Developing A Great Trading Mind-Set

We realize that we all too often take for granted our own abilities and mind-set when trading. It’s not enough to just go out there and trade each week – we must develop and maintain great habits and thought processes if we want to be successful. Here are just a few things to think about. You might even want to print these out!

* Pull out your largest trades–and your most active trading days– in the past three months and assess the P/L just for those. That will tell you quite a bit about how you are dealing with risk and reward;

* Pull out your top ten winning and bottom ten losing trades over the past three months and compare their P/L. That will tell you quite a bit about your trading discipline;

* If you are much more unhappy when you lose than happy when you win, a 50% win ratio will feel like losing over time, even if you’re making money;

* If you are always looking for the next trade, you will ultimately overtrade;

* If you are confident in your ability to make money, you will not fear missing market moves;

* If you are a consistent trend follower or a consistent countertrend trader, you will not consistently make money;

* Dissect your best trades and you will find out who you are as a trader;

* You won’t always make money, but you should always expect to trade well;

* You can’t control markets, but you can always control when you bet and how much you bet;

* If an athlete spent as much time working on his game as you do on your trading, would the athlete make a living as a professional?

* Great traders work on themselves after a winning streak;

* Confidence when losing, humility when winning: a formula for long-term success in markets.