The Part-Time Trader: Trading Stock as a Part-Time Venture, + Website

CHAPTER 11

Trading Habits You Will Want to Avoid

There is a great sense of urgency to get to our final destination in trading, as if there actually is one. The fact of the matter is that trading the financial markets is ever changing and the education never ceases to end. You will always find yourself learning how to trade better and constantly having to adjust to the challenges that the stock market presents you with. So the idea that there is some kind of final state that a trader reaches in his or her progression is a complete fallacy. Over time, if you apply yourself to the principles that I have outlined in this book, you will no doubt get better, and as you experience and see more out of the financial markets, your ability to trade better will increase likewise.

Learning from My Shortcomings

The concepts that I have outlined in this book, the “Do's and Don'ts,” come primarily from my own shortcomings as a trader. I have made more mistakes as a trader than you could ever imagine, but I am a successful trader today because of those experiences and the learning curve I had to experience to get where I am today. I have also had to learn to trade despite personality traits of my own that can get in the way of my successfully trading. Trading is hard work and any attempt to cut short the learning progression and experience that is necessary to equip you, the individual trader, for success, will be met with disastrous results.

A part of the financial industry that truly enrages ...