This has been one of the craziest trading years in history.
One of the fastest market crashes in history. One of the strongest rallies in history. And most importantly, there has been a record number of retail traders (Robinhood traders, individual, non-professional investors) entering the market this year.
And almost all of these traders have no clue what they’re doing and will lose all their money within a year.
If this sounds like you, read this blog carefully. Or share it with someone you know who falls in this category. Save yourself and others’ money and time.
Here’s why these retail traders will fail, and how to be in the minority who can actually do this for a living in the long run:
Unrealistic Expectations
Just because trading is easy to get into, doesn’t not mean it’s easy to make money.
Understand the process of what it takes to become a successful stock trader:
This is NOT an overnight process. If it was, why would anyone work a regular job?
We sound like a broken record here, but this cannot be repeated enough: No worthwhile result in life happens overnight. It’s not just with trading. Losing weight. Building muscle. Creating wealth. Creating a successful business.
All of these outcomes take TIME, require persistence, and resilience. If you can create realistic expectations early on, you give yourself the best chance at becoming consistently profitable.
Here is the second biggest mistake most new traders make:
Gambling Retail Traders
It is easy to treat trading like gambling.
But real, profitable trading and gambling are two very different things.
Most of these retail traders are brought into the market the desire for quick, easy money. Or by Dave Portnoy, who started day trading because there were no sports to bet on.
You have to know if you’re trading strategy is sustainable and actually has an edge. Understand the differences between trading and gambling:
It’s like if you go to a casino and go all-in on every hand in Black Jack. You could make money in the short-run. A ton of money. But in the long run, the casino will always win.
The larger the sample size, the more your edge, or lack of, will be exposed.
In trading, you need to become the casino. You need to use strategies with a positive expectancy.
Summary
