babysitting our trades, minimizing losses by controlling lot sizes, and strategizing on profit targets. Confidence in trading is not a must but because it comes only after profits, it will allow you to grow your account quicker. :D
THE POWER OF GOODBYE. I've compiled a calendar of trade setups that I take. I don't claim for these setups to be a holy grail, and they need to be exited in a timely manner in order to profit. So its important to give yourself ENOUGH room to be wrong and set a nice, comfortable stop loss. Stop Loss is there to insure you lock in your profits and continue to thrive as a trader. Babysit your trades with care and love, and move your stop losses so that you can continue to thrive. Market has a mind of its own and sometimes , when we look at these candles on a chart, we know that they represent people: people ruled by fear and greed! So in cases when market is unreasonable, be ready with a solid and gracious GOODBYE strategy, learn to say goodbye beautifully and quickly! In fact, PREPARE your goodbyes in advance, so it will be all the easier to implement. Make them short and don't dwell on them for better or for worse.
ON WINNING
May the best man win! Winners take all.
The world is full of great traders that provide inspiration. Winning, just like winning a battle, comes from various strategies for various market conditions. You are not in it to win a war, but to win a single battle at a time. There's no cookie cutter for winning. we might all be familiar with " buy low, sell high" slogan, or " for every seller there's a buyer". In like manner, for every winner there's a loser. It is up to you to develop a "Sniper" or warrior mentality that serves you well. Cutting your losses in time sometimes IS winning. Surviving the battle to live another day is also a victory. And you will have a thriving account to show for it. Protecting the health of your account is more important than being right. So be accountable!
BUYING VS SELLING.
Is buying better than selling? Not really. However, buying is certainly more fun than selling, people get all excited about that new toy that they just BOUGHT for such an attractive low price. Buying psychology is greed, desire and want. How about selling psychology? Selling is not as fun, it is driven by a need, by a fear, by some news that wasn't great. So you can buy into greed/want, or sell into fear/need - it doesn't matter, we don't need to chose sides, we play a game of the majority.
All in all buyers and sellers come together and establish a dance of fair pricing - evaluating constantly, what something is worth. When there's imbalance of power between buyers and sellers, we have a reversal. You always want to be on the side of the market or at least be aware/recognize the market conditions.
REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS.
Traders are not part time palm readers. Trading is not about predicting the market but anticipating market waves/moves, and planning your entry and exit ahead of time. There are certain patterns/scenarios that we as traders are aware of, and there's certain behaviors around points of reference - such as value areas and areas of support/resistance. But any sort of prediction rules are bendable and subject to interpretation. There's various patterns that are widely known - wedge formations, double tops/bottoms, Elliot Wave Theory, and others - but the reality of things is that nobody really knows when or where the trend will end. We can only utilize what we DO know, and invest accordingly, by identifying a PRIMARY trend and staying with it (the MAIN trend is your trend). Visually speaking, when the market stops making lower lows/higher highs (failure) or hesitates/ranges in an area, (consolidation), we can start questioning the main trend and keep a journal where Plan A, Plan B and even Plan C is set in place. What to do when you're expecting? What to do when you are in a losing trade? Where to take profit? Write all of your plans down for the successful (next) trading day. TRADING IS A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOURSELF TRADING IS ALL ABOUT BALANCE TRADING IS LIKE EXERCISE - IF ONE DAY IS MISSED, A LOT OF PROGRESS CAN BE LOST. TO BE IN TUNE WITH THE MARKET, ONE MUST TRADE A MINIMUM OF 4 HRS EVERY SINGLE DAY - AT THE SAME TIME IF POSSIBLE
