If you are a futures trader, you’ve already learned that losing is part of the game. How you handle loss emotionally will determine whether you succeed or fail as a futures trader. You cannot allow yourself to become emotionally incapacitated by loss. Like the song goes: You have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.
In futures trading every day is a new day. You must put the failures of yesterday, and particularly any feelings of disappointment and inadequacy they cause, behind you and focus on what is happening in the market today. Dwelling on your losses will only erode your self-confidence and cause you to start second guessing yourself, your system and your decisions. Start down this road and you might as well throw in the towel. Successful futures trading is 90% attitude. Learn from your losses and move on.
D.H. Lawrence wisely said: “If only one could have two lives: the first in which to make one’s mistakes, which seem as if they have to be made; and the second in which to profit by them.”
A futures trader must live both lives simultaneously. He must learn from today’s mistakes to profit tomorrow. Think of it this way: Each mistake, as long as you learn from it, is one less mistake you’ll make in the future. Since there are a limited number of ways you can lose on a trade, each loss becomes a building block toward solid future success. You’ll make mistakes and suffer losses as a futures trader, especially as you’re learning the ropes. But by discovering the lesson in each loss, you will increase your power as a trader. Each loss then becomes a brick in the growing pillar of your success.
Get notified of new blog posts by email. Subscribe here:
Powered by RssFwd
About Bill
