facebook  youtube  blogger

Trading Educators Blog

#1 Trading Blog Site

The Right Place at the Right Time

This is an oldie, but goodie recollection from my trading days. Over a three-day weekend, Waldo received a call from his friend Jim. "Hi Wally, did you take a look at Google last week?" Waldo replied, "It was a rough week for my short positions. I didn't anticipate the buying surge and it hurt me a little. No, I didn't look at Google closely. I was caught up trading my own positions." Excitedly, Jim says, "Well, on Monday I bought at 345 and sold at 370 on Friday. I made almost $4000 on that one trade alone."

Have you ever received a call from a friend in the trading business bragging about a great trade that he or she made? If you aren't doing as well, and can also bask in the glory of success, it's hard to avoid feeling a little resentful, envious, and somewhat disappointed in yourself. You may think, "It's just a matter of being at the right place at the right time, and unfortunately, I was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Trading can indeed be a matter of luck. When events aren't going your way, you can get thrown off, and become overly consumed with how poorly you are doing, that you can't think clearly. Trading the markets skillfully requires a clear, focused mindset, however. You can't get thrown off. But when your money is on the line, it's hard to think clearly. There's a powerful human need to trade with perfection. You want to be at the right place at the right time and make a huge win. One of the worst fears of many traders is missing out on a significant trading opportunity. It's natural to want to search for a once in a lifetime trade and make a year's worth of profits in a day. But constantly searching for such trades can be distracting. You spend the majority of your time searching for the ultimate trade setup, and when you do that, you start placing demands on yourself that you just can't reach. You think illogically. You lose focus, and you can no longer think clearly and astutely.

Ironically, if you become overly consumed with being at the right place at the right time, you will probably be at the wrong place at the wrong time. You won't think freely and creatively, and you will miss the potentially profitable opportunities right in front of you. From a god's eye view, they may not be the absolute best opportunities out there, but they may be good enough to profit from. If you devote all your effort to trading them, you will make profits. Remind yourself that you don't have to be perfect. You don't have to trade the best opportunities at all times. You just need to trade the best way you know how with the resources and opportunities you have available to you. You need to trade freely, rather than stagnating under the pressure to trade to perfection. Trading can be a matter of probabilities. Sometimes you'll be at the right place at the right time; at other times you won't. That's all right. If you are consumed with perfection and finding the ultimate trading opportunity you will find yourself a long way away from becoming a successful trader.


Sign up for our FREE weekly Chart Scan newsletter.

We want to hear from you, Joe Ross wants you to learn trading. Email us your questions or if you need additional information. Another great investment is private mentoring with Joe, our students find this very helpful and accelerates their trading successes.

Private Mentoring with Joe Ross - Sign Up Today 

 

Comments

No comments made yet. Be the first to submit a comment
Already Registered? Login Here
Guest
Thursday, 28 March 2024

Derivative transactions, including futures, are complex and carry a high degree of risk. They are intended for sophisticated investors and are not suitable for everyone. There are numerous other factors related to the markets in general or to the implementation of any specific trading program which cannot be fully accounted for in the preparation of hypothetical performance results, and all of which can adversely affect actual trading results. For more information, see the Risk Disclosure Statement for Futures and Options.