* Proper preparation
* Hard work
* Patience
* A detailed plan before every trade
* Discipline
* Communication
* Replaying important trades
The overarching idea is that a good trade is defined by the process that produced it, not by its P/L. In this series of posts, I'll take a look at peak performance fundamentals and explain how they are essential to successful trading.
Mike's text The Playbook brings together these seven fundamentals. The idea is that the successful trader studies stocks and their movement and eventually identifies promising patterns for buying or selling. By collecting multiple examples of these patterns, documenting them, and coming up with rules for buying/selling/holding/stopping out, the trader internalizes opportunities and becomes able to recognize them in real time. Eventually, like a great football or basketball team, the trader has deeply learned so many patterns that they can adapt to almost any market condition.
Peak performance doesn't occur on the basketball court or on the football field unless it has been laid out in advance and rehearsed, rehearsed, rehearsed. Staying fully focused on markets requires the ability to sustain effort hour after hour after hour. Our preparation is our workout routine. We will never sustain more focus and effort in our trading than we achieve in our preparation.