Focus Grasshopper-3 Lessons That Took me from Loser to Winner
In the early years of my trading career ( 2000-2003) I set the standard and raised the bar for trading idiots. I lost so much and so often I thought about opening up an second account just so I could trade against myself. It was that bad. There were many things I had to change about my game to get me on the right track but what I found interesting is that the difference between a losing trader and a winning trader is razor thin. So thin that just 3 small changes I made to my approach to trading transformed me from a hopeless amoeba trader to someone who hasn’t had a losing week trading since 2005! Yep 7 years without a losing week and you know what- you can do it too.
1.Your focus is out of wack
No doubt the biggest reason somebody decides to become a trader is money. Granted the money is important but that is not where your main focus should be. If you are approaching every trade with the thought of “how much money am I going to make” the money is taking the focus and concentration away from the trade itself. For each trade you make you have to be completely focused on weather this particular trade fits within your trading process and plan. Your focus everyday should be on making good trades if you do that the money will take care of itself.
In addition to focusing on making good trades you should also be focused on the time of day you choose to make the majority of your trades. The best possible time to find opportunities is the first 2 hours and the last 2 hours of the trading session. This is the time your focus should be at it’s highest. You should have absolutely no distractions during this time. Focusing on these time frames and resting in between will conserve mental energy and keep you fresher and more profitable as you get late into the week ( Thursday,Friday)
This is so important it was the very first lesson in my free trading tips
2. You are a guru groupie
In my early day I fell for every “look how rich I am ” guru or software program. Like many other noobs I was looking for the holy grail. I thought all I had to do was follow this person or buy this magic software and it would be turn key ,reduce my stress and I would be rich just like them. After 3 years of trading and thousands of dollars spent on these gurus I can tell you this never works. If you spend your time bouncing around from chat room to chat room or trading too many financial instruments you are doomed. The reason it doesn’t work is because as I mentioned above your focus is wack. Your focus is on FOLLOWING and not LEARNING from the guru. If you do not know why the guru is entering the trade, how they found the trade and the risk vs reward of the trade you certainly are not going to feel very comfortable trading along side them.
This magnifies itself because many gurus lure you into their services by their extreme dollar gains. But as you look closer you can see most gurus dollar gains are based on trading enormously large position sizes, plus many have large accounts where risk has a different picture. As I mentioned above about focus – here we go again about focusing on dollars. Many new traders are not mentally conditioned to trade those position sizes and to handle the back and forth volatility. This creates unwanted stress which leads to fear and as Bohdi ( Patrick Swayze) said to Johnnie Utah ( Keanu Reeves) in the movie Point Break “Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true”
Also discussed in this lesson
3.You are to stubborn
To a point we are all stubborn but most enter the market without respecting the market. What I mean by this is people feel that if they are successful in another field or hold a fancy degree from an accredited university that that should translate to instant trading success. There is truth that winners will find ways to win but the market doesn’t give a damn who you are. It doesn’t discriminate, it takes money from people everyday. No matter what you pedigree the market will bury the non prepared, overconfident and uneducated. There are too many variables in today’s market, day traders, swing traders , scalpers, prop firms and algos. With all of the variables anything can happen on a moments notice.
In order for you to be successful and remain successful as a trader you need to align yourself with the right environment. An environment when you can lean on a professional for advice from everything from trading to psychology. TheLincolnList is more than just a profitable trade room with great alerts. With my advanced trade room every LincolnList member is in trading class with me all 5 days of the week. Learning how to build watchlists, find the right stocks, manage trades and build a successful trading business.
Trading is a journey not a get rich scheme. I know this first hand from the many bumps and bruises I took in the early years of my career. You have the ability ti learn first hand on how to avoid these bruises and be profitable almost every day of the week. All you need is the right environment. Learn more about our live trade room ans our trader educational tools here