The TraderPlanet Today e-report (coming to an inbox near you) had an interesting article today. Interesting, that is, if you think successful trading is about more than strategies, execution, emotional control, and study.
The article, Who or What Influences Your Trading Decisions? delves into an aspect of trading success (or not) that is rarely discussed. Although the article asks a series of thought provoking questions, when distilled, the author is really asking you to consider two questions – 1. What is your day like? 2. What is your life like? The answer to these two questions play a big part in your trading success (or not), whether you recognize it or not.
Adrienne Toghraie, the author of the article, is a trading coach. Her job is to teach people to help themselves find a path to successful trading, at least that is how I understand it. One way to do this is to have “students” look closely at the influences in their daily and ongoing lives. If you subscribe to the notion that myriad common influences affect how we make fundamental life decisions, then it only makes sense those same influences affect how we make trading decisions. For example, how would finding out that your spouse is pregnant affect your day-in and day-out decisions about risking capital that once was enough for two, but now needs to be enough for three?
The above is an emotional and practical consideration, and yet many traders, especially new traders, do not consider that big life changes can affect how you make trading decisions. Many traders simply think it is only about the trade, but is it?
How many of you consider that your political preference could act as bias when making trading decisions? I have written about this before, and I have stated that when I look at where my money goes, I leave politics at the “water’s edge.” Do you?
One question Ms. Toghraie asks is “Are you influenced by the news and who is saying what?” Well, are you? Do you make buy and sell decisions based on the hype news, the objective news, or, for that matter, your feelings about the newsperson delivering the news?
The article is worth the quick read. Without fanfare or deep psychological probing, Ms. Toghraie gets to the heart of this aspect of successful trading – you need to consider how the influences in your daily life affect your trading.
Personally (I have written about this before as well), sometimes I feel “out-of-sorts,” especially in times of market turbulence. When I feel this way, I see my normal sensibilities morph into, well, something different. I recognize the danger in this, so, as I have done many times, I pull away and just watch. I use the time as a tutorial, a time to objectively study the market rather than participate in the market. One way to see this is, “money saved is money earned.” Think about it …
Trade in the day – Invest in your life …
