The fact that most traders don’t make money in the markets is no different a statistic than other fields. The majority of high school football players don’t go on to college scholarships and very few college football players get professional contracts to the NFL. Most players play for the passion and the dream. Traders have a much better chance of growing their capital over the long term than playing a professional sport. The facts that the odds are against the NFL doesn’t mean it is impossible, their are plenty of NFL millionaires. The fact that trading is hard doesn’t mean their are not a lot of millionaire and billionaire traders.
In all competitive professional fields, the majority of the rewards and pay go to the top performers. Whether it is sports, law, or medicine the majority of people can’t even get through the required learning curve much less put in the hard work, dicipline, and dedication it takes to work for free and at a cost before ever seeing any profits and benefits from their effort.
The biggest windfalls go to the biggests winners in every field. Most people can’t be the very best in their career but getting in the top 10% is possible by simply out working 90% of people learning and doing the right things. Perserverence alone can beat the majority because most people quit when the going gets tough and they don’t have a clear vision of the possibilities. Your longterm goals can also keep you going in the right direction while others only have short term hope.
Find a niche and focus on it, not the greatest trader in the world. Maybe the best swing trader in your city is a possible goal. Or the best trader in your online community. What would you have to do to be the best?
Be specific about your goals. Understand what you have to do to accmplish them. Do the work, spend the time, don’t stop.
There is a price tag attached to every goal. You have to count the cost. Ask yourself if you are willing to do the work to get there. If you are not willing the work that is fine. Find the goals you are willing to do the work to accomplish. Trading is filled with opportunity but also a lot of stress, the need for capital to get started, and the pain of losses and drawdowns in capital.
If one person can achieve something then anyone can with the right focus and effort. To be the best in the world takes a combination of both some luck and innate natural abilties. To be a profitable traders you only have to study what profitable traders do and model their process.
The reality is you’re not competing with market, you are competing with yourself. Your ability to do your homework, backtest your system, use the right position sizing, and stay diciplined.
How bad do you want it?