It is crucial for you as a trader to have the right mindset in order to be successful in your options trading and not to sabotage your trading account. Being aware of the common options trading traps are important so as to spot them early and not to fall deeper into it. Avoid them completely if possible in the first place.
The goal of an options trader is to generate profits on a regular basis but only a small percentage of them are really consistent in making money. Most traders don’t believe that their trading problems are the result of the way they think about trading. It is psychological, the consistent winners think differently from everyone else. They have winning attitudes.
We are not fund managers and we should not trade like one. Many traders think that if only they have a big account to trade, they will be able to bring in profits consistently. No, it will never work for us.
All the fund managers have to work within a very strict set of rules and they are under supervision. They are only allowed to risk a very small percentage of the entire portfolio account. If they are down by certain percentage they will have to stop trading for the entire month. Not abiding the trading rules will get them suspended. Anyone can do well when govern by these strict disciplinary rules. They are not trading with their own money. No matter how big is their account, there will be no emotions involved.
When you trade without any emotion, you are likely to do well but when you start trading with your own money, that’s where all the emotions will come in, your fear and your greed. It doesn’t matter whether you are just starting out or have been trading for sometime, it is the same, and every trader will have to take on the same emotional roller coaster ride in order to be good at it. It takes patience and time to master but it can be financially rewarding.
“The investor’s chief problem and even his worst enemy is likely to be himself” – Benjamin GrahamTrading should be treated as a business and that is the simple logical reason why it is called trading. Trading is just act of buying a product or merchandise then selling it and making a profit out from it. Isn’t that’s what we do as a trader? Most of us seem to forget our objective and become irrational when we trade. We become impatience and want to get rich very quickly.
It is important to state your trading objectives and goals to achieve. Have a simple plan and work on it, please do not try to complicate it by putting in some complex money management strategies. I am not saying that money management is not important. It is important but it has to be simple because the majorities of us do not have a PhD in finance to understand it. Simplicity is the key.
Most of these trading seminars are selling you a ticket in becoming a millionaire just by trading options. The highly motivated feeling gives you the false impression that you have finally found the easy way out. You just can’t wait to fund your account and make your first trade. It can be done but it takes patient and it takes time.
It is sad to say that many options traders have lost their primary objective and become big time gamblers. They have fallen into the “Big Headed Syndrome”. To make big profit, you obsessed into look for the highest possible winnings and forget about the risk involved. Most of you will start betting and eventually got into addiction and blow up your account because of the excitements.
Please do not believe that you can make the same kind of a killing with consistency. It will eventually kill you, it is a delusion, it only happens at random and rarely. It is just like striking a first prized lottery ticket. Use your common sense. Don’t believe everything you see.
“There are more fools in the world than there are people”- Heinrich Heine
It is essential for you as an options trader to think in probability and with accuracy. Most of you started with just limited resources and begin to grow along with time learning from your mistakes.
It is common to see traders lose their minds taking extreme high risk and often chasing after the markets not knowing that the high slippage and commission can drain their trading account.
Not willing to accept defeat, quickly funded more money, blow up again. Beginning to doubt? How come what I have learned doesn’t work? It looks like the market is always against me and not knowing that you have only let yourselves to be deceived. The market doesn’t know who you are and it is only you who is taking it personal.
Perhaps you should wait like a sniper who always calculates his shot first. The target distance, it’s moving speed and the wind direction. Even with all these calculations he still waits for the perfect timing to fire the shot. Why? Because he got to be right for he has only one shot and there is no room for mistake.
Don’t you think that it is logical for you as novice, with such a small account to trade should to be sharp and be more careful with your trades? You must develop top priority in protecting your capital as there are full of crocodiles, sharks and piranhas waiting for you to get into the water. Your ignorance can lead you to be eaten alive.
“Investing without research is like playing stud poker without looking at the cards” – Peter LynchIt is not about what you trade but rather how you trade. By just selecting the appropriate strategies isn’t good enough, what you need is a system that can produce consistent profit every month. It requires discipline to follow your trading plan and your trading objectives.
You must be able to differentiate between trading and gambling. Many will get carried with one strike of chance and take away a big prized money or being misled by others who post their winnings in some forum. If you feel excited when you are trading options, you are gambling.
Many novices don’t even read charts or relay on any technical indicators at all when buying the options. What they have in mind is the amount of money they can make if the stock makes a big move the next day. This is greed; too much is going to kill you. Be very careful as not to turn your computer screen into an online casino.
“If investing is entertaining, if you’re having fun, you’re probably not making any money. Good investing is boring” – George Soros