There is a great scene in Wall Street Warriors, where I share there will be a moment when the market will offer data that can convince you to quit. You must believe. You must push back. It is common to get to that point in a young trading career where it is time to perform or fail. A belief in yourself helps you push back even when your trading data offers no signs you can make it.
You do have to believe that if I keep working on my trading game that the results will follow. I wrote in One Good Trade how 8 months in I was negative 36k in my trading account and without solid trading data. It can almost be a rite of passage for the new trader to be tested, push back, and find a way to succeed.
I have written extensively that trading is a skill. A new trader underperforms because his skill level is low. There is daily work that must be done to build skill. It is a slow process. Each day builds on the next to gain more skill. It might not be apparent from your numbers how much better you are getting in your first 6 months. There is a very thin line between becoming profitable and underperforming. And since this skill building is sometimes hard to see and the data does not show promise this can leave a Newb frustrated and less hopeful. I fear without an inner belief in their ultimate success that at this point they will stop doing the work required to become profitable.
The most frustrating thing for me as a trading coach is to put in 6-8 months of work with a trader, bring him to the point where he can make it, and then for that Newb to announce they are done. I just got such an email Friday from a hard working trader, slowly making progress and from my seat who was right on track. That email ruined my Friday night. So the trader is right where you need to bring them. This is the wall they have to push through predominantly by themselves. And they won’t even try to climb that one last hill that we all have climbed to become a consistently profitable trader. Argggh!
You have to keep doing the work and building the skill. Will you do this if you do not believe that one day all this work will manifest in better trading results? This is a sport that requires you to doubt and then find a way.
So my advice? Make them believe that you believe!
Was there a point in your trading career where you felt you would not make it? How did you respond?
Mike Bellafiore
No comments:
Post a Comment