Patience is a virtue, but in these markets we are in the land of instant gratification.  We wanna get paid and then step aside before the fall.  That of course is market timing, something traders ultimately meet with failure.  Why is that?  Because you have to be right in getting in/out/in/out over and over again.  Nobody can time it right perfectly, and when you are out of the market how many opportunities are you missing?

Yet many suffer from a lack of patience and want to tell the markets what they should do.  That is clearly the wrong approach and will produce losers every single time.  The emotions run wild as the wins/losses stack up and at some point investors/traders believe they can control the markets.  Naturally, this is an irrational response to anxiety, stress and uncertainty.  

It seems the fear is not about being left out, rather will there be enough time to get out before ‘the big one’ happens?  That’s assuming we won’t be able to see it coming, sobetter to get out earlier than late.  Hence, we hear the arguments of many on the sidelines who would like to ‘talk down’ the market or just scare the crowd into submission over such rhetoric.

So, how do we fix ourselves?  We must understand the outcomes, whatever they may be and accept the result.  It’s tough to leave our emotions at the door but that is how we must trade.  When our capital is on the line we are always concerned.  Also, use the tools that are available to best handicap the market – I favor the technicals, charts and sentiment indicators while others use the fundamental tools.  Whatever works for you is fine, it’s much better than wishing the market to do what you desire.

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