I’d say this only applies to relatively new traders. Give it a few years and trading gets positively pedestrian. Especially if trading the longer TF’s (4h and up). As an example, I’ve been in a GU short since Friday (12 x 4h bars and counting) :24: Fear is not a factor if your trading a small percentage of account balance per trade. And for the same reason neither is greed!
When we say hard work, it probably comes to mind a physical labor. I view hard work in terms of trading as the numbers of hours of dedication that I put in (productively) to learn how technical/fundamental works, how market works, how do I interpret the pattern that I see on my chart or the news/press releases that I read things like that. I do my own research and do my own trades…If I have it right and my trades go in my favor then my “hard work” paid off then repeat it again. If it goes against me, then I will see why it went wrong. Maybe I miss something or maybe my analysis were incorrect, etc.
When you say “luck”, I am envisioning myself that I just sit in my computer/phone and just place my trade without any reason as to why I place my trade and without doing my home work (my hard work) and just pray for Mr. luck (or Lady luck) to come… So there is a big difference. I am not saying that we should disregard “luck”. I believe in luck. Truly, I won’t be here in US if I didn’t have luck (because of my family). I didn’t do any hard work coming in US. I just wait for my papers to get approved and off I go…I am sure you didn’t find success playing poker without doing your research, practice, find strategy, etc. (hard work). You didn’t sit in the table just placing your bet and hope for luck…maybe it works at times but longer terms it wont work…
Though doing hard work and a little bit of luck are even better…
I have tried and experience all of it. Fear, Greed and Revenge. I think when you get to the point in your trading career and you have been doing this for a while, your emotions change to none (I think) and you don’t even felt those fear, greed and revenge anymore because you knew what you are doing…maybe your confidence has been build up and even you lose you can still get back those losses and then some. Do you feel like you are immune to the emotions that you don’t feel it anymore? or you still have it from time to time? Sometimes I feel like I am immune and sometimes don’t… I am still trying to figure this out…
I strongly believe that we make our own luck one way or another. Example, lets say that you went to the store and bought a lottery ticket and you hit the big one. Guess what , if you did not go to the store for that ticket you’ve would have never won. It took you to go in the store and buy the ticket, you set the wheels in motion.
Right. If you don’t buy the lottery you won’t win. However, what is my possibility or my edge of winning the lottery against other millions of people? Is there any formula where we can attract luck in our side forever? I wish there is…
The odds a roughly 14m to 1. Your more likely to get hit by lightening 3 times on the way home from buying your ‘lucky’ ticket (2.3m to 1). The Lottery is a tax on those who are bad at math! 
Lol…nevermind…okay, going back to finding my edge then
Its ok… I’m 54! :o My odds on dying before 65 are 1 in 7!!! :eek:
Your scaring me with those odds R Carter, so mine reaching 70 is probably 1 in 2 :((:17:
LOL… What is this? Pissing contest about your age lol… Well who can bit an 85 year old woman in a nursing home 
j/k !
I am out of the race.:60:
I figure you would lol… Good genes will make you look younger and live longer it’s all about the genes…
LOL!!! Don’t know about you but I’m planning on living [B]FOREVER[/B]! Only recently found out those odds when I got a new life insurance plan. Actuaries… what do they know anyway? Same as FX Analists… ‘ah yes we thought such and such, but actually it did the reverse!’ LOL!!!
… And don’t forget the Long Term Care insurance specially when turn a young Age of 60…
As promise, here is my reflection as where I currently stands…
[B]1.) Hard work and self-discipline[/B] – YES. If I even have a tiny doubt of myself, I shouldn’t be here.
[B]2.) Keeping Your Emotions in Check[/B] –As everyone who are starting out, I started with Fear, greed, and revenge. I have learn in my early journey that when I set my TP I am out whether it is 10, 30, 50 pips. I focus on winning trades no matter how many pips there is. Though, I sometimes ride the winning trade but mostly I close it when I reach my target then move on to the next. I was able to reach 10%, 15%, my highest so far was 28% in a month with 2% risk of my capital and 1 or 2 trades at a time. Then, just one or 2 mistakes that’s all it takes to wipe them all out. Of course, I feel disappointed and feel defeated but I am able to pick myself up and do it again. I have learned that if I will be able to pull this kind of return month after month and “minimize” my mistakes, I can be consistently profitable. I said minimize because I know I will make mistakes again. I am in a point right now that I don’t feel as much of fear, greed (though ask me that again when I start trading with 5 or 6 digit, maybe I will lol), and revenge when I first started. The more I experience losing streak, I feel more stronger (psychologically) because I know I will get it all back and then some.
