Why Traders Fail – Part 1
The Defensive Trading series will spend the next three chapters looking into some of the common factors why novice traders tend to fail.
In this lesson, we look at where the problems all begin …
The Education.
Most people know that trading is a stressful and dangerous job. Most also know that it isn’t easy and takes a lot of work and learning. Of course, there are the few who believe that the market can be beaten with a system or with some high-tech software. Then there are those who cling on to the ignorant belief that the market is a place that can get them rich quick.
Let’s not waste time discussing the dreamers and ignoramuses. Rather, lets look at the fellow who knows what it takes and is ready to work for it. Let’s look at the fellow who sincerely wants to learn all there is to know about this business but is unable or unwilling to get a formal education for it. It has been argued that one is able to learn about trading by reading books and obtaining information through the internet.
So if it is that simple, why do so many still fail?
The answer is just as simple;
Learning the wrong thing without realizing it.
Most of the books available, either at bookshops or at the library are about INVESTING and very few are actually about TRADING. So what happens is that most people don’t realize the real difference between investing and trading and will assume the two to be the same with slight variances. That could not be farther from the truth.
Investing is much easier to learn – like learning to drive a Honda Jazz. It doesn’t take much to learn it and it is easily understood and put into practice without much difficulty. The trick thereafter is not to crash.
Trading, on the other hand, is a very different skill and mind set. It is akin to driving a Formula 1 car. Unlike the Honda where the manual version has the clutch on the left foot, the F1 car’s clutch is a very different mechanism and is controlled by the right hand. Unlike the Honda which packs less than 80bhp, the F1 car stacks up an earth-shattering 900+bhp which, in untrained and inexperienced hands, could end up killing the driver.
There is so much more to trading than investing. The skills involved are very different, the psychology is worlds apart, the knowledge needed requires way more weeks and even months to acquire and the amount of research needed to be a good investor is nothing compared to the daily research and monitoring the trader is required to do to survive the market day in and day out.
Where investing requires little or no practice, trading demands hours and hours of practice time to hone the skill. The financial management skills are also extremely different in that the investor protects his capital by how much he invests while the trader requires a different skill set to manage his finances – its called “cutting loss” – something easier said than done.
So without realizing it, most beginners will pick up an investment book or visit sites hosted by investors or have contributing members who are investors and assume that all that knowledge gained will stand him in good stead as a trader.
And we won’t even get into the common mistake of signing up for the wrong kind of course where the guru himself doesn’t know the difference or worse, misinterprets what he think he knows while all his students look to him for all the answers.
And when things don’t work out, it gets confusing. The common query that follows is always, “Why is it others can make it but I can’t?“
You can’t blame the poor fellow because there isn’t much literature on this subject and even some so-called gurus don’t know the difference. But all you have to do to know that this is true is to just look at Wall Street – how come the investors don’t have to be on the floor of the exchange everyday while the ones on the floor everyday are known as traders?
Knowledge … a little of it can kill you quickly while the wrong kind will slowly bleed you to death.
This article was first published on 12 April 2010
Copyright © Pattern Trader™ by Conrad Alvin Lim. All Rights Reserved
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He is known for his unique and simplified blend of Macroeconomics and Financial Management for his Defensive and Psychological approach to trading and is sought after for his intimate knowledge of Macroeconomics, Sector Rotation, Defensive Analysis, Financial Psychology and short-term trading techniques.
To find out more, visit conradalvinlim.com
