When considering trading for a living, you must consider where your paycheck comes from. You are not paid to sit in your seat while buying and selling contracts. You are paid to buy and sell at the right time. Many others are doing the same thing. If they are better than you, they will make money, and you will either make less, or even pay them!
Who is your competitor?
Consider the entity on the other side of your trade. It could be an HFT algorithm, an institutional investor, or another trader. All are looking to buy low and sell high. None are looking to pay you more than they have to. They want you to sell for less than the contract’s worth, or buy for more than its worth.
Doubtless, some of your competitors are better funded, have more experience, or have more data. They may be algorithms on machines physically closer to the exchange, ready to pounce on your order as they know they can profit by doing so. There is a reason such machines exist, as it pays well if done right.
However, you can read the above and be discouraged, or invigorated. Someone must be the greatest trader in the market tomorrow. That person will probably not be there because of luck. They will be there due to the high amount of energy they put into honing their craft. They are the greatest for that day because of what they accomplished in the days, weeks, months and years prior.
Are you destined for greatness?
Did you graduate at the top of your class at Harvard? Were you the captain of Kentucky’s college basketball team? Those are the types that investment banks and proprietary trading firms look for. And while part of it is the knowledge that is in their head, the bigger portion is their work ethic.
Discipline is required to get you through the training and rough patches. You must be willing to spend hours practicing your keyboard skills, or your hand/eye coordination, or some other aspect of your work life that for many seems insignificant to trading, but is part of the formula for becoming elite.
I will do today what others won’t so I can do tomorrow what others can’t.
– Jerry Rice
You must have extreme endurance. The work will kick you down. While you are down, you will continue to be kicked. You will want to give up. Your competitors will continue to take your money until you do. Or, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, you will allow the kicks to mold you. You will accept that the kicks are making you stronger. Later, you become the kicker, causing others to quit or become stronger themselves.
Hear, but listen selectively
There are plenty with commentary about the market, about you, and about everything. Everyone has an opinion. Even you have an opinion about yourself and your actions. Hearing them is inevitable. Listening is a choice.
When you hear things, practice listening for the things that will make you stronger. Do not throw something out simply because it is negative. If there is a nugget of truth in it, save it. Use that nugget to improve. This is especially true when the person speaking is yourself. You must eliminate quickly useless self talk. But remember that negative self talk may not be useless. Save the nuggets, throw away the rest.
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