A Fools Game

I received an email this week with a question (below) which caused me to think about the wisdom of pursuing trading as a career. Regardless of your trading time span, the skills and concerns of active short-term trading are relevant to all market particpipants.

Question: "There are a lot of people who say that day trading is for "fools" and that it is very difficult to make a living from Day Trading. What are your opinions?"

Trading is like most business: it requires commitment and perseverance. It is never easy to make money, but people who have mastered a skill make it appear easy. The really successful pit traders that I have known made trading look very easy, tantalisingly easy; but they all had many years of experience behind them. For every successful trader there has probably been a few hundred who have tried and failed.

I think people fail at any business if they approach it without an appreciation and understanding of what is required for success. The majority of traders fail because they have no such appreciation and they have unrealistic expectations of themselves. Any trader who starts with the expectation of becoming an instant success is setting himself up for failure. No one would decide to become a golf pro and assume that they could just pick up a bag of clubs and start winning tournaments. Yet novice traders do this all the time.

Just to start with the understanding that trading is a skill that is developed over time, through experience, puts a novice trader way ahead of the competition.

There are 2 core skills in trading, first the ability to anticipate the market (read the market) and second, having the discipline to execute your plan. To learn to read the market you may as well use a trading simulator and only start to trade when you have demonstrated to yourself that you can anticipate the market. Discipline, though, has to be developed and tested in the real world. Discipline is really the crux of the matter and it is here that most traders fall down. Their failure is mainly due to the fact that they are not really aware of its importance. Just starting out as a trader with the intention of developing your discipline puts you way ahead of the average trader. If you can trade with discipline (i.e. stick to your own rules and limits) you are 95% there!

So I would say that for the average aspiring trader, trading is a fool's game; but for those of us who approach the business as a business, with a clear understanding of the unique challenges that trading offers, it is a rewarding and fulfilling career.

Malcolm Robinson
LIFFE Pit Trader & Electronic Trader
InstinctiveTrader.com

MORE RESOURCES:

Iceland#39;s Krona Currency Trading Halts as Kaupthing Taken Over - Bloomberg

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Stampede for Yen Saps Asian Currency Trading - Wall Street Journal

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MCX Stock Exchange begins currency trading - Sify

RBI, Sebi to relax currency trading norms - Hindu

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China Banks Cut Currency Trading With Foreign Lenders (Update1) - Bloomberg

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-0fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601080%26sid%3DalJJx6wybqMc%26refer%3Dasiacid=1250859859ei=mYvxSLeMMoLUyQTQkdjEBwusg=AFQjCNGPCbgp5byf8o9WdBYgorKxScecPwChina Banks Cut bCurrency Trading/b With Foreign Lenders (Update1)/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fBloombergnbsp;-/font nobrSep 26, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1By Judy Chen and Belinda Cao Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- China#39;s banks are limiting foreign- exchange transactions with US and European financial companies on b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

MICEX plans to open trading as normal on Mon. - RIA Novosti

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5-0fd=Rurl=http://en.rian.ru/business/20081010/117667286.htmlcid=1255026447ei=mYvxSLeMMoLUyQTQkdjEBwusg=AFQjCNG-JayPRc_DupoGLGQ_zucO-P5xcQMICEX plans to open trading as normal on Mon./abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fRIA Novosti,nbsp;Russianbsp;-/font nobrOct 10, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange plans to begin trading as normal on Monday morning unless the Federal Service for b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Japanese Yen Likely to Gain as Currency Trading Crowds Buy USDJPY - Daily FX

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Slow take-off for Zimbabwe’s foreign currency trading scheme - The Zimbabwean

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-0fd=Rurl=http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26view%3Darticle%26id%3D15567:slow-take-off-for-zimbabwes-foreign-currency-trading-scheme-%26catid%3D31:top%2520zimbabwe%2520stories%26Itemid%3D66cid=0ei=mYvxSLeMMoLUyQTQkdjEBwusg=AFQjCNHY4BTYyWIlN6S8bSvXxbbcg2TDpQSlow take-off for Zimbabwe’s foreign bcurrency trading/b scheme/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fThe Zimbabwean,nbsp;Africanbsp;-/font nobrOct 2, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1After a slow take-off for the new foreign bcurrency-trading/b scheme, a handful of shops started selling in US dollars or South African rands. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Currency Trading Signals Catch a Powerful Japanese Yen Rally ... - Daily FX

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://www.dailyfx.com/story/market_alerts/technical_alert/Currency_Trading_Signals_Catch_a_1222974028240.htmlcid=0ei=mYvxSLeMMoLUyQTQkdjEBwusg=AFQjCNHXNXi4Oyejzl7DvSlxaDmWoxQ6zAbCurrency Trading/b Signals Catch a Powerful Japanese Yen Rally b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fDaily FX,nbsp;NYnbsp;-/font nobrOct 2, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Our Forex Trading signals accurately forecasted that the Japanese Yen would gain aggressively against the Euro, US Dollar, Australian Dollar, b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Forex Market Volatility Remains Elevated, Breakout Currency ... - Daily FX

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-0fd=Rurl=http://www.dailyfx.com/story/special_report/special_reports/Forex_Market_Volatility_Remains_Elevated__1222701007342.htmlcid=0ei=mYvxSLeMMoLUyQTQkdjEBwusg=AFQjCNH4c0eVSx_47VrvPGbfM7SSoMM7bgForex Market Volatility Remains Elevated, Breakout bCurrency/b b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fDaily FX,nbsp;NYnbsp;-/font nobrSep 29, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Forex market conditions continue primed for breakouts, as pronounced market indecision surrounding the US Treasury’s bailout for credit markets leads to b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Currency-Trading - Google News

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