Trading: Getting Results While Ignoring the Noise

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          New traders have to learn what to be concerned about and what to ignore. Trading is about managing risk, the right psychology, growth and development, a good trading plan, a robust method, and reacting to what the market is actually doing instead of trying to predict what it will do. To many new traders are broken against the rocks of gurus, the one big trade that is just sure to work, stock picks, trading off others opinions, and forecasts and predictions. The best thing a new trader can do is learn to filter out the all the noise that does not matter and listen to the things that they should actually be concerned with. The only thing a trader should be concerned with is learning the trading process that they can stick with and that makes them money in the long term. If you are not going in that direction then turn around. Only follow those things that take you closer to your goals and ignore those things that distract you or move you away from what you want to accomplish. 

1. I am more concerned with keeping profits than making them. Anyone can get lucky and make money trading but only the skilled can hold onto that money over the long term.

2. I am more concerned with how good a trader I will be a year from now than I am today. While I know what my skills are currently the upside of my future skills are open ended based on my focus and work in this field.

3. I am more concerned with my draw downs than my equity peaks. I know how to make capital grow and it is a much more pleasant task when I do not have to play catch up after a losing streak or trading too big.

4. I am more concerned about what the chart is saying than what some talking head is saying on television or social media. The more they believe they have a crystal ball the more I try to avoid them.

5. I am more concerned about whether my trailing stop or stop loss is triggered in a trade than about my own personal opinion about what may happen next. While the market is open I trade the plan I made when the market was closed regardless of what my emotions, opinions, and ego want me to do after entering a trade.