subject: What Causes Failure In Trading? Part Two Of Three [print this page] Last week I opened here telling you of an inescapable truth I discovered long ago. Everyone who enters trading is exactly the same, and stay the same for a long time. Reason number two for failure continues that tradition. Reason number two, is the lack of, or the inability to, focus.
Yes, all of these topics are somewhat interrelated. Nevertheless, they each also have their own merit. Discipline and lack of focus are not the same thing. You may not have focus due to a lack of discipline, but you may not have focus by design.
Many traders come to the market with the view that they have to become the master of all around them. They feel they need to learn about economic data, currency rates, foreign politics, and the list goes on. When traders learn technical analysis, the feel the need to put everything to use. I have seen trading plans that have 14 strategies spelled out for a new trader. Yet, all of that information is not going to change what a stock does that gaps over a red bar and pulls back to minor support. It will not change what happens to a stock that is in a perfect 15-minute uptrend. Take Trading the Pristine Method (TPM), or if you have, take Advanced Technical Strategies (2). Learn what is out there. Find what you love, become an expert.
We often make trading way more 'complicated' than it has to be. Yes, there is a lot to learn. But learn everything, then focus on one thing to make money. Maybe two. Maybe three someday. Learn them all at once, become an expert one at a time. It is no different from going to school. You need to learn math, language, and all that is taught. It prepares your brain to continue learning, and much of that information is needed. However, to make better than average money in the workplace, you have to specialize in one thing. To make big money, you have be an expert at one thing.
We often make trading way more 'complicated' than it has to be. Yes, there is a lot to learn. But learn everything, then focus on one thing to make money. Maybe two. Maybe three someday. Learn them all at once, become an expert one at a time. It is no different from going to school. You need to learn math, language, and all that is taught. It prepares your brain to continue learning, and much of that information is needed. However, to make better than average money in the workplace, you have to specialize in one thing. To make big money, you have be an expert at one thing.
Closing Comments:
Perhaps you have read the book "Market Wizards" by Jack Schwager. You should take note of the point of the book. In this book, the author sets out to interview 25 successful traders to determine what they have in common. He wants to find out what strategy it is that they all do, or how the strategies are similar. He finds two things that all traders have in common. One of them, the one we care about, was that no two did anything remotely similar in strategy, however, they all focused on one unique thing, waited for it to happened, and did only that. Focus.
