“In tutoring others, I realized that most of the people attempting to trade had no idea what the markets were about, and no idea of what they were doing.”– Joe Ross

Helping People Is Almost Impossible

Many people disturb trading pros, begging for help in their trading. They want to learn good trading approaches or principles, which can turn things around for them. You’ll feel their plausible sincerity when they desperate call pros for help. But when the pros offer to help them, giving them useful tips and strategies, you’ll discover that they don’t follow the pros advice.

A Latin American guy was disturbing a pro for a long time (who happened to be his acquaintance), asking for assistance. Later the pro arranged how they’d meet and showed him everything as he himself was doing it, including MM recommendations. To his surprise, the pro later found out that the way the guy traded afterwards was quite contrary to the advice he was given. It was a pure suicide trading. Needless to say, the guy crashed his account and quit trading finally.

In an African country, a newbie travelled to take instruction on how to use a pro’s strategy after hearing that the pro was making money with the strategy. The pro was kind enough to explain everything to him free, but he advised him to first try it on demo to see whether the strategy fit his psychology. On the contrary, the newbie applied the strategy to his live account directly.

In one Asian country, a certain young man who’d been struggling with the market for years later came across a winning trader who offered to help him for free. The winning trader showed him the strategy he was using, plus how to control risk with it. A few weeks later, the winning trader found out that the young man was using too high lot sizes and no stops; contrary to the advice he was given. The winning trader called him on phone, warning him against his dangerous trading style, but the young man refused to change. He’d been lucky so far… Nonetheless, he’d soon be found out in crazy market conditions.

A European bought a positive expectancy strategy but failed to use it as recommended. Someone from North America paid a huge amount to a trading coach, but later he did things that were contrary to what the coach taught him.

In Oceania, a lady was coached via the Internet, but later she simply traded in a manner that was quite contrary to how she was coached.

When people know they’ll still do what they’ll do, why do they seek help in the first place? The answer is simple. Majority of struggling traders are difficult to help.

So let people trade according to their beliefs and psychology and face the positive (or negative) results of their actions, taking responsibility for that. But the truth remains that the market can’t be blamed. Blaming the market is like running after the wind, for it’ll do what it’ll do. The market behaves according to its nature without having you in mind.

In spite of this, you can still achieve success in the markets if you really want it.

Why People Discourage Others from Trading

When people tell you that you can’t do something, what they’re really telling you is that they think you can’t do it because they can’t do it. People aren’t going to do something, and they’d like to tell you the reasons you shouldn’t do it either.

If I was hopeless at math, does that mean others can’t master it? If someone fails at programming, does it mean others can’t do it? If you failed at any challenging endeavor, does that mean others will fail if they try the same thing? 

I remember a tale from “Baro-san” (of Elitetrader):

Driven by hunger, a fox tried to reach some grapes hanging high on the vine but was unable to, although he leaped with all his strength. As he went away, the fox remarked 'Oh, you aren't even ripe yet! I don't need any sour grapes.' People who speak disparagingly of things that they cannot attain would do well to apply this story to themselves.

Those who lose with fundamental analysis say it’s worthless. Those who fail with technical analysis declare it sucks. They can’t do it, and they think nobody can do it. Since I can’t pass an exam so that exam is useless. I find multilevel marketing difficult, and so, it’s impossible to excel at it. I can’t make money from Forex – therefore Forex doesn’t work. 

When people fail at something, they develop hatred for it. They look at their screen and say, “this game is a waste of time.” They can’t stand playing games for profits in an uncertain world; and as a result, they can’t put in the necessary effort, doggedness and resources into achieving trading mastery. This is one of the reasons why trading can’t work for so many people.

Stop Blaming the Markets

The world is rife with people who often blame others for their woes (though some have genuine reasons for doing this). The same thing happens in trading; too many traders blame the markets for adverse circumstances they face, rather than accepting responsibility for their poor results.

When a novice makes money in the early days of their trading career, they childishly think the markets are easy to conquer. It’s the nature of the market to trend up, trend down and consolidate, doing this slowly or fast and furiously. It’s the nature of the market to be choppy, to zigzag or to experience fakeouts. It’s the nature of the market to pretend as though it’s going up or down or consolidating – only to do the opposite. That’s the nature of the market in the past and that’s how it’ll be forever.

The markets aren’t to blame. Despite these acts of the markets, many traders have devised ways to pull consistence profits on monthly, quarterly or annual basis.  Those who blame the market for their woes would hardly make any progress, but those who take responsibility for whatever happens to them would see themselves as the only solution to their trading problems and take steps to solve the problem.

The true test of someone's character isn't how they handle success. It's how they cope with setbacks. When a trade goes against a good trader, she/he shrugs it off and moves to the next trade. Also, when a trade moves in favor of a good trader she/he shrugs it off and moves to the next trade. 

This piece is ended with the quote below:

“In the end, you simply have to learn one thing: You cannot force the market, you can only take what it offers.”  Todd Gordon

Source: www.tallinex.com