Hemant Batra

I broke down 3 times, 

But there is that one mistake that I always remember,

That I always come back to when I am trading and I think it would provide some real value if I were to share it…

The number one issue I faced when I was right at the beginning of my trading journey, within the first year.

I really struggled to face the fact I was wrong.

When a trade was going against me I couldn’t get my head around why that would be? All the technicals made sense… structure lined up,  the pattern was in place and I had lower time frame confirmation to enter the trade. Everything about the setups I was taking were fitting my plan.

The issue is, and this is key; the market can and will do whatever it wants.

It’s not perfect and will never be perfect,

This means you could have the best looking setup out there but still have that trade go and take you out for -1% (or whatever your set risk parameter is). 

For someone that likes being right, you could see that this would be a potential problem…

What was happening is that I would open my stop loss to cater for the fact I couldn’t be wrong. 

Ok sometimes this would go my way but a lot of the time the market committed to itself. So a -1% trade became a -1.4% trade, then a -1.5% trade, then a -1.7% trade and it was a vicious cycle.

Overall it was incredibly damaging to my account and also psychology, 

So what made me stop?

Data….

One thing we teach all of our students here at The Social Traders is that becoming a consistently profitable trader will not happen overnight. The earlier you start trade tracking and holding yourself accountable for the trades being played the sooner you will break through that barrier of consistency.

With data in front of me I could clearly see where my downfalls were and therefore could easily address them to avoid the same mistake happening again and again. At the time, I would film a small recap to go over the setup that went against me. 

This was a game changer,

hold yourself accountable with the trades you take, whether that be a written document, a video or a sketch…

Otherwise you will pass blame onto the market and the cycle repeats,

Remember the market can and will do whatever it wants.

Best,

The Social Traders

Right let’s keep this dead simple, 

No fluff straight to the point… hopefully you take some value.

1.  Time in the market

I don’t care who you are, whether that be a brain surgeon, teacher, nuclear scientist or a cleaner without experience in the market you will struggle to make consistent profits.

In fact…

Those that come from a more educated background will over complicate things, see too many different angles or possibilities, clouding their judgement.

Those that keep things simple, are patient are ultimately the ones that succeed in this game.

2. Focus on one strategy

The more you strategy jump the more delayed you will become in finding consistency. 

You will also overcomplicate things, I’ve seen it so many times… Indicators upon indicator upon indicator to give you THE most precise entry. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that.

Less is more, understand your strategy and the data behind your strategy and trade the setups in accordance to your plan. 

3. The Market owes you nothing

Egos will get chewed up and spat back out…

the market does not owe you anything and can do and will do wherever it wants to.

Trading is a zero sum game, meaning that if you’re winning a trade someone else is losing that very same trade on the other end.

We can use this to our advantage, we know that we cannot win every trade, that’s impossible. But once we truly understand this then we know that trading is just a case of swinging the probabilities in our favour.

Casinos have a 0 on a roulette board, that is their edge….

Our edge is our strategy and over the long run it will play out in our favour as long as we are disciplined.

If you’ve enjoyed these snippets so far, join the pro team. What have you got to lose?

Best,

The Social Traders

If I had just 30 seconds to pass on the trading secrets I’ve learned the hard way over the last 6 years, it would be this:

Broadly, I follow the precursors laid down by the people who really move these markets, not the people who think they move these markets… 

1. If the setup looks obvious it probably is a trap…
   
    E.G at the perfect touch of a trend rather than when price has spiked out of trend to gather liquidity and then showed confirmation,
   
   be patient rather than trying to call every top and bottom of a trend. 
2. If you can zoom out a timeframe before placing a trade, always do so.

    

   What may look good on a lower time frame is probably bang average on a higher time frame. Especially if you have been crawling the lower time frames for entry, a lot of people do this.

3. Never be certain, always remain adaptive.
   
   The market can do and will do whatever it wants to…

   Even if you have been stalking a setup for days, it doesn’t matter. Trade what you see, not what you want to see.  

4. Never extend your stop losses. It’s a slippery slope and will only be detrimental to your discipline. Plan the trade and trade the plan, nothing else.

Break any of these rules and watch your account diminish sooner than you think….

There are other rules for good trading, many formulated by some of the legends of the space, George Soros, Paul Tudor Jones and John Paulson.

The simplest is, make your entries as mechanical as possible. The easiest trades to enter are the ones defined by set rules. A trade where you doubt yourself is already a loser either technically or psychologically.

Remember most people are either lazy or plain stupid, they won’t put in the work to refine their entry process. They tend to forget the trade they had been planning for months by the time price action plays out, they have moved onto the next ‘quick entry’. 

The same principle applies in life…

Stay loyal to your goals and they will stay loyal to you. 

If you watch the best traders you will notice their trading sessions are short. Their entries are disciplined and exits are set in stone. There is no fluff, they know exactly what they are doing and how to do it, day in and day out, it is a way of life.

Unfortunately there are no gizmos such as indicators or algorithms that will teach you this skill…

although we can guide you.

That was a long elevator ride, wasn’t it?

If you’ve enjoyed these snippets so far, join the pro team. What have you got to lose?

Best,

The Social Traders