Trader Mindset

When directional momentum stalls after you've established your position, here's what to do. 

All trades have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Most traders focus too much IMHO on the entry (beginning) and the exit (the end).  Mismanage the "middle" and it can mean all the difference between a winning trade and losing one.   

Revert to more simplicity when you get in a rut. 

Great traders focus on their behavior all the time.  Consistency Perseverance Persistance  Determination When you're starting out you won't have the luxury of having these feelings if you blow up two months into your trading career. Keep your frequency of trading to a minimum until you learn to trade one style and own it. Limit yourself to initiating two trades a day, else you might find yourself...

Most traders fail to reach their true optimum ability and optimal performance because they have no sense of imagination and the don't challenge themselves.   

The biggest problem with being a chart-reader only trader, is that finding names for your watchlist is terribly inefficient. 

Don't plan to get tasks done, else you'll be stuck in blue collar despair.  Make goals that include increasing assets under management, revenue, net income, and consistent behavior around following your rules.  That's how you'll grow your business and your wealth.   

When I set personal goals alongside my business goals, I tend to hit both. When that happens, life is good!  Already hit your goals? Set new ones that are realistic and attainable.  Don't forget to set your "FU" or stretch goals also. You might not hit them, but you get your subconscious mind thinking about them even when your conscious mind is working on the attainable ones. You just never know.....

You need two variations of your marketing message: one for individuals and high-net-worth families, and another for institutional investors and allocators.  These two segments speak different languages and their concerns are very different. For example, if you launch into your pitch loaded with industry jargon to a HNW family, they won't understand a thing you're saying, whereas the allocator will...

Write out a short list for some of the things that you're grateful for. This is your Gratitude List and it can help you feel a little bit better about things when you think nothing is going right.  You can try this just when you think you're gas tank is empty and you don't know where your next source of motivation might come from. Do everything you can to remain persistent and determined. 

If you have no trading edge, where you execute your business doesn't matter. 

Putting space between yourself and the market can be refreshing.  You don't have to do this only when you're losing.     

You can learn trading faster intellectually rather than emotionally. That's why it's easy to understand, but hard to do. Your emotions can get the best of you, stop you cold in your tracks, kill your confidence, and keep you at the level of a very knowledgable spectator. 

Just like professional athletes and competitors prepare mentally for a match, so can you. In fact, you have to. You can't just wing it. Intentions equal results. Put it in your mind that you are going to achieve your goals then go and do it.

Here's a great example of how to combine your passion for one area of your life that can potentially benefit your business. 

Michael Martin discusses how you can get potential clients to come to you.

People do business with people they like - so be likable.  If you're a fly fishing nut and know all the best spots to fish, you can find like-minded people to cohort with by joining a group or association that is passionate about fly fishing. Or even better, you can start a weekenders fly fishing getaway for which you are the guide.  Successful businessmen like to fish and be outdoors, so it's a g...

Setting personal goals in parallel with you trading goals can have a 1+1=3 type of payoff. For one, achieving personal goals can give you a boost of confidence and raise your self-esteem. I generally believe that it's impossible to do anything well if you lack confidence.  Trading is a game of failure and learning to succeed in the face of low accuracy and high expected values can help you develop...

Position sizing has the most impact on your P&L, so make sure you get it right. In strongly trending markets, you can throw a dart to pick your entry and make a ton of cash.  The position size is the part of your trading algo where the sword cuts both ways. It's also the part of your trading that goes to the core of any self-doubt you might have about your ability. Trade to big and bad news and ba...

Some options trades require you to complete the structure in two steps.  Whereas you don't want to "leg" into intra-commodity spreads, you might consider that a strategy for your butterfly or condor trades.  Instead of putting on a long butterfly all at once, many traders we've worked with are buying call spreads, for example, and then after the market moves selling the call spread above it to com...

Michael Martin discusses how it's appropriate for some traders to focus on one market or sector for professional purposes. 

Both winning and losing streaks are "user-defined" so make sure you understand what your trading results are telling you. Here's one way to know.