[B]3.) Beware of Opinion – Especially your Own[/B] – I read what other peoples opinion but I do not listen to them. They could be right or wrong or maybe I am right or wrong but I stick to my own bias and what I know. I tried to weigh in what they are talking about or the information it presents to me and try to figure out if it makes sense. There are so many noises in forums, sites, tv and the market. I think I need to improve on how to listen and see what the market really tells me (just what we have learned from the traits of successful trader). I have practice it but I know I need to improve more…
[B]4.) Ego and Humility [/B]– No Ego…I am just a humble aspiring trader who wants to make money…
[B]5.) Patience[/B] – Yes, I practice patience. That’s why I do my homework first before I get in a trade. Though, there are some exceptions that there are some trades that is so obvious that you have to take it whether it is via S and R, candlestick pattern, pin bar, or even a release of a way better/worse than expected numbers you have to buy/sell the trade without even looking at the chart ;). Only comes once and a while…
[B]6.) Being honest[/B] – Honesty is the best policy so yes….Does white lies count? j/k (lol)
[B]7.) Self-evaluate[/B] – Yes, journaling my trades is where I started from. I found a lot of patterns of my bad habits so I was able to correct them. I use to write in details but now I leave it as “short and sweet” 
[B]8.) Being consistent[/B] –Consistency is my current focus. If I know, how much I can really bring in terms of rate of return month after month and my “Actual” numbers are true then my spread sheet will tells me when I will be a millionaire then I will hide from you guys somewhere in an island so no one can find me…lol
[B]9.) Application (can you pull the trigger?)[/B] –I’ve done demo trade for about 2 months and I hated it. I want the real deal until I blown my 2 accounts. Did that stop me? No. I get back in and do it again…pull the trigger that’s how you learn…
[B]10.) Take responsibility [/B]– I take full responsibility and I don’t drink…and drive, well does texting count? lol)…
So, with this list, find out where you currently stand and see where you need to work on. This list will serve as a little guide…It might not be perfect but atleast something to work on…
Since we have learn what traders made of or rather the traits/ characteristics of a successful traders, I would like to break the traders trait to Male traders and Female traders. I would like to know if there is any difference or if they are the same. If they are different, what are the differences and can I apply the traits that Male traders have ( or for others Female traders)…stay tune…
This is crazy! I have found more and more article talking about how female traders are better than men…lol. I might need to change my Topic…hmmm…thinking…
I have to reflect for a moment of what I have learned today from one of our member here…
Everyone wants to be successful and wants a better life and get out to the place where they currently are. We start to have an idea on how we will do it. We dream about what we will be look like when we finally achieve those dreams. We have a plan and we execute that plan and we are in control. In the moment that you think you finally figure it out and you start seeing the results then out of nowhere… Life happens. Problem just keep coming and there is in no way of stopping it. You are not in control anymore. The power that you use to have is suddenly getting lesser and lesser… However, in the back of your mind, you still have a little bit left and you are now using it to feed in your mind with all the positive thoughts, you want to be stronger again and stand up on your own feet. You are doing whatever you can to push yourself and pick yourself up while other people puts you down. You keep hearing this noises from other people and saying that just give up and it is all a waste of time… Or why you still not getting that result and how many years you’ve been doing this? Etc. not knowing what really is going on in your own life that affecting your performance. It is better to keep trying and fight for the business/ career that you love to do than going back in time thinking " I wish I have tried that"…
If I am in this situation, I wouldn’t care what other people think of me. I am not here to impress anyone. What I will aim for especially If I have kids to feed and who are looking at me as their role model, I want to show my kids how I have never given up even the people around me given up on me. I am their protector and provider. I will show my kids how to stand up of what I believe. I will show how courage, tenacity, discipline works. Because I know by showing my kids how it can be done is effective to teach them a lesson about life than just talk about it. Living a Legacy that I can pass on my traits that my kids will carry on as they go through their lives is good enough for me more than money…
That’s why a Dad called a Man not a boy…
Powerful PipNRoll, smashed it out the park…
Female traders…ha! yah right. Yeah, I know I can feel your doubt about this (to some alpha male out there) but just hold on your horses and see if female have these traits to become a successful traders as well.
So lets take a look at what are the key personality traits of a successful trader.
1.) The ability to stay focused.
2.) Remain calm under pressure.
3.) Adapt to new information and trends.
4.) Use their initiative.
5.) The ability to do multi-tasking (I just add this …just because :))
As with many aspects of wealth appreciation, an individual’s success in trading depends
Significantly on their psychology and mind-set. Although, regardless of how much experience
someone has or how much money they’ve previously made, anyone is capable of making bad
calls in their trades.
So what separate us female traders to the men and why we can be better traders than them? Though, not “all” females can be better traders. There are always exceptions to the rule. There are those females that do not want to deal with finances (personal or business) and the financial markets as a whole and want to have males handle this fancy job…
[B]First,[/B] Female do not worry all that much about things that are[B] not in their control[/B]. Naturally focus on the objective information (what is real) the Key in successful trading. In trading, it is the objective and logical mindset that gets paid from the subjective emotional mindset. When trading opportunity arises and it is time to take action (aka. pull the trigger), the female mindset tends naturally to execute the trade that has planned out (homework). Female mind has the naturally logical mindset needed to understand the material quickly. Male mindset has difficulty keeping things simple, naturally trying to complicate the process.
An example would be to constantly add subjective indicators and oscillators (if you ever use this) that can lead to trouble for any trader. Men also tend to be focused on trying to predict the future whereas a woman uses simple logic to consistently make the correct choice. They have the natural ability to keep things
objective, simple and logical. The man tends to have trouble in these areas, which can make trading for him more difficult than it has to be.
[B]Second,[/B] what makes women more successful is the fact that they don’t have the “alpha male complex”. [B]One of the main problems in men was that trading for men was mostly about being better than other men (an alpha male competition)[/B] and this led men to take unnecessary risks and to feel extremely bad when they didn’t make extraordinary gains. Women, on the other hand, tend to lack this urge to compete, focusing much more on whether or not they are doing things right rather than on whether or not they are doing things better than someone else.
[B]Third,[/B] women in general tend to much more risk averse than men. Certainly women tend to risk less and to take higher probability setups, meaning that they are much more careful with their money and less likely to have more account wipeouts than men on their learning process.
[B]Forth,[/B] although the tools are generally the same, women tend to have a much easier grasp at interconnecting several different aspects of the market. Since their brain seems to be better overall at forming connections between different matters, women are better at watching the “whole picture” while men tend to get stuck in small details which do not allow them to see what is happening overall.
Many men would also think that women have a harder time dealing with the emotional side of trading (since they are generally thought to be much more emotional) but the truth is that this is far from the case and in most cases women are more emotional but much MORE emotionally intelligent than men…ehem Since women are in general more in touch with the way in which they feel about things they tend to handle their emotions better and make less stupid mistakes based on the way in which a trade or a trading result makes them feel.
Why women tend to avoid becoming traders? The answer seems to lie on the fact that women tend to choose to do things which have more meaning besides the intent to make money. Those who do tend to have very money-oriented personalities and a very strong idea of being better than men at this. That said, it seems that women who become traders have a set of very specific goals and mindset which are not very common amongst other female in general. Of course it is true that this may change as the success of women in trading becomes more well known and it would definitely be great if women became a much larger part of the overall trading community.
So although the above advantages against men do not apply to all women (nor the problems to all men) traders hold the upper hand when talking about succeeding in trading. Their lack of an “alpha male complex”, their higher emotional intelligence and their ability to see and connect things beyond what men can do in most cases is what makes women such good candidates for becoming excellent traders (:)).
If the main driven for men to become successful in trading are Money, Power, and Women, so are the main motivation to us female to become successful at this? Money, Sense of Security…and …and a life time of shopping ? Hmmm…I am not exactly sure. I have to think about this one…
References: Who Makes a Better Trader, Men or Women? | The Options Insider
ader/1739.article
Women in Trading: Why They Rarely Do It and Why They Are Better At It | Mechanical Forex
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