Perseverance: steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.
At the start of the New Year, I set certain goals and high expectations for myself. However, in the month of January, I seemed to have a tough time trading. I started to have down days during my first two weeks, followed by a positive week, which was then followed by two consecutive stop out days. After these occurrences, I contemplated whether or not I should trade on the demo account for a few days just to get my confidence back. However, my mentor suggested that I continue to trade live and make some money, which I thought about for some time and ended up doing.
Even though I was having a rough time with the market, I was still making good trades. After I spent some time reviewing these trades and replayed them in my head over and over again, I found that new skills began to develop. Such as:
1) Reversal patterns
2) Better tape-reading skills in highly volatile stocks
As this month continued, other traders started to come to me for advice, despite the fact that I was having a rough time with the market. These occurrences increased my confidence during this time period. I am nowhere near where I want to be, but now with my new-found commitment and dedication, I can see myself achieving my goals.
So, for anyone who is struggling, instead of dealing with your problems in a negative manner, manage them in a positive one. One of the ways you can achieve this is by persevering through these times and allowing yourself to learn. You must keep in mind that these experiences will allow yourself to grow as a trader. This is the only way you will be able to become successful.
6 Comments on “Perseverance”
Another great post Sammy…tks.
Dan
When I trade like shit I stop trading and go do something that gives me a sense of accomplishment or something I enjoy. When I get back the renewed energy always shows up in my pnl.
I needed to read something like this. Refreshing. This is another proof of how trading next to others can keep you on the right track.
What I find interesting is that are periods when I think ‘oh, I need to get more knowledge about what patterns work best in this environment’ – and out of a sudden on the blog are posted information about tech patterns; ‘I believe I have to do more research about probabilities’ – and here it goes: a new series of posts about probabilities is getting posted on the blog; ‘it seems that trading lately has been tough – but is only me getting involved in dumb trades’ – and here it goes: posts about how the market was kind of tricky lately. My approach to all these is not a telepatic connection (lol) but the fact that I struggle and feel the market like most of the traders. Hence, this builds my confidence and enforces me to continue my work.
Thanks guys!
My month went the opposite direction. 1st two weeks were amongst the strongest ever for me. Then a real bad day, exceeded my loss limit. A few more bad days, then the last 4 I found myself near my loss limit, but ended each day flat. Very determined focus on a few volatile stocks, one each day. I’ve never traded AAPL, AMZN or BIDU well, but the last 4 days these were my closing trades, nothing else entered my mind, and broke even each day. Didn’t miss a tick on the tape, and can remember each trade exactly how it happened. My take, gotta lower tier size but trade through the tough times to get the thought process and battle focus back. Yes Sammy, it was core tape reading that made the difference.
c’est tout à fait cela !
Perseverance and positivity. Those are the two traits that I apply in trading. It has worked wonders for me.