This post is about my own trials and tribulations in trading.
It is a short summary of my own path of development as a trader.
I still remember the moment when I wanted to buy my first stock . . .
I was nine years old, sitting in the back of my father’s car.
We were passing by a drugstore that was expanding
rapidly across the country, when I said to my dad,
“ I want to buy stock in that company”.
A couple of days later, he took me down to the local bank office
and we talked things over with the clerk.
The clerk explained to me that my roughly $100 investment
would be handicapped by the heavy commission load of buying only three stocks.
Mind you, this was in 1989, before there was electronic trading.
So instead of stock, I left the bank that day having bought my first mutual fund.
I was somewhat disappointed, but nonetheless the spark for trading had been lit.
Three years later I bought my first exchange traded stock,
that I eventually sold for a profit of 10%.
Wow, I thought, this is great. Making money seemed easy and
I felt good about myself while doing it.
I was hooked, and grand dreams of becoming the best trader ever were forged.
Motivated by these visions, I embarked on a quest for knowledge.
I read everything I could get my hands on, hundreds of books over many years.
I became so proficient at reading and absorbing information
that I could easily read a book per day. But to my surprise,
even with so much knowledge, I was not seeing the desired results in my trading.
I had established a trading philosophy and method, and sound
money management principles were in place;
but while results became more stable, still no consistency was to be found.
I would sometimes make a lot of money, but at
other times would lose everything I had earned.
I felt good about myself and my abilities when I was making money,
but felt lousy and in despair when I was losing money.
I would panic at the worst possible moments, changing my system,
and would find myself going up and down in an
emotional roller-coaster that usually produced breakeven results at best.
Why couldn’t I master this?
I thought of myself as an intelligent guy, and I had tried
every method out there for more than fifteen years, without success.
Was there something wrong with me?
Was it even possible to make profits consistently trading?
I knew it was possible to make consistent profits, because
there were individuals out there like Ed Seykota and others that had demonstrated that clearly.
Then one day an insight emerged from my subconscious mind,
and the truth suddenly washed over me: it was me.
The problem was me. I realized that I had been unconsciously
using my trading to try to boost my sense of self-worth.
It was my own sense of identity that was causing the negative outcomes
through my corresponding actions. I had to change my own sense
of identity in order to be able to change my actions, and in turn improve my trading results.
When I began the process of correcting and expanding my identity,
my trading results began to improve in a seemingly miraculous way,
as did my whole experience of life. I had discovered a key
that opened up a new world of possibility.
In upcoming posts, I will delve more deeply into the details of this process,
and how you can learn to apply the insights
I gained . . . bypassing the need to “learn the hard way” as I had to.
source: PsychingOuttheMarkets.com
Futures trading involves substantial risk and may not be suitable for everyone.
It is a short summary of my own path of development as a trader.
I still remember the moment when I wanted to buy my first stock . . .
I was nine years old, sitting in the back of my father’s car.
We were passing by a drugstore that was expanding
rapidly across the country, when I said to my dad,
“ I want to buy stock in that company”.
A couple of days later, he took me down to the local bank office
and we talked things over with the clerk.
The clerk explained to me that my roughly $100 investment
would be handicapped by the heavy commission load of buying only three stocks.
Mind you, this was in 1989, before there was electronic trading.
So instead of stock, I left the bank that day having bought my first mutual fund.
I was somewhat disappointed, but nonetheless the spark for trading had been lit.
Three years later I bought my first exchange traded stock,
that I eventually sold for a profit of 10%.
Wow, I thought, this is great. Making money seemed easy and
I felt good about myself while doing it.
I was hooked, and grand dreams of becoming the best trader ever were forged.
Motivated by these visions, I embarked on a quest for knowledge.
I read everything I could get my hands on, hundreds of books over many years.
I became so proficient at reading and absorbing information
that I could easily read a book per day. But to my surprise,
even with so much knowledge, I was not seeing the desired results in my trading.
I had established a trading philosophy and method, and sound
money management principles were in place;
but while results became more stable, still no consistency was to be found.
I would sometimes make a lot of money, but at
other times would lose everything I had earned.
I felt good about myself and my abilities when I was making money,
but felt lousy and in despair when I was losing money.
I would panic at the worst possible moments, changing my system,
and would find myself going up and down in an
emotional roller-coaster that usually produced breakeven results at best.
Why couldn’t I master this?
I thought of myself as an intelligent guy, and I had tried
every method out there for more than fifteen years, without success.
Was there something wrong with me?
Was it even possible to make profits consistently trading?
I knew it was possible to make consistent profits, because
there were individuals out there like Ed Seykota and others that had demonstrated that clearly.
Then one day an insight emerged from my subconscious mind,
and the truth suddenly washed over me: it was me.
The problem was me. I realized that I had been unconsciously
using my trading to try to boost my sense of self-worth.
It was my own sense of identity that was causing the negative outcomes
through my corresponding actions. I had to change my own sense
of identity in order to be able to change my actions, and in turn improve my trading results.
When I began the process of correcting and expanding my identity,
my trading results began to improve in a seemingly miraculous way,
as did my whole experience of life. I had discovered a key
that opened up a new world of possibility.
In upcoming posts, I will delve more deeply into the details of this process,
and how you can learn to apply the insights
I gained . . . bypassing the need to “learn the hard way” as I had to.
source: PsychingOuttheMarkets.com
Futures trading involves substantial risk and may not be suitable for everyone.
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