MeetPips.com

I had to write about this because I’m amazed at how much I’ve discovered about myself since I started trading in July last year. For example, I now know that I’ll rather move stops, and risk loosing $100 to prove that I’m right, than accept that I’m wrong, cut my losses, loose $10 and move on. Michael Douglas hit it on the head when he said a trader has to overcome our naturally tendency to be always right and not to loose money in order to be successful. If like me you have perfectionist tendencies, or have built a career in the exact sciences, you’ve probably worked through a ton of frustration or given up on trading. I’m gradually learning trading is for probability thinkers, not perfectionists.I thought I was risk taker, adventurous ... yeah right! I sweat buckets over trades that risk no more than I’ll spend on a decent lunch! Virtually all my trading errors can be traced to the fact that I did not fully accept the risk involved in the trade. Over the last month, I decided not to put on a trade until I’m completely at ease with the amount at risk. It’s worked wonders for my trades.Don’t get me started on patience!! After completing my studies at babypips and other related sources I felt I was ready to go and saw demo trading as a waste of my time. Unfortunately, my first few trades were winners, yes, that’s the worst thing that happened to me. I felt invincible and was dreaming of the millions to be made, the vast potential … then reality stuck. A few losers, nah, just an aberration, more losers, got to make up lost funds, then more losers, and the psychological damage was done along with a blown account. I tried all the fast time frames because I did not have the patience to wait for trade setups to evolve over larger time frames. Now, I truly believe that the amount of money a trader makes in the LONG RUN is directly proportional to the time frame he trades. I really love the time the larger timeframes give me to strategize. I’m starting to think the adages “easy come easy goes” and “quick money doesn’t last” probably applies to trading.I used to pride myself in not having an addictive personality, until I encountered trading. Like all addicts, the addict is the last person to accept his addiction. I thought about trading all day, dreamt about it at night, woke up late to adjust trade positions, felt I was missing out when I was not looking at charts, forced trades to relieve boredom, if that’s not addiction, I don’t know what is … Hey guys, I’m Ikori and I’m a trade-aholic :-)… the healing begins. Now, I try to maintain a balance. Schedule trading alongside other healthy activities with a focus on meeting the needs of others. It’s interesting how when you help others solve their problems your problems get sorted out somehow.Focusing on results, rather than the process. This is a bigie! Had to learn to plan the trade, trade the plan and live with the results. I had the tendency to judge my performance on short term P/L results rather than my adherence to the trading plan. I believe this shift in thinking is key to my success in trading. No one can control short term profitability due to market irregularities, but we can all control our execution of the trading plan. Market knowledge will provide you with the basics, but self control will make you a winner. Well executed plans over time will generate profits. Perfectionists should seek perfection in execution, regardless of results.Trading, without a doubt, is the most difficult endeavour I’ve ever undertaken. I’m still yet to have a profitable month (don’t be deceived by my pip count, there are a bunch of revenge trades and scalps I did not bother recording) but I believe I’m turning the corner.Now that I’ve exorcised myself, looking forward to a profitable May!