What is Your Motivation to Be a Trader?

Alex SalazarGeneral Comments2 Comments

There are different styles of trading for different people. One of the keys to have success in trading is to find out what it signifies for you on a personal level and what you want to obtain of the future and economic benefits.

  • To have a satisfactory and well rounded career, it is necessary to have an incentive that goes beyond just financial reasons. By being driven solely on money, you will never make the necessary effort to become successful. In addition, your specific interests in the markets should reflect what is important to you.

For all traders, there is something about the market that draws them to it

  • It’s not something on the market. Quotes that are intermittent and quick are the characteristics of the markets, but by themselves they do not appeal to traders. Rather, there is something about the general feeling of negotiation that engages them. In other words, “get something” emotional experience of being in the market. For example, for someone who is very academic, trading can be a fun and very stimulating intellectual challenge. A poker player can see trading as another form of playing the probabilities and chances of winning. For every trader there should be something about this trading activity that captivates them.

You have to get to know yourself in order to obtain success in trading

  • An aspiring trader has to understand what her/his hook is and construct her/his style of negotiation around this hook. Ask yourself some questions and determine what about the markets attracts you to it.
  • Do you like the adrenaline and the emotion of the competition? Or do you prefer a more controlled form of making decisions?
  • Are you more academic and inclined to perform investigations of the market? Or do you feel more comfortable trusting your instincts and intuition?
  • Are you set by defined rules and prefer to use a calculator? Or are you more qualitative in making your decisions?
  • Are you interested in international matters?
  • Are you interested in the ins and outs of individual companies? Or are you interested in economic theory?
  • What is it that you want from trading, to be the next George Soros? Do you want the liberty of working from home? Do want an additional source of income and profit?
  • Responding to these questions will help you easily in defining what type of trader you will become.
  • To determine what motivates you in the markets. But this is just the beginning. Once you know what motivates you, you can begin to determine the type of markets in which you should operate, the trading profile that you should adopt, and the additional preparation so that your trading will go further than just the basics. This is the best way to become a successful trader, the comprehension of the markets, the strategy, and the profile that best adjusts for you, by this manner you will maximize your profitability.

Once you find your motivation

  • Then you can connect with the approach that will maximize that motivation and the style of trading that adapts most to your trading profile.
  • There are some traits of the personality and interests which, obviously, fit better with certain styles of Trading. Some examples:
  • If your desire is the competition of high pressure and decision making, day trading and trading positions on a short-term basis are the most adequate.
  • If on the contrary, you are motivated by investigation and intellectual material, trading on a much longer basis and taking positions based on a base of intense investigation would adapt better to your trading profile.
  • On the other hand, if you are a compulsive gambling addict that just wants action. You have a problem and you should not be a trader.
  • This list is not exhaustive, but it should give you a good idea of where you are going. Once you know these things, you can identify your strengths and interests as a trader. Getting to know these basic points, you can prepare yourself to operate in the markets and implement the strategy that most suits you.

Email me to find more info about how SMB trains you and helps you identify your trading profile. In SMB-Forex, we cover all trading profile and help you adjust in which of the profile you feel more capable of succeeding with.

Andres Salazar

SMB Forex main trader

[email protected]  fine me on twitter

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2 Comments on “What is Your Motivation to Be a Trader?”

  1. Good points Andres. I’d add that the investigation doesn’t end until you decide to investigate something else.

    A guy who travelled the world on a motorbike was asked why he wanted to do it.

    “To find out”

    “To find out what”

    “To find out why I wanted to do it!”.

  2. thoughtful article; however, without thoughtful consideration only people with too deep pockets can survive, every other non-serious participant is shrugged away by the market without mercy, this article can definitely save few serious ones

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