Trader or gambler? 5 distinctive qualities
Having circled the dates of Fed meetings on the interest rate with a marker in the calendar, having learned how to build trend lines and open trades on a demo account you can proudly call yourself novice trader. But is it really so?
Where is the fine line that distinguishes the trader from the usual gambler who does not care where to get his adrenaline - in the casino, sweepstakes or the foreign exchange market?
We believe that these five qualities are what make a good trader different from a gambling addict.
1. Constant observance of the rules of your trading system
Perhaps this is the main difference between a successful trader and a gambler.
A good trader has his own rules in trading, which he sticks to all the time!
It should be understood that it is not necessary to invent a bicycle - you can adapt the rules of someone successful and famous traders.
A very important point: a trading strategy is not some unconditional code that should be followed at all costs. It must have a certain flexibility, allowing the trader to react adequately to any situation on the market. A good trader acts everywhere according to his own, predetermined, rules, not chaotically, like a gambler in search of adrenaline.
>> Choose your trading strategy
2. organization and focus
A good currency and stock trader never empty his pockets in a screech of keys or rummage through papers on his desk to find the necessary document. Focus, attentiveness, self-organization - call it whatever you like - without it a successful trader is simply impossible.
It is impossible to conduct systematically profitable trading, to manage capital and trading risks, to plan the opening of transactions and accompany them without a high degree of concentration and organization. A player can make a sudden bet relying on his intuition.
A good trader has no random trades - all of his actions are clearly planned.
>> Why do successful traders go bankrupt?
3. Healthy skepticism
Among gamblers are legends about the secret systems that allow you to predict the numbers on the roulette wheel, counting cards in poker and blackjack, always get a win.
There are such players on the currency market, too. They believe in the existence of the Grail, for each of them it is something different - the possession of insider information; a trading indicator, which gives exceptionally profitable signals; a trading advisor, which brings constant profit without any human involvement.
A good trader believes only in his own strength, with a skeptical chuckle watching paid seminars of all kinds of gurus, of whom no one has ever heard.
"How do you make a million rubles quickly? The ticket costs a thousand rubles, there are a thousand seats in the hall. Thank you, everyone, this seminar is over.
The successful trader does not believe in expensive indicators with artificial intelligence and super-profitable trading systems developed in the secret laboratories of Wall Street. The smart trader has tried a lot of all sorts of systems, on which he has lost and earned money. He believes only in his experience, and treats the rest with a healthy dose of skepticism.
>> Discuss your trades with traders online
4. Ability to analyze your actions
It is said that fools learn by others' mistakes, and the clever by others'. It is partly true, but exactly one's own mistakes, one's own bitter experience can teach much better than anything else. For the successful trader the mistake on which he lost money is the best teacher.
And here the ability to adequately analyze one's actions plays a major role. A bad trader has everyone to blame but him - the head of the Fed, the media, bad weather, black cats, the phase of the moon, a currency broker, etc.
A good trader is able to see his mistake, understand its cause and, much more importantly, never repeat it. His successes are the fruit of analyzing the mistakes he once made.
>> Everything for the novice trader
5. Reserve of patience
Patience plays a big role not only for beginners but also for experienced traders.
Don't believe the feature films in which the genius trader immediately understands the market situation with just a glimpse of the chart. This does not happen in life. Each trader has to spend a lot of time at the monitor. Some need more time to analyze the situation, some need less, but you can't do without patience.
For some reason, most novice traders prefer intraday trading to all other types of trading. Perhaps, it seems to them that this way they will get rich quicker. In fact, day trading is one of the most difficult methods of trading on the foreign exchange market, and beginners choose it because on higher timeframes one must have more patience, because the lifetime of the transaction (as well as the profit) on them is much longer.
A trader with patience plans his trades and waits for the money to "come to him," while a gambler chases it, usually leaving with nothing.
In fact, the psychological side of trading is so vast that it is more than enough for a whole stack of scientific dissertations and it is difficult to consider them in detail in one article.
Our article is just a reason for any trader to think about who he really is, a gambler or a trader? And if you have any doubts on even one point, do not hesitate - become a successful trader and change your life for the better.