Friday, May 28, 2010

Qualities of Top Traders

1. Patience

"The waiting is the hardest part" - Tom Petty

"Patience pays. Wait. Let the hand of God work for you. One who has created you let Him create all the environments, circumstances, and facilities & faculties" - Yogi bhajan

I don't know about you but I trade to put food on the table for my family. In the long run if f I don't make money – we don't eat. A lot of trading is waiting. Waiting for the best trade to come to you, waiting for your scales to be hit, waiting for final target to be hit, etc. If you are impatient you lack the ability to wait for these things. If you are trading for excitement or thrills then you will find yourself taking stupid trades out of a need for action and in return you will not experience the results you desire. Much better to head to Vegas or go bungee jumping. Before I put ONE DOLLAR at risk I want to be sure that the odds are stacked in my favor. You won't find me trading out of boredom, or taking a low odds trade because I feel the need to do "something". I am fine being flat. You should learn to love the waiting – the waiting is what enables you to make the money.

2. Decisiveness.

"It's better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong than to agonize at length and be right too late" - Anonymous

"Procrastination in the name of reducing risk actually increases risk" - Colin Powell

"Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in" - Napoleon Bonaparte

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing" - Theodore Roosevelt

If you have the patience to wait for your setup then you better have the decisiveness to GET IN THE TRADE once price comes to you and your entry parameters are present. How many people wait for the trade to come and then when it arrives start analyzing if they should take it? When the trade has arrived it is time for action, not analyzation. This is what preparation is for. If you have done your homework there is no need for hesitation – you already know what to do. At the same time trading is not static. There are times when the odds are high that the market will reverse before your final target is hit. Do you have the decisiveness to reverse the position or flatten when this situation is present? It has been said that the number one ingredient to being a great trader is the trading guts to pull the trigger as soon as a reverse is anticipated. Be decisive.

3. Gratitude.

Wanna thank you, Wanna thank you
Freedom in stride, love, peace of mind
We just wanna give Gratitude - Earth Wind & Fire

Thank you, Lord, for what you've done for me
Thank you, Lord, for what you're doing now
Thank you, Lord, for ev'ry little thing
Thank you, Lord, for you made me sing - Bob Marley

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has" – Epictetus

If you book 10 points on the day are you the type of trader that is mad about the 15 pts left on the table or grateful about the 10 you pocketed? A consistently profitable trader is a continuously grateful trader. When you are grateful for what you have you operate out of a state of abundance. How many times have you become upset about missing a trade you were waiting for, or about how far a position ran after you got out, or about getting stopped at the extreme of a move only to see the trade reverse in your favor? It happens to all of us and we all do it. It is normal to think we should have booked more profits or done better - that is a characteristic of most traders - we are never satisfied and always think we can improve on our performance.  The key is to be thankful and grateful for what we do get. By maintaining a thankful and grateful mindset it opens the way for abundance and blessings to come into your life.

More will be added but thought I would share as they are written…

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Great points! Excellent reading to wrap up this week's trading... and well worth reading each week prior to trading!

Good Trades,
Jeff Wagner

Ilya B said...

Thats why this game is not for every one. In fact, its the loss of the other side that do not follow these rules or are just wrong, that all you to win. Imagine, if everybody was right and had all the setups, the no one would win. Your points are great, and I read your email blasts religously, but market is what it is. A myriad of thoughts joined for one cause; to profit. Some fail, misareably. It is my goal to succeed as you do.

-dP- said...

Food For Thought. Tnx for a great post.

derek said...

Good stuff, #2 makes me think of my 5 yr old son crossing the street. I always have to tell him "Be sure no cars are coming, but once it's safe just GO!"

Unknown said...

another good post, thanks!

TraderSmarts said...

Thank you all for the comments. Derkek - Excellent analogy. I can relate :)

Jeffrey Lin said...

great post. thanks. nice that you were able to narrow it down to just 3 of the most important qualities-and it's all mental/attitude. Few traders on twitter other than @hamzeianalytics and @futurestrader71 talk much about #3, but I believe it is paramount.

Unknown said...

To me, an important aspect is persistences, which leads to experience. Almost everyone loses at first... Patience is a double edged sword, patience with your losers can be negative. If you get out quick then you can get back in at a better entry often times.

jimiyo said...

stumbled here from ST. great stuff. copy pasted some lines from this blog to my trading diary notes.