Prediction Wizard

In the public universe we can read a great deal about  trading, technical and fundamental  analysis,  but one  extremely  important  point is not getting enough attention.

That is FREEDOM, freedom to trade. Freedom to trade well.

For the most part it is about mental freedom.

For this reason it is very difficult  to  specify the requirements  for mental freedom, as  it is  not directly measurable.

Each market participant have different tolerance during  suboptimal  mental freedom periods.

There are a lot of material  requirements  to participate  in the marketplace competitively, like a good office, reliable trading hardware and software, good brokerage, well funded  brokerage account(s)….

We might have  great trading experience, great strategies,  and other supporting systems, but  if  the COMPLETE MENTAL FREEDOM is missing from  our market participation, than  it might  have very serious effects on our results.

A trader, who  considers  trading as a business, a job,  need to strive to reach as high level of mental freedom as possible.

The more  intuitive your trading  and the more frequently you trade the more mental freedom is required  while those, who participate in the market through semi-automated or fully automated  trading systems, might  see less performance degradation  if mental freedom is suboptimal.

Some of the aspects that  contribute to mental freedom  as examples:

-          Our wealth, and change in our wealth in the recent past.

A  freshly retired market player, who lost 30 – 40% of his / her wealth due to decreased housing values and  lost  retirement  accounts, will definitely feel  these impacts during trading and will not  accept high level of risk or take only minimal risk or nothing at all.

-          Illness. If we get a cold, which  leads to temporary fever, we might lose focus during trading hours. At least we know, that the effects will be temporary.

But if we get serious illness or  a loved one, a family member 

or very close friend get

serious illness, which lead to  irreversible conditions, than  it is 

highly recommended to top trading during these periods or take

action, before we completely wipe out our brokerage account.

-          Work, work-related  conditions (If we happen to work besides trading) Stress during  other work  will drain  our mental energy  level  and depending on the situation  will play its effect out on our  trading performance.

-          Support from others, like family members,  friends, colleagues..

Every people have different priorities.

Highly successful trading requires  a lot of dedicated time to maintain our edge over the long-term.  Trading is a Marathon game. You  will need the mental support of others  if you really want to get there. Isolated genius  might not even reach profitable status level in this game.   Strive to build your support  people even before you jump into the deep waters.

-          Current physical and mental condition.

Like the markets, people have  biological cycles. Try  to reach  a generally good mental and physical fitness level. Yes occasionally we can be tired,  fatigue, less focused, bored

that will cause weaker trading performance.

The higher level of self-control, you can attain during Your trading  period, the higher profit potentials can be reached.

-          Beliefs and self confidence.

If You do not believe that you first can  become a successful trader, and than  maintain and increase the performance  during the trading career, than  better to STOP trading NOW. This is the absolute prerequisite of successful market participation.

Yes, after trading successfully for X years we might still lose our edge,  or our performance might  degrade for many reasons. Having a mental freedom will help us overcome difficult periods.

-          Bad, unsuccessful  previous market experience,  difficult trading periods with hard to bear

      drawdown  or losses.

      Again, these  are usually temporary setbacks for those,  having 

      all the necessary prerequisites and the mental freedom as  the

      most important requirement of all.

For the really successful pro trader the daily job is not over, when the market closes.

As for any  top performer,  all of  the other life  activities,  and relationships will contribute to the final results of market participation, either positively or negatively.

For this reason  a trader need to consider the whole life a bit differently, where the actual trading time is only  those limited hours, when the markets are open, when he / she  performs  the job, the art, the mission…but all other time, spent outside of the markets  will also count, impact our results.

As one of my  friend, Brett Steenbarger, a great educator and  trader coach  once  mentioned:

“Trading is  the celebration of freedom.”

    Enjoy Your Trading.