Trading is not about one day, one week, or even one year. Trading is about taking money out of the markets over and over again, consistently, and keeping it to spend on other things.
When I have bad days, I look at my long term track record over multiple markets, and that gives me confidence in myself as a trader, and my trading methodology.
I have been a fortunate member of the 10% of profitable traders for the majority of the past 20 years in the markets. From investor, to stock trader, and option trader, I have made consistent returns and kept the capital to spend outside the markets. Here are ten principles that made me profitable in the long term as a trader.
- I trade in the direction of the long term trend. I am primarily long in up trends and short or in cash in down trends.
- I trade based on quantifiable facts, not my own emotions. I react based on price action, not based on my feelings.
- I have spent thousands of hours studying the financial markets. I did my homework before I began trading.
- I read several hundred trading books and tried to learn from other people’s experiences, instead of losing my own money and learning the hard way.
- I studied historical charts of monster stocks and different extreme time periods. I back tested what I thought would work to see if it would before I traded my ideas.
- I followed great traders on twitter to see how they operated.
- I learned from professional traders in facebook groups.
- I developed a trading plan to give me rules to follow to instill discipline in my trading.
- I developed a trading methodology that fits my own personalty and risk tolerance parameters.
- I have a passion for trading.
- I love the game of trading and the markets.
- I never gave up.