Page 6 - Psychology Course Study Manual

 Feeling confident and feeling in control

 A sense of not forcing the markets

 Trading with money you can afford to risk

 No feeling of being victimized by the markets
 Taking full responsibility for your trading

When you can read the list above and genuinely say that’s me, you have arrived!

Aggressive Behavior In Trading

This is an interesting paradox I found from working with many traders over the years. Many

people who start out in trading have been successful in other careers or business ventures

before trading. Since it is a fact that you need discretionary money to trade, you need to have
been successful in the past to make enough to fund a trading account with risk capital.

The tools that made these people successful in the business world may not be a strength in the

trading world. Some new traders who had to be aggressive in their chosen businesses tend to
think they need to be aggressive with the markets. It seems logical. In fact, that is what made

them successful before as sales people, managers, executives, doctors, business owners,

entrepreneurs, etc.

In trading however, this aggressive type of behavior can actually be your biggest weakness. The

belief that you can force the market to do what you want and make your trade work, just won't

happen! The markets are too big.

In fact some of the most successful traders I know approach the market passively! They tend to

"Follow" the Markets and not force an outcome. There are times to be aggressive in your quest

for knowledge, but the aggressiveness I am talking about here is different.