Traders I've observed over the years who have achieved consistent success display three important qualities:
1) They trade with repeatable processes, so that their trades are planned and not reactive. They have clear, structured ways of generating ideas, and they have clear structured ways of finding optimal expressions of their ideas; sizing positions based on those expressions; and managing the risk of those trades. What we do repeatedly becomes relatively automatic: it becomes part of us. A great way to minimize emotional, reactive trading is to follow trading practices that are well-defined. If we can capture what we do as a set of rules, we have the makings of a checklist that can guide our decision-making in the heat of the moment. A huge part of developing as a trader is finding coaches/mentors who can guide you in the discovery of the trading processes best suited for you. What are your personality strengths? Your cognitive strengths? Those will help determine how you generate ideas and manage the trades based on those. Ideally, the rules and practices that comprise your planned trading are derived from your trading successes, not simply borrowed from others.
2) They are always finding new ways to win. Consider a basketball team. They practice a range of offensive plays and defensive alignments. They might run the ball against one opponent; they might move from a zone defense to man-to-man for another. A big part of coaching is helping a team adapt what they do best to exploit the opponent's vulnerabilities. Similarly, markets are ever-changing and the drivers of market behavior shift over time. The best traders evolve. The goal is not simply to find a trade an "edge", but to exploit ever-changing edges in dynamic markets. The best traders will explore and research, just like any successful company that conducts R&D to meet the needs of a changing marketplace. Successful traders will push the comfort zone and look for advantages over time frames, markets, and strategies that are unfamiliar. If we're not challenging and scaring ourselves periodically, we're not growing.
3) They achieve a balance between work and life. Over the years, I've seen many successful traders burn out. Their burnout is not necessarily limited to their trading; they sometimes blow up in their relationships or in their physical health. It's romantic to think about work as our passion and being involved day and night in our quest for success, but that is not what makes for a sustained, successful career. The goal is to find a lifestyle that sustains energy and passion over time. That lifestyle typically includes activities for physical well-being and the emotional well-being of relationships. It is not clear to me that we can sustain our love for markets and trading if we cannot sustain love in our lives. It is not clear that we can sustain our energy and passion for trading if we cannot sustain physical energy in our lives. An Olympic athlete knows the importance of staying in peak conditioning as part of training and preparing for success. Each of us needs to find the peak conditioning in our lives that can sustain our best efforts in markets.
Approaching our trading in the right way is the best way to cultivate a positive trading psychology. It's not that you'll magically trade better if you're in a better frame of mind. Rather, you'll be in your optimal mindset when you approach trading the right way.
Develop routines based on your strengths. Push the boundaries in finding fresh opportunity. Live a full life that maximizes your energy and mindset. Identify what you do that is truly great and build upon that. You are not meant for a life of mediocrity. Have the vision to dream and the practical sense to pursue that dream, step by step.
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