Originally posted by WDGann
Hmmm... well monetary aspect is important.
What worth is there if the strategy doesn't make money?
What worth is there if the person mentioning the strategy isn't making money?
Who would you believe? A trader who makes $10,000 / week, a PHD Economics Professor, or a trading critic who talks a lot but can't/never trade.
Monetary success is important, for validity of the information you are receiving.
Have you ever noticed how guys who are broke says life isn't about money? The quote gains validity when a man with money says it, not from a broke guy working at McDonalds.
The reason people warn against fixating on money is because having a fixed monetary target will often make someone overtrade, espeically for the discretionary trader, which I am. Rather than looking for the ideal trade, you end up looking for any trade that will put you over your "quota".
Focusing on money also leads a person to trade larger size than they are used to. I've found that whenever I trade size larger than I'm comfortable with bad things always happen. For example, if I'm holding twice my usual NDX futures contract size, then a small pullback might make me nervous and make me get out while I probably would have held in the trade if I was trading my normal size.
Obviously money is very important and its probably the reason many people get involved in trading. But paradoxically, in order to accumlate money you can't make it the key focus of your trading. Don't ask yourself what trade will make me $X amount, but rather ask yourself what is the BEST trade out there.
