{"id":40784,"date":"2015-05-17T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2015-05-17T12:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?p=40784"},"modified":"2023-04-06T09:56:52","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T13:56:52","slug":"ask-anything-how-can-i-become-more-consistent-as-a-trader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/ask-anything-how-can-i-become-more-consistent-as-a-trader","title":{"rendered":"Ask anything: how can I become more consistent as a trader?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

I have been actively trading for 5 years. I have followed the market for 25 years.. I have tried trading covered calls, medium and high beta stocks (ex — AApl, SBUX ,CELG, TSLA. I have tried intraday trading options -no luck. It seems like every I “perceive” an opportunity I jump — just that I seem to be extremely inconsistent. I have a hard time cutting losses when I’m wrong (and since I usually do this with options — the losses mount rapidyl).<\/p>\n

Any suggestions?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

@MikeBellafiore \u00a0 \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Consistency, how to be more consistent, is a common challenge in the trading community. \u00a0<\/b>Let me offer some thoughts on how you can become more consistent as a trader. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

1) Learn how to trade. \u00a0<\/b>The first 8 months of your trading career, if not two years, should be dedicated to learning. \u00a0PnL should not be a concern. \u00a0Learning actually how to trade should be. \u00a0Build a solid trading foundation.<\/p>\n

2) Trade strategies that have edge. \u00a0<\/b>There is definitely edge that can be found trading high beta stocks with technical analysis. \u00a0I have seen and know many traders who utilize this strategy. \u00a0The other strategies are at best what I would call\u00a0\u201csoft edge\u201d, meaning only the best in those niches will succeed.<\/p>\n

3) Give it some time. <\/b>I wonder if you gave high beta stocks enough time or just jumped to the next strategy. \u00a0When you learn a strategy you are learning to chunk trading data. \u00a0This is important. \u00a0Of all the data in the trading universe you are breaking it down to much smaller bits. \u00a0Excellent.<\/p>\n

Said another way, you are learning trading patterns, worth study. Terrific. \u00a0But, and this is a big but, you must next turn knowledge of these patterns into skill- the ability to trade them profitably in real-time. \u00a0This takes time, experiment, mistakes, corrections, coaching, mentoring, review, data crunching, reps, and restudy. \u00a0And it takes nothing less. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

4)\u00a0Hit your losers. \u00a0<\/b>There is no such thing as a consistent trader who does not limit their losses on their losing positions. \u00a0<\/b>You will need to fix this if you want to become a consistent trader. \u00a0Before every trade you must determine a stop loss and stick to that stop loss.<\/p>\n

For more on trading consistently, please watch the video below where I dive deeper into this issue.<\/p>\n

*no relevant positions<\/p>\n