DislikedSorry to go against "generally accepted" glorification of psychology in trading success, but I don't think it matters that much. otherwise the likes of goldman sachs would be hiring but psy's as traders, whereas the psy gurus themselves admit not trading. To me psychology, system and management bear the same importance. If you don't know how to trade, or to do anything else for that matter, I fail to understand how psychology will help you out. Can you enter a car for the first time and drive without any PRACTICAL lessons, just because you are...Ignored
Using your car driving example - Many people learn how to drive in practical lessons but when it comes to a driving test, they go to shit. Now that is the psychological impact of not having the experience and confidence yet.
Same with trading - You can give someone a working system with entries and exits, but if they lack the experience and confidence then they will screw it up, either through modifying the system to what they believe is better, too large or too small positions, or trying to find a new system when they suffer a few losing trades in a row.
That is the massive advantage of learning through an institution because if you deviate from the system then you are forced back on track. Retail traders do not have the experienced mentor over their shoulder telling them to chill out.
It takes massive faith in a system to stick with it when you get 5+ losing trades in a row. I'd go as far as to say this is the single reason why retail traders will struggle, because they don't have enough faith in a system to stick with it through hard times. No system will work through all market types and I feel that highlighting this is a massive point that many people can miss. For example - grids work amazing in volatile, range markets but get smashed when things trend. Breakouts do really well at the start of a trending market, then lose money hand over fist in a range.
The title of this thread was tongue in cheek, and I would hope that people would have realised this. I'm not going to say that there are shortcuts to trading success, but I have no doubt that I can help people avoid some pitfalls along the way.
I've noticed that the majority of comments here have been from people who imply that they have already got it figured out. Regardless of how true this might be - I'd like to see comments from people who are having problems and see if we can find a potential solution.