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The psychology of trading is the single most important variable for any trader who desires to trade. The goal of trading is to accumulate profits; and those profits come only at the expense of another trader. Traders must understand how other participants are approaching the market in order to have an edge that will separate those other traders from their money.
Successful trading is pure observation. Traders must correctly observe themselves as well as correctly observing the market.
The trader’s goal is to develop this objectivity. Traders must not forget what creates an opportunity is the ability to see things a certain way, a choice to think a certain way. And because this thinking is the sum total of all a trader’s beliefs, interpretations, rules, world and life view, experience and wisdom; their thoughts often improve or worsen based on the information selected to include in them.
The process of better and better thinking is something that must include time, self education, and even pain if the trader is ever to see clearly what is occurring in the market.
Consider a market being traded is a constant, but people and their behavior are far from constant. Understanding the how and where the actual urge to action develops and then how it is acted upon creates the perception of what controls trader’s order executions.
Often traders do not know what urges their trade execution that results in the actual action of placing orders. This is because traders often are not cognizant of their own thought process.
The goal of successful trading is to fully control execution without any interference from non-market related perceptions. Anything that prevents a trader’s perception to be different from the market order flow at any time increases probabilities of trading losses.
Therefore, whatever an individual thinks is happening in the market is really happening inside their head. The way the market seems to traders is the way traders create it in the mind.
How traders think, observe, and process actions can be changed. It is essential to understand that successful trading begins with the study of self. This is a process of indentifying how thought will sabotage the clarity of observation because a person’s thought filters, or their values and beliefs, are leading them to conclude things outside of reasonable reality. That is what self sabotage is.
The Daily Discipline podcast for Managing The Trader’s Life by Jason Alan Jankovsky is featured at the website HowYouTrade.com. Each podcast reveals insight and development of critical thought that can influence trader’s views of the world, their culture, their society, the markets, and very importantly of themselves.
Trading psychology is a key to success for traders and the study of self and ability to observe one’s self fosters and builds clarity in thinking and observational power. The podcasts at HowYouTrade.com should be a daily stop for all traders seeking to improve their trading edge and their account profits.
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