Why you can't win at trading. (10% do)

[chriss]

Why you can’t win at trading. (10% do )

So….the 90% and why you can’t win at trading.

What sets the 90% apart from the 10%? Why is one person seemingly able to effortlessly take profits from the market almost on a daily basis and yet another person trading the same market at the same time will be suffering consistent losses?

Already even at this stage the 90% will be thinking that the 10% guys have better indicators or even a holy grail trading strategy. On close examination of the 10% however, it will ALWAYS be found that they often use the same software, the same data, the same indicators and often trade at exactly the same time.

If this is the case (and it is) then surely they must be gurus, they must have the ‘Midas’ touch, the golden key etc etc…
Well sorry to deflate you, but once again this is simply not true, the 10% group consists of traders with many years experience trading as part of huge organisations and also the one man/woman in his home trading from a simple PC screen. In reality they are a pretty ‘ordinary’ lot.

They do have one consistent common factor however, which is usually revealed within 5 minutes of meeting them. They are also more often than not the most genuine of people who take a genuine interest in other traders.

When one of the 90% meets one of the 10% the very first thing that happens is that the 90% guy wants to find out every technical detail, about every aspect of the 10% guys trading strategy, software etc. In doing this, the real essence of WHY the 10% guy is successful is almost always completely missed.
This happens in much the same way as we miss huge parts of sales talks and yet we still buy the products. We almost always default to the comfort path of least resistance.

Television advertisers have for years used these methods to make us buy products we don’t want or need. They take the time to find out what we WANT to hear, what we WANT to be told. They discover if you like our comfort path and they sell to that path. This comfort path is the main reason why 90% of traders lose money.

Just pause for a moment and ask yourself the following question, then consider your inner responses that you pick up on.

Do you think there is a mechanical /computerised/Guru system that will continually give you profits?
If you do then ask yourself the following question. What would it mean to you to have this?

Less stress trading?
Better health?
Zero emotions when trading?
More free time?
Self esteem?
Power?
Material goods?

Just play with this for a moment but REALLY focus internally on how the system would be good for you.

After you have done this you will have come a long way to discovering part of your comfort path. THIS is the path that you will evaluate any trading product on. THIS is how you will be sold the latest trading idea to come down the pipe.

The 10% guy on the other hand does not have a comfort path for trading; he has something far more reliable. (No it is not a strategy or a software package)

Before we get to that, let’s consider the points above and how these will effect your trading.

Let’s take ‘less stress trading’ and see how you could satisfy this. How about:
The latest trading book?
The latest software idea?
A tell me what to do subscription?
A guru’s advice?
A trading course to learn new skills?
A gossip forum to pick up tips?
Now look back at the list and notice that any one of them will ‘help’ with the earlier blue text areas.

So…the losing 90% are the traders who ultimately believe in the idea that there is an ‘EXTERNAL’ product / system / concept that will satisfy what they listed under the bulleted points above.

The 10% have no such notion of the above, in fact they will make money regardless of any product / system / concept they use.
The 10% have one thing that every single one of the 90% is looking for.
The 90% are not looking at the wrong product, the wrong system or the wrong concept. They are simply looking in the wrong place.

It’s all about what you BELIEVE to be true rather that what is true.

[qweet]

can't help it, but I somehow believe that you're right.

[pipscooper]

Originally Posted by qweet

can't help it, but I somehow believe that you're right.

I bet you fall prey to jedi mind tricks too.

Folks,

There is no substitute for a proven profitable system. Chriss obviously does not have one. Aligning your beliefs will help you find one, but having aligned beliefs in and of itself isn't sufficient. Don't buy the nonsense that any old system will do if you have the right set of beliefs. Relying on a run of luck doesn't cut it. If your system loses money and you execute your system flawlessly because your beliefs are aligned or because you automated it, there is only one possible outcome.

[KellyFX]

LOL this statistic 90% traders lose myth is rubbish, it’s a way to lore newbie traders into believing the one giving this 90% statistic is credibility and that he or she is in the 10%, where dose this statistic come from other then word of month? Is there any repeatable agency researching it?

[qweet]

It’s all about what you BELIEVE to be true rather that what is true.

Well what is true? The current price is!
Every trade you do is providing you the information of gained or lost pips. This is also true.

So this is what I regard as true:
1.) the current price is telling me the current truth
2.) all price-movements before the current price are telling me the current truth of the moments in the past.
3.) pips are very well showing me if I have performed well or not.
4.) Every day your time-account, named "life", decreases.

I would set this as given facts. And I think they are agree-able by everybody.

regards,
qweet

[ArnieConan]

Originally Posted by KellyFX

LOL this statistic 90% traders lose myth is rubbish, it’s a way to lore newbie traders into believing the one giving this 90% statistic is credibility and that he or she is in the 10%, where dose this statistic come from other then word of month? Is there any repeatable agency researching it?

To a large degree, the number is derived from Brokerage houses, equities mainly, which keep track of how many of their customers go broke. During the great day-trading craze of the 90's, an absurd number of people opened up accounts. I once knew the number, but can't recall it exactly, but the cumulative dollar value of those accounts was into billions. The vast majority of those accounts were blown out in short periods. An interesting fact was that a fairly common occurrence was to have an account go from say $3,000 to $300 and all activity would stop, never to be traded again. People just can't accept failure very well.

The houses are really the only hard source of this type of info, the rest is just word of mouth. But I tend to believe that the vast majority of folks lose because it's an endeavor that doesn't lend itself very well to more taking money than those putting it in. Logically, the majority are going to lose if you really think about it.

Given that most professions only have a handful of people that are very successful, why should trading be any different? Of course, there is a massive difference between trading and other professions. In most jobs, most people can be just adequate, and even have periods of being downright useless while still retaining their job. That won't happen in trading. The markets severely punish the mediocre and destroy the incompetent.

Finally, given the fact that half the people in the world are below average, is it any surprise at all that the majority fail in an endeavor that rewards only the extremely talented?

[faure]

You know what the difference is between the 5% and 95%?

The 5% have enough experience to believe in themselves - they have conviction in sticking with their decisions and their ideas. The difference is experience - the 5% have more trading experience than the 95%.

The 5% also don't sit there and wonder about all this shit. They just go out there and trade. Guess that's why there are so few on this board (or any other).

[GigGun]

Agree with you 100% faure, Why do you people spend so much time looking into this junk! Who cares how many losers their are out there, just weary about your own trading and if you can’t make money get out of the markets.