3 Things To Remember When You Start Trading

We live in times where downsizing and job losses happen on a daily basis.

Losing a job can be very traumatic especially if you are in your middle years as opportunities seem to go to the younger crowd.

I’ve read many articles where people in their 40’s and early 50’s have been punted from a job they’ve held for years. They now look at their options and believe that there is not much out there for them.

This can cause despair and depression to set in which just makes the ball start rolling downhill even faster.

Are You Too Old To Start Trading?

At Netpicks, we get emails and new customers almost on a daily basis from people who are now jobless and no longer in their prime years.

They are looking to trading as a goal and although they are aware of the dismal success rates, they don’t find that to be a deterrent. They do however think their age will be a limiting factor and are concerned that they may be too old.

What do successful people in trading generally say?

• It took them about 3-5 years before everything started to fall in place to a point where consistently making trading profits was reality
• They had their downtime where they broke their trading rules and let their trading psychology fall off the wagon
• They regrouped and pushed through keeping their mind on their end goal

It doesn’t matter how old you may be. The next 5 years are going to pass anyhow and you will be that much older. The question is how old will you be in 5 years if you don’t pursue your trading career?

Whether you go after your trading goal or you don’t, the clock will still tick forward and you can either decide to be in a different place or still be stuck wondering if you should try.

Is your goal worth the work and effort you must put in?

Hopefully you believe in your worth and have answered “YES” to that question.

The markets also don’t care how old you are. You are a blip on the screen….part of the candle/bar formation on the chart…and nobody cares about your gender, your age, the color of your skin.

“Guaranteed Trading Success” Are Marketing Buzzwords

You may not succeed and lack of success is very scary for many people but you are guaranteed zero success if you don’t put the paddle in the water and start moving.

No guarantee of success is scary for most people as they will feel that they wasted time going after their goal.

Pushing through that fear and continuing forward movement while others fall off of the side, is what defines you.

Guarantees are an illusion and are used to sucker you into buying the hottest trading system or hiring the special guru. The movement of the market is out of your hands but you can certainly decide to:

• Only trade a strategy with an edge
• Using risk parameters that will see you through a string of losing trades
• Keep your discipline in times of hard trading environments

Feel you are limited because your job had nothing to do with the financial world? You can learn and frankly, you don’t need an MBA in finance to be a trader. Many well educated people who think trading is going to be a breeze fail in their trading goal while those who never attended the halls of higher learning, do well.

Those that do well do what the others won’t do which is admit what they don’t know, get out of their comfort zone, shun excuses and get on a path.

What do those that find success in trading have in common? They took action every single day in regards to:

1. Trading A Strategy With An Edge

You must have a system that has a statistical edge in the market. The good thing is that simple does work and elaborate and confusing trading methods are not needed to make money.

You must:

• practice your system
• verify your system
• be able to execute without hesitation when your trading system calls for a trade

Many of you would much prefer piggybacking on experience and would consider a fully developed trading system and trading plan as your entry into trading.

Netpicks is known for producing some of the most consistently profitable trading systems available and if this is the route you want to investigate, you can start you trading journey here.

2. Understanding Different Types Of Risks In Trading

Yes, there is the risk of losing a particular trade but also understand there is

• gap risk
• risk of slippage
• risk of outlier events

You have to be aware of these risks and have a plan of what to do if they occur. I wrote about risk in a few other posts but start with Myth Of Low Risk Trading.

3. There Is Something Called Psychology Of Trading

The hardest battles people can face are usually the ones that people can’t see. Fear, greed, and hope are just a few of the issues you are going to have to understand and how they can affect your decision making process.

We have biases that can influence how you look at an individual trade, your testing, and other variables that make up a successful trading business.

You need to walk the talk and while saying you want to be a successful trader is one thing, doing so is another. It’s hard work as you get the three variables I just mentioned in order. Your goal must become a top priority for you and full responsibility for success and failure must lay on your shoulders. Don’t look for shortcuts nor excuses.

You must refrain from the “poor me” attitude. That is not easy especially when you believe you’ve done everything right and yet success is still elusive. Do an honest self appraisal and see where improvements can be made.

When you are forced to close one chapter of your life and open another, it will be hard. Time is going to pass and only you can say where you want to be in a few years.

There is a lag time in trading from:

• Where you start
• Where you understand
• Where you find small success
• Where you find consistent success

The longer you wait erodes something we can never get back: Time. If trading is your goal regardless of your age or circumstances, get on the path and run with it. You may surprise yourself with a future you never expected.