THIS ARTICLE IS QUOTED FROM FINANCEMAGNATES.COM. THE LINK IS AS FOLLOWS: http://www.financemagnates.com/executives/questions-answers/what-traps-can-new-traders-fall-into/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: Rob Booker (Executives) Sunday, 04.05.15 / 4:51 I have found that new traders often see limitless possibility. However, after a few years of trading – and all too frequently – a few big losses, they become afraid. This fear lives deep below the surface. This is the fear that tells you to close your winning trade quickly because you have seen too many winners become losers. This is the fear that convinces you to remove your stop and turn off the computer when your trade is losing, because you cannot stand to look at another loss. New traders don’t do these things. New traders are optimistic. They are criticized for this. But it is a beautiful and wondrous thing. In addition, new traders also do not have a deep knowledge of trading. This is not a shortcoming however, as this is at the core of a new trader’s ability to succeed. When we know too much about trading, we begin to think twice, and three times, and four times, about our trades. Our setups, once clear and obvious, become clouded by the knowledge that perhaps an economic report will disturb our setup, so we pass. Or a level of resistance far above must be hit before we can take our sell trade. Or we remember something that a windbag blowhard expert said on television about the Euro, and suddenly we trust some talking head idiot more than our own judgment. New traders see a setup. They take it. They close it. They move on. This is success.
Nothing new here. This is just the ol' beginners' luck. Newbies to any activity often enjoy success at the beginning because their minds are stress-free: unconcerned about doing things "the right way." Only after the inevitable failures comes the self-doubt and the hesitation. The goal --if the newbie sticks with the activity-- is to achieve sufficient skill to reacquire the initial mindset: calm, unstressed and unconcerned about the success or failure of any individual trial. What makes trading unique among activities that require a lot of skill is that, aside from you, almost nobody else is rooting for your success. Most of the paid mentors or gurus are themselves failed traders and their goal is not to make you a great trader but to make money appearing to do so while passing along their own inadequate skillset. It's not like there's some qualifying board that's going to punish them for being failed mentors. Caveat emptor.