When you manage risk, you always have to think of what would happen should something go wrong.
-The Stock Trader, by Tony Oz
Should I buy? Should I sell? Many traders often focus their efforts on identifying buy and sell signals. The research and analysis they do are geared towards reaching the goal of getting that “bottom line” directive to guide their actions. Any successful, experienced trader will tell you that although properly identifying buy/sell signals is important, it’s not the key to being successful. Instead, the way you manage each trade is what will determine your success. Traders who take the bottom line approach tend to believe that the success of their trading activity is dependent on following the right buy/sell signals at the right time. Clearly, it’s important that a trader be able to understand the process of generating signals and to use the methods involved. Realistically though, almost any trader can find a way to generate signals (whether using technical methods already out there, coming up with their own system, or using their platform’s automated signal generation tools). Any successful, experienced trader will tell you that your trade doesn’t begin and end with a buy or sell. There’s a trade management process involved. For each trade you make, you’re making a group of decisions. The way you manage and time those decisions is what will determine the success of your trade. Suppose two traders get the same signal at the same time and act on it. One’s trade may result in profits while the other’s results in losses. This could occur because each trader made a combination of additional decisions throughout the process of the trade. These decisions might include scaling in and/or out of the trade, using trailing stop losses, setting profit objectives, waiting, etc. The trader who made the more effective overall combination of decisions will have the better trade results in the end. It’s very important to regard trading as a process, and to understand that a trader’s efforts need to be focused on the activity of trading itself, as opposed to getting a quick bottom line answer. Because there are many aspects involved in making your trades successful, it’s essential that you educate and train yourself in all the different areas. Learn how to develop better trading plans and analysis methods, and then learn how to apply what you’ve developed to the process of a making a trade – from the original impetus to enter or stay out of a trade to the psychology of managing that trade.
from Innerworth.com |
