Do you want to miss your next mortgage payment?
Or pull your daughter out of private school because you can’t make tuition next month?
Well, you’re in luck! Because we’ve got 7 surefire tips for failing as a trader!
Just kidding… sort of.
We’ve worked with thousands of traders over the years. The best of them ended up with 6 or even 7-figure incomes.
But many flamed out. They end up holding bad trades too long or doubling down on losers.
Even worse — we’ve seen traders spend more time on Twitter and Instagram than on their trading platforms!
9 times out of 10, it’s easy to spot a failing trader.
So, we’re laying out 7 habits of unsuccessful traders so you can avoid them.
Successful people don’t have time to figure out what to do next.
That’s why they use routines and checklists.
Why?
Because if you’re asking yourself “what should I do now?,” you are wasting time and energy.
If you have a daily trading routine, you’ll accomplish all your key tasks in less time, which frees you up to be more flexible and creative.
Dinosaurs go extinct.
And so do traders that refuse to learn and adapt.
If you want to succeed, you must keep yourself up to date.
Always strive to understand what’s working in the market right now.
And explore new tactics that may work with your current strategy.
You don’t want to wake up one day and discover that everything you know is useless.
A wise man once said, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
Traders have bad memories.
So, it’s important to carefully go through and examine your trading results to see exactly what you’re doing right, and what you’re doing wrong.
Maybe you think you’re great at trading Tesla (TSLA)… but does a detailed P&L back you up?
And who knows? You may find out that you have some strengths you didn’t know about.
You may be a dynamite gold trader, or a genius on the short side.
Just let the numbers do the talking.
The biggest myth on Wall Street is that great traders are lone wolves, getting rich on instinct and talent alone.
In reality, most profitable traders join a pack, because there is power in numbers.
You may have 3 good trading ideas.
But if you’ve got a buddy with 3 more ideas, you’re up to 6.
Add a 3rd friend and you’ve got 9.
And it’s not just trade ideas.
We’re talking trading techniques, news flow, and support when things get tough.
Newsletter, trading rooms, and trade idea generation services can be tremendously valuable.
But you must also do your own homework.
For example, if you see a stock make a big move, study it and create your own case study.
Or go back to a major historical event like the 1987 market crash or the 2008-2009 financial crisis and study the price action.
You can obviously learn a lot from other people’s summaries and explanations.
But if you want to build a truly valuable knowledge base, roll up your sleeves, and do the work yourself.
You’ll be shocked at how much you learn.
Individual tactics are great.
And you can learn thousands of them for free.
But if you want to actually create wealth through trading, you need a complete strategy.
There are 2 major problems with just learning random tactics.
First, it’s hard to know who to trust. And second, it’s hard to know which tactics work together.
So instead of focusing on bright shiny objects, learn a real trading strategy that includes technical analysis, entry/exit parameters, and risk management.
And THEN start exploring additional tactics that may work with your evolving trading style.
You may lose money and waste time in learning to trade.
That’s the price of success, and you have to pay it.
If you start your trading adventure with a legitimate strategy with specific risk-reward parameters, you can keep a lid on your losses.
However, you must be willing to put in the time.
If you haven’t… it’s time to ask yourself why.
Are you ready to take your trading seriously?