i recently came across an interview with Phil Ivey where he says he "doesn't care" about the $$
so what is the most effective approach to looking at $$?
What gets you into the purported 5 – 10% of consistently profitable traders?
I have a relative who has bought a program from a coach. Thousands of dollars. Hope it works for him but looking at the trading plan he is generating… it is a long shot.
The plan is all technical at this point and has nothing about psychology or the process of becoming a trader other than perhaps keeping everything (risk, etc) as a percent of your account. Which might logically help one deal with their psychology and confidence, but… does that really do it for most people? So many fail...
IMO and personal experience (IMOAPE?) psychology is the larger part of what gets you in with the consistently profitable. Of course technical skills are essential.
“Not thinking about the money” is a mental choice. Until I learned this I often had the deer-in-the-headlights experience. And during this phase of my trading I was unable to actually learn from my mistakes. I don’t know how else to describe an inability to improve which makes no sense. Once I learned to detach from outcomes, everything in trading shifted and I was able to see the obvious and act on it. For me this answered the thread here on ET “Why is the obvious not so obvious?”.
In terms of the ‘money’ I care a lot about the money when I review on weekends. But while I am trading… I have a habit well-formed of not thinking about the money.
But what do you think of while trading?
I’m now thinking of this a bit differently after talking to my relative. Talking to him helped me shift my psych a bit.
My relative describes himself as a perfectionist. Something I am decidedly not.
And perfectionists are said by many to have a difficult time learning to trade. How to incorporate this trait into trading?
So when I trade... I turn off being smart (in the sense of over thinking… my relative had a perfect SAT score). I turn off thinking about the money (I already have this skill).
And I ‘turn on’ perfectly executing placing orders, stops, & targets – based on my plan. It is weird for me acting like a perfectionist, but I’m experiencing it as fun too. My experience of trading has improved as well as my P&L.
…….
A verifiable consistently profitable trader who posted on ET once said “After detaching from outcomes, letting profits take care of themselves… trading became the most relaxing thing I do all day and a joy.”
………
Yes. 'Letting profits take care of themselves" And I could learn from my mistakes and keep learning. Might not be intuitive, but works for me.