In an unstructured and unlimited environment, it is essential that you
establish rules to guide your behavior. You will need to create definition
and give yourself direction. Otherwise, you will feel overwhelmed with too
many possibilities.
Without these rules one of the most likely possibilities is that you will create devastating losses for yourself. The big psychological problem here is, if you make up and have to play by your own rules, you also have to take total and complete responsibility for your actions as well as the outcome of your actions.
The degree to which you do assume responsibility is the same degree to which you can't shift it to the market and be its victim.
The typical trader will do most anything to avoid creating definition and rules because he does not want to take responsibility for the results of his trading. If he knows exactly what he is going to do and under what conditions, then he would have something by which to measure his performance, thus making himself accountable to himself. This is exactly what most traders don't want to do, preferring instead to keep their relationship with the market somewhat mysterious.
This creates a real psychological paradox for traders, because the only way to learn how to trade effectively is to make oneself accountable by creating structure; but, with accountability comes responsibility. The typical trader desperately wants to make money, but he has to do it in a way where there is no direct connection between what he does and the outcome that it produces, thereby avoiding responsibility if things don't turn out satisfactorily.
To develop a plan, you have to anticipate events to some extent relative to the depth of your plan. When you plan your trades in advance, you are putting your vision of the future and creative abilities on the line, so to speak, and making yourself accountable to yourself. Your plan either works or it doesn't; you either have the ability to execute your plan or you don't. In any case, it is your plan and your ability to follow it and, therefore, it is difficult to shift responsibility and lay the blame somewhere else if things don't work out.
Without these rules one of the most likely possibilities is that you will create devastating losses for yourself. The big psychological problem here is, if you make up and have to play by your own rules, you also have to take total and complete responsibility for your actions as well as the outcome of your actions.
The degree to which you do assume responsibility is the same degree to which you can't shift it to the market and be its victim.
The typical trader will do most anything to avoid creating definition and rules because he does not want to take responsibility for the results of his trading. If he knows exactly what he is going to do and under what conditions, then he would have something by which to measure his performance, thus making himself accountable to himself. This is exactly what most traders don't want to do, preferring instead to keep their relationship with the market somewhat mysterious.
This creates a real psychological paradox for traders, because the only way to learn how to trade effectively is to make oneself accountable by creating structure; but, with accountability comes responsibility. The typical trader desperately wants to make money, but he has to do it in a way where there is no direct connection between what he does and the outcome that it produces, thereby avoiding responsibility if things don't turn out satisfactorily.
To develop a plan, you have to anticipate events to some extent relative to the depth of your plan. When you plan your trades in advance, you are putting your vision of the future and creative abilities on the line, so to speak, and making yourself accountable to yourself. Your plan either works or it doesn't; you either have the ability to execute your plan or you don't. In any case, it is your plan and your ability to follow it and, therefore, it is difficult to shift responsibility and lay the blame somewhere else if things don't work out.
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