I have been active in Twitter for the past 6 months and this side of world seems to be filled with overly-expressive folks, especially, when it comes to trading. Traders bicker with each other like kids for everything under the roof and keep fighting that their method is the best in the markets. Even a 5-year experienced trader knows that there are many ways to skin a cat and one method is not superior to other.
Open disclaimer first – right off the bat, it may piss some people off but in long run accepting and learning to deal with these basic tenets will definitely help us to move into the small realm of successful traders. Please adopt the supermarket approach. If you don’t like something in this post, please ignore this rambling. This post is not intended to hurt anyone as I do not know 99.99% of the traders in-person. So, not directed to any individual or group. The pointers that are covered below are few of the several reasons that hamper a trader’s progress if he is active in social media during market hours. Whether you are involved in bickering/ego-fighting or just a spectator, the end-result is same, albeit with varied intensity.
1. When one is trading profitably and wishes to teach it to others (the psychological urge behind this teaching could be many but let’s stick to the point), he cannot expect his students to understand it the same way as he has understood. As it is almost impossible to convince a bear to be a bull once he or she has taken a position, it would be even more unfathomable to convince each trader to trade a certain way. I also conduct workshops and I don’t expect my participants to understand the mechanics of my trading style in a day. Once they keep practicing the concept, it might get internalized well in the mind (after dedicated practice) and the idea can open up many possibilities.
While we are at it, would also like to mention that just because we don’t understand a method, does not mean it is not making money for others. ‘Lack of understanding’ cannot be construed as the ‘failure’ of the method discussed. On the flip side, there are 100’s of ways to make money in the markets and it would be childish of us to ridicule other methods. It would be more childlike if we say that my method is superior to others and start chest-thumping – this is so prevalent in facebook/twitter unfortunately. Market returns are cyclical and method A might do better in certain circumstances than Method B – vice versa is equally true. Please understand that everyone has different time frames, methods and objectives. It is also prudent to remind oneself that “every dog has its own day”
2. Stop justifying your methodology or trades – who are we are trying to prove here? We don’t need to prove anyone that we are successful in anything. So, why to some strangers? If one is successful in trading, he will exhibit patience as patience is every successful trader’s virtue – without exception. Patience comes with a sense of calmness and confidence. You know you are doing the right thing. Thus, there is no need to justify excessively. On the other hand, stubbornness often comes with anxiety and over-justification. When you find yourself trying too hard to explain what you are doing, you are being stubborn.
Any successful trait needed for trading (like patience, emotional control and discipline) will definitely be reflected in our other aspects of life too. Our family/friends would definitely see the massive difference once we become successful (not only in our finances but also in our behavior) – One of the important perks of being successful in trading.
3. Actually, most of the traders know the reason (or set of reasons) that make them lose money in the markets. But taking corrective action and doing the right set of things to turn profitable is something that individual has to do. Please do keep in mind knowing, and doing are two very different things
4. While people are told they won’t be successful overnight, most new/struggling traders don’t actually believe that. Social media never lets them believe it completely as every other trader is supremely successful in social media 🙂 They have an idea in their head that they’re smarter (Lake Wobegon effect), have it worked out, and will be able to make money quite quickly. So, always in the urge to make money faster and lose it actually.
5. As Master Oogway tells in the movie Kung Fu Panda “One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.” (this quote is actually from a french poet Jean de La Fontaine). Most of the traders are determined not to lose money (rather than having a determination to ‘make money’) and in the process, they actually lose more money. Am not saying we are pre-destined to results but this one needs to be taken seriously. Knew many folks who have the aversion for loss and unfortunately, end up in trading (trading needs that loss digesting stomach) and struggle for years.
6. False hope also keeps our enthusiasm going in trading. We can attribute this ‘false hope’ to survivorship bias – We are likely to hear more stories of people making a killing than hearing about people losing everything because the people who lost everything are gone from the public eye and are not talking about it. The few who make money are sure to let everyone know about it (or others talk about them a lot) and thus create a sort of illusion–intentionally or unintentionally– that anyone can do what they did/do.
7. Easy money lure – the lure of making money each day in only a couple hours gets people’s minds spinning with possibilities. They imagine stopping everything and just start trading for a living immediately (For example, lot of chatter happened on Sept 21 2018 EOD about people buying far OTM puts for pennies and selling it for 200s..this kind of chatter happens a lot when mkt moves violently..this also feeds the mindset that money is easy in trading)
As a matter of fact, they would start dreaming about trading in a beach while sipping pina colada. Unfortunately, sand, water, sun glare and laptops don’t mix. You are not gonna get paycheck every month and you must be absolutely at the top of your game without distractions to make money long-run (this is exactly why I keep advocating to get off from social media/forums during market hours). Distraction and ego fights can damage our psychological forte and eventually, we start focusing on things that does not matter.
8. Long story short – stick to a well-defined plan and trade that plan even when it is uncomfortable (and it often will be). The vast majority of the population, and thus the vast majority of traders, buckle under this uncomfortable pressure – the same way we reach for the ice-cream instead of the carrots.
9. On the other side, social media and forums can have a positive/lasting impact on a trader if he can figure out a virtual mentor(mentor does not have to know you but you can follow his principles/thought processes). It can be a great resource of authentic information for new traders as well. But overall, it has never served a trader well if he loiters around in social media during market hours. This is not even debatable any more as the negatives over-weigh positives by a huge margin.
10. So, if you are a losing/struggling trader, try getting off from the forums/social media (for few months) during market hours. See if it has changed your overall mental resilience/trading. I can bet that this will be a great trade to put on as Reward:Risk seems very high. Risk = not being able to participate in conversations/getting updated about latest news, Reward = profitable trading without outside distraction.
Happy trading !!