The Best Approach to Trading is To Understand it is a Journey

Trading is a journey, and not everyone gets to where they yearn to go. The biggest part of the journey is internal- how we respond to uncertainty, risk, and opportunity determines where we go on the journey.

The market does what the market does, but it is up to the individual to navigate and succeed, regardless of what the market does.

This internal journey involves moving through indisputable developmental phases along the way.

Many traders assume that reading a lot about trading psychology, watching many webinars; that much exposure to the subject is akin to actually doing ‘the work’.

One reason for this is the common experience of having ‘a ha’ moments when reading about trading psychology. While these ‘a ha’ moments are an exceptional start, it takes more to advance along the journey.

In my over 20 years of trading and working with traders, I’ve noticed four developmental phases of this journey. Exploring and exposing yourself to a lot of trading psychology is the second of four stages. Unfortunately, many traders never go beyond this phase.

The reason? To move beyond this phase requires that you move out of your comfort zone, or leave what is familiar (impulse trades, freezing, not accepting losses, etc can often be part of the comfort zone in that they are familiar based on history.)

I know that can be a difficult concept for some- the idea that problematic trading behaviors are part of the comfort zone. Perhaps it will help if can you accept that growth requires some discomfort.

Addressing underlying issues and doing things differently is unfamiliar and uncomfortable. This is a major contributing factor to why many traders never get to where they yearn.