Wifey is Swedish, we married in Stockholm....
Why Do People Trade when the Failure Rate is So High?
- Thread starter stockgirl
- Start date
Heh, no I truly do apologize. I've a bad habit of insulting people who appear to see connections that aren't there. I've worked with a few people in my past office who had bonehead conspiracy theories that were, in the end, just projections of their own repressed observations about XYZ social group. It's a waste of time to argue on that level. I jumped to assume you were one of these types.
So, no more from me.
In my opinion, most people pursue trading because of the money/wealth they hope to attain. Most people fail to trade profitably because money is their main motivation - reason for trading. To succeed at this difficult game, one needs to be driven by more than just the money. High performing people in professional sports and successful businesses are driven by more than money. Secondly, I don't think most traders are really willing "to do whatever it takes to succeed". There's a lot more to trading (as many have already pointed out) than just sitting in front of a computer looking at charts - that's the fun part. Doing that 8+ hours a day is not enough, but required. Just my 2 cents...
To succeed at this difficult game, one needs to be driven by more than just the money. High performing people in professional sports and successful businesses are driven by more than money. Secondly, I don't think most traders are really willing "to do whatever it takes to succeed".
Well said.
Well said.
I can only speak for myself. I suspect that the answers are as individual as each of us are.
Let me tell you about me. I return consistantly 30% a year or so trading stocks. I have never had a down year trading stocks. Problem is I have a small account and 30% of a small account is just above poverty level earnings after taxes.
However, in order to break the cycle of year after year of making next to nothing trading equities, I _INSIST_ on trying to make money trading futures because of the leverage. Without exception, _every_ time I have traded futures, I have made money on one or two lots, only to get cocky and increase my size to critically risky levels given my account size, to be followed thereafter by getting torched when the markets change on me. This time I blew out my _entire_ account trading futures and I am forced to get a job.
Did I fail? I will let you decide. But there is a great deal to be learned from the psychology of my "failure." I suspect that many fail in a similar way. They don't "fail" because they can't make money, they "fail" because they try to trade too large for their account, or they fail by trading size an instrument that they are unfamiliar with, or they "fail" because they find out that sitting at home in their pajamas alone gets old, or they "fail" because trading is not intellectually challenging enough, or they "fail "because....The end result is the same, they leave the game.
Notice that the failure is not always money related, but the result is the same and the markets continue to wash, rinse repeat with new trader contestants.
nitro
Let me tell you about me. I return consistantly 30% a year or so trading stocks. I have never had a down year trading stocks. Problem is I have a small account and 30% of a small account is just above poverty level earnings after taxes.
However, in order to break the cycle of year after year of making next to nothing trading equities, I _INSIST_ on trying to make money trading futures because of the leverage. Without exception, _every_ time I have traded futures, I have made money on one or two lots, only to get cocky and increase my size to critically risky levels given my account size, to be followed thereafter by getting torched when the markets change on me. This time I blew out my _entire_ account trading futures and I am forced to get a job.
Did I fail? I will let you decide. But there is a great deal to be learned from the psychology of my "failure." I suspect that many fail in a similar way. They don't "fail" because they can't make money, they "fail" because they try to trade too large for their account, or they fail by trading size an instrument that they are unfamiliar with, or they "fail" because they find out that sitting at home in their pajamas alone gets old, or they "fail" because trading is not intellectually challenging enough, or they "fail "because....The end result is the same, they leave the game.
Notice that the failure is not always money related, but the result is the same and the markets continue to wash, rinse repeat with new trader contestants.
nitro