Most people jump into the stock market
expecting instant, grandiose results that are not realistic. Sorry to
burst your bubble, but trading success is a marathon, not a sprint! For
a lot of people that is hard to hear. They don’t want to train, they don’t want
to get out of their comfort zone, and they don’t want to change their lifestyle
in order to achieve success. They want money to be handed to them on a silver
platter.
We are here to tell you the truth: There are
no shortcuts. Successful trading is hard work, and any other line of thinking
is a one-way ticket to failure.
Trading is a journey, and you need to treat
it as such. Back to the marathon analogy for a moment. When you are training
for an endurance race, you don’t immediately go out the first day and run 26.2
miles, or even 10 miles. The first thing you do is build a realistic
step-by-step program to build up your endurance based on your starting point.
If you try to run too far, or too fast, you could injure yourself or damage
your psyche.
Trading is
the exact same way.
Goal-setting
is extremely important in life, and especially in trading. Yes, you should have
a long-term goal of where you want to eventually get to, but you also need to
have short-term goals that are specific, realistic, and measurable.
In this
article, I lay out what I believe to be a four milestones, or checkpoints, that
every trader should pass through before trying to take the next step. In my
opinion, if you try to bypass one of these milestones, you will end up costing
yourself a considerable amount of money in the long-term.
1.
Trade 100 shares until you have become consistently profitable for a
three-month period.
It might
get frustrating to trade small size, but during that initial phase you are
training your hands, eyes, and, most importantly, your mind. Learn how to punch
the keys fast and efficiently, develop a routine for watching stocks, and build
good habits. During this period, you should craft a specific style of trading
and be able to define your “edge.” If it takes you longer than three months to
get past this phase, that is OK and normal. Again, in our opinion, if you try
to bypass this stage and trade bigger size before you are ready, it will cost
you money.
2.
Increase share size and manage multiple positions at once.
In the
first stage, you want to focus on micro-managing one position at a time,
learning the ins and outs of how stocks move. Once you have mastered that skill,
it’s time to take a step up. Don’t increase your share size by 10 times
immediately, take incremental steps higher. Trade 200 then 300, and when you
have achieved consistently at those levels, then makes the jump to maybe 500,
600. Don’t ever trade more size than you are comfortable with.
In the
same vein, don’t go from managing one position at a time to 10. Add more
positions incrementally as you get more comfortable and you get more clarity on
the market. Eventually, you hope to get to a level of someone like big traders
who often holds 20-30 positions at any given time, but keep in mind that he has
been on his trading journey for more than 15 years and has developed his skills
over a period of time.
3.
Add more indicators and another level of sophistication to your analysis.
In the
first stage of the trader path, you should be able to define your edge, but
that doesn’t mean you have a complete tool belt! The core of your strategy
should not change; you should simply add a few indicators to sharpen that edge.
A few price action strategy that you may consider.
Adding
a couple of price action strategy to your trading arsenal can be a
powerful step, but it is very important not to use too many indicators.
If you try to wait for trades where seven to eight strategy line up, then you
may never place a single trade! Find a few go-to strategies in which you
have supreme confidence, and incorporate them into your trading.
0 comments:
Post a Comment