We look at the charts for opportunities. We do NOT go looking for trades

“”A major psychological problem I am struggling with, since a lot of my past experience has been involved with scalping, seems to be the desire to always be in a trade. For example, if I have recently closed a trade, successfully or not, I have this desire to start “looking” for another trade to get into as soon as possible. And I don’t mean waiting for a good one, I mean anything that looks hopeful. Anything I can make myself believe has potential. I think some of this comes from feeling like I need to always have something going to make money constantly. Like I am losing time and money if I don’t have something going. I’m sure you know what I mean. I’m working on that.””

When we are trading to live, we look at the charts for opportunities. We do NOT go looking for trades. As I have said many times, the good opportunities will stand out like a sore thumb (providing you know what you are looking for). When you find yourself “hunting”through each chart trying to find a trade, you know you have over stepped the mark and you need to back off and be patient. 

“But I need to make $X,000 this month to pay the bills”, you say. Well, if this is the case, you are doomed to FAIL. 

Before starting out to trade to live, you MUST have a back up account of at LEAST, 6 months living expenses and preferably, one year. This is in addition to your trading account. When you don’t have this “slush” account to live off in the times we are in now, you put yourself under greater pressure to perform. The more pressure you are under, the more mistakes you will make. The more mistakes you make will put you under more pressure and so on in a vicious spiral that will ruin you both financially and mentally.

The sooner you realise you can ONLY trade what the market gives you and NOTHING more, the better trader you will become.

Remember why you are trading. Do you know why you are trading? If you don’t, ask yourself right now and make sure you come up with the right answer for there is ONLY one right answer. Trading is a business, treat it like a business. Treat it with respect, patience and discipline and it will look after you for as long as you want. Abuse it and take advantage of it and you will blow it – big time!

Hopefully if you have learned and KNOW that trading is NOT a game – far from it. Neither is it a “Get Rich Quick” scheme as the scammers want us to believe. In fact, it is more like an investment growing slowly but surely. How can it do otherwise when we are only risking 2% of our account?