Once there was a wealthy but foolish man. When he saw the beautiful three-storied house, he envied it and made up his mind to have one built just like it, thinking he himself was just as wealthy. He called a carpenter and ordered him to build it. The carpenter consented and immediately began to construct the foundation, the first story, the second story, and then the third story. The wealthy man noticed this with irritation and said: - "I don't want the foundation or a first story, or a second story; I just want the beautiful third story. Build it quickly."
A foolish man always thinks only of the results, and is impatient without the effort that is necessary to get good results. No good can be attained without proper effort, just as there can be no third story without the foundation and the first and second stories.
What is the foundation of your trading?
Nice post, and thanks for the comments on richards blog, I continue to learn from my mistakes, in fact I would say my mistakes and what I've learned from them are part of my foundation =)
ReplyDeleteLol. Certainly mistakes are a learning tool. What is your edge though? What makes the trades you take potentially consistently profitable? There has to be a basic foundation on something concrete (pun not intended) and proven. For instance, my basic foundation is momentum. Momentum more often than not precedes continued movement in the same direction. In this unlimited realm of possibilities, I find reminding myself of this core idea simplifies my job and keeps me on track.
ReplyDeleteMy edge is the trend, I always trade with the overall trend, or powerful surges in 1 direction, I cut my losses very quickly and trail my stop in very strong trends, and uses set targets in weaker trends / weaker surges. My biggest weakness lately I'd say has been patience, I was doing great for awhile and felt near invincible, trading almost anything I felt like and making up stories on the fly about what WOULD HAPPEN NEXT, of course my trades that weren't part of my plan failed and the market showed me that I'm not invincible
ReplyDeleteAh, now you're talking. Lack of patience. I must say the market doesn't show you anything. I know you may not have meant it literally, but that type of thinking is damaging. It is you who is in control of your position. So your impatience, as you stated, was/is the problem. It was an error in judgement to trade when trading was not favorable to your style.
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