For the short time I was trading as a career discipline was the only way to make a prophet. Everyone knows the tricks and has strategys. Discipline is the only way to give yourself an edge versus the markets. Discipline meant getting up early everyday. Excercise. Diet. Not going out until all hours of the morning. You have to stay focused during the work day. Stay Late. Put in those homework hours everyday. Follow your strategys to a tee. No shortcuts. Can't stay in winners when it's time to get out.
The following comments are in regards to discretionary trading. The examples are based on futures trading using Trading Technologies as the front end. The clearing firm sets max position for the trader before the trading day To gain "willpower/discipline" the trader has to have the confidence that by the end of the trading day he will be ahead(profitable). Every morning the trader must wake up knowing the market is going to provide him with multiple opportunities to be profitable by the end of the trading day. The question arises -- how does the trader acquire this confidence? For the new trader or the trader who still adds to losers or the trader that allows one trade to ruin a whole day or the trader who wakes up thinking the market is going to take money from his account or the trader with no confidence rule #1 will help. Rule 1 Your maximum position allowed is the trade size you will use for every trade you make!! This means that if the trader's average size is 3 contracts then the trader will contact his clearing firm and make his max position 3 contracts. How will this help? 1.Most traders lack discipline because they add to losers. If you trade using your max size you cannot add to losers, thus when the trade goes against the trader he cannot rationalize his loss by saying "if I add some at these levels I could be okay". Your only choice is take the loss or suffer further. 2.It reduces the choices a trader has to make. A trader that lacks confidence does not need to think about how many contracts he will trade? Simplicity becomes the traders friend and thus becomes part of his "edge". 3.Then the trading day becomes a game of averages. If the trader makes 50 trades and has a higher percentage of winners than losers the trader will be profitable (assuming average loser and average winner are about the same). Notice I do not mention anything about being right or following a chart pattern or understanding the overall direction of the market. 4.Without the worry that one trade will ruin him the trader feels more relaxed focusing on the numerous opportunities the market provides everyday. The trader will be amazed at how much clearer he perceives the market when the paranoia of having a big loss is out of his mind! Rule #2 Follow rule #1
You don't need willpower. You need a decent trading system with a positive expectancy. All the willpower in the world won't get you that, but it can bankrupt you if you don't have one. Best, Jimmy
Come on' JJ let me have some fun...By the way, you are absolutely correct, in my opinion, BECAUSE THE MARKET HAS NO IDEA ABOUT ONES PSYCHE''
Willpower is like most everything else that we humans have. It becomes stronger through exercising it. Start with small things, but still things that you know will challenge you. They don't even have to be trading related. Exercise on a variety of things. Things you won't do (eat those cookies in the pantry) and things you will do (get up and take a 15 minute walk every morning before doing anything else). You will inevitably try to rationalize away breaking your rules because "they don't really matter" or whatever other reason you use to talk yourself out of things. This is the tipping point, the moment of decision. What will you do? There are many answers to this question, and I sure don't have them all. I know the things that work for me. Thinking back to why the original decision was made and realizing that my contemplative self is smarter than my in the moment self is one of my favorites. I know some people are against anything that would be a "crutch" and think everyone should have a will of iron and make all the right decisions at the right time. The reality is that this isn't possible for most, especially for new traders. I have tried to remove some of the decision points out of my trading just by the way things are set up. I only deposited a small amount of my trading capital in my trading account at first, for example, just so I wouldn't lose it all in one fell swoop. Something like ButtonTrader also has some great "crutches", like limiting your total position size, limiting your daily loss limit, an option to lock your stops once your trade is entered so you can't move them back, etc.
Good question but I suggest you need a top ranking problem solving brain. But then you still need unyielding willpower to become a top player. You cannot get it or you cannot get more, if you do not have it. If you do not have it then you are completely f**ked up the butt. Game, set & match .. or game over, you lose.
A decent trading system with a positive expectancy is as meaningless to a trader without the will power to properly trade it as is a healthy dietary regimen to a dieter without the will power to follow it. Ideally, however, a point will be reached by both the trader and the dieter where doing the right thing feels like the natural thing to do. Then doing what is right won't require conscious "effort" (will power). Or at least that's the way I think it works. I have never had difficulty sticking to a healthy dietary and exercise regimen and can't really understand why it is such a hurdle for some people. However, in all candor, my "won't power" occasionally overrides my will power when trading. Maybe one day...
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determinations alone are omnipotent. The slogan "Press On" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. Calvin Coolidge. However, as a trader, you still must have money to "Press On".
Whilst I am educated with a university degree & all that, I have never set my judgement of others on degrees or educational attainments. As an employer I look for hard workers or winners .. not degree holders. Ability in the workplace is the best standard. I have had no problem rejecting degree holders and have done so. Equally I have taken on some degree holders & I think usually I have done so because they have been down-to-Earth types. So your quote (above) has long been a favorite of mine; I had not attributed it to President Calvin Coolidge.