Mike,
This was kind of a mixed week.
Good.
1. I find the 2nd day trade makes the most sense to me. I pick the strongest stock of the day and then find two levels of support and outline my entry price, stop price, target, and size. So far so good.
2. I also found that I don’t pay as much attention to the offers as I paid to the bids. This was my working goal for the week.
3. And I changed my chart layout to have more perspective of the price. I added a 5-day/30-min chart.Bad.
1. At the last hours of Friday a took four trades that erased the profit of the week only because I saw the stock on Steve Spencer’s monitor: $AAPL.
2. After a week of hard work and waste all my profits in two hours, I felt frustrated.Thanks for your feedback. I continue to learn every week.
Bella
I have had the privilege to train hundreds of traders from scratch. There is something very wrong about the language used above. You cannot think like this and become a successful trader. I have not trained one outlier of this mandatory mindset.
Can you guess what it is? Go ahead re-read the email sent by this hopeful developing trader.
First, let me say this trader is also doing so much right. I have huge respect for his effort, passion, and training plan to improve. And it is human nature to be frustrated at times as a trader, and that includes me.
But there is something I must correct. That state of frustration must be temporary and lead to a more constructive mindset.
You must take each trade, each trading day, each trading month as an opportunity to learn. The best traders do not try and make money. They try to improve. Every tick in the marketplace is an opportunity to learn, improve and become better at their craft. You cannot think differently. There are plenty of different ways to attack the markets but this mindset must be embraced. Must, must, must, must!!!!
What can I learn from this trade?
Why did this $AAPL trade fail?
Did I lose too much on this trade?
Did I make a poor trade?
No trades are a waste. They are only a waste if you make them such. It’s your choice to be frustrated instead of drilling deeper into the trade for learning.
The great ones learn from their trades. Always, every day, every trade.
You can be better tomorrow than you are today!
Related blog posts:
It’s Okay to Get Upset While You are Trading
Overcoming Your Psychological Issues as a Trader
Mike Bellafiore
No relevant positions
4 Comments on “What a Successful Trader Would Never Do”
Michael,
Was the teaching moment this trader’s frustrated mindset or did they waver from their trading strategy at the end of the week after seeing Steve’s screen that led to losses or is it both?
Michael,
I think Bella’s main point is this trader doesn’t seem to be attempting to learn from his failed trades in Apple. He just mentions that he is upset that his profits went up in smoke.
Steve
p.s. AAPL has been a very weak stock for past few days and I was very fortunate to capture the gap up friday morning and hit the bid before i bought it back around $8 lower
Michael,
I think Bella’s main point is the trader doesn’t seem to be attempting to learn from his failed trades in AAPL. He just mentions that he is upset that his profits went up in smoke.
Steve
p.s. AAPL has been a very weak stock for past few days and I was very fortunate to capture the gap up friday morning and hit the bid before i bought it back around $8 lower
I love the line… “What can I learn I from this trade?”. This one, particular trade…