Uncomfortable Truths about Trading
Things the market forces you to accept
This morning, I was sitting with my coffee, scanning the overnight action, watching seemingly every asset class go a bit wild… and it hit me.
Trading is incredibly rewarding. And brutally punishing.
It’s a puzzle that never stops changing.
New players. New pieces. New answers.
And it reminded me of a few things I know to be true about trading…
TRADING TRUTHS
There are the uncomfortable truths about this business we all have to accept.
#1 You will never have all the information
That’s the game, pulling the trigger on an incomplete picture. That’s the alpha.
#2 You can do everything right and still lose
Individual trade outcome is random. The sooner that’s accepted, the better. Play the long game.
#3 Sometimes the line between winning and losing is razor-thin
Especially if you work on the lower timeframes… A tick, a millisecond, can mean the difference between win or loss.
#4 Trying harder often makes you trade worse
You can’t force it… the more you push, the more you’ll screw it up. Relax a bit.
#5 You have far less control than you think
Once you pull that trigger, you can’t do anything to affect the outcome. The only thing you can control is your risk… accept that and let the market do its thing.
#6 Your P&L will mess with your identity if you let it
You can’t allow your identity to be matched by your P&L…a bad run does not make you a bad trader, just as a winning streak does not make you Mr BSD…
#7 You’ll never ‘figure it out’
The market is a puzzle that can never be fully solved… but that’s ok, that’s why there’s edge…Work on you, because you are the weapon that makes it happen.
“If you’re going through hell, keep going” – Winston Churchill