Slow Trader

Tag: Seth Godin

  • Day trading

    As Jack Welch told us: “change before you have to.”

    Beginners are attracted to day trading because, most of us when we start out, only consider one thing: risk.

    With day trading we’re offered a low-risk and the beginner takes this (usually unsuccessfully) with low probability entries.

    The professional counters by (mostly) taking high probability opportunities.

    This often requires close attention for long periods followed by quick and decisive action.

    Like all the best games, day trading is easy to learn but hard to master.

    As Seth says, “if failure is not an option, neither is (the) success.”

  • Risky

    Readers will know that our chosen trade method is day trading a currency pairing.

    People that are not familiar with how we go about our business will think ‘gosh, that’s risky’. And of course, to a large extent, they are right.

    As with many disciplines that require a great deal of skill and practise (to simply achieve mediocrity), it comes across as risky because most don’t take the time and effort to learn.

    Ironically a principal draw for us to day-trading is the control of risk.

    Our e-book on the subject to be released within the first quarter of next year shows, we think, in some detail how this is possible.

    Day trading, if done well and with practice, can provide a consistent daily or weekly return. So unlike other more traditional trade or investment methods.

    With all worthwhile disciplines, it does not come to us overnight.

    As Seth Godin said:

    “The hard part is ‘steady.’

    Anyone can go slow. It takes a special kind of commitment to do it steadily, drip after drip until you get to where you’re going.”

  • Know this one thing and save £15,000 as a trader.

    snip20170304_34

    Knowing the timeline above would save traders £15,000, on average.

    Paper Account:

    Most people start trading with a paper account. That always goes well. However, it is not reality. Pip Maven recommends that a paper or dummy account should be for no more than 4 weeks, enough time to get familiar with the broker’s site.

    Beginner:

    We then become a ‘beginner’ trader. We trade small, and to survive this stage trading small is vital. During this phase we try many strategies, follow many teachers. One minute we think we’ve got it, the next we haven’t. It’s also the rollercoaster phase.

    “The Dip”:

    The Dip, by Seth Godin, is well worth a read. A short book but explains how the dip applies to everything we try. And trading is no exception. We can enter the dip at any point, not necessarily at the end of the beginner phase and  before the intermediate phase. It could be half way through the  intermediate or just before expert – but go through it we will.

    Intermediate:

    This, as Pip Maven explains, is where a trader has settled down to the grind of it all. No longer looking and changing to everyone else’s system, but focusing on our own, unique, way of trading. Managing our trades with attention to the smallest of detail.

    My drawing above is not to scale. If we picture the beginner phase compressed into the goal area of a football pitch, the remainder of the field is the intermediate phase. This, as a minimum, would be more representative. 

    Expert:

    If we survive the intermediate phase, or the grind, then we have a chance of achieving expert level. And, of course, that is where all the benefit is.

    Save £15,000

    How do we save £15,000? Simply by being aware of the above phases. When and if we make the intermediate phase we realise that this grind is part of the game. We do not get frustrated and do something daft. On average traders do something daft during the intermediate phase – it’s a long time after all – and lose £15,000. Now that we are aware – instead – we stay with the programme, whatever it takes, to achieve expert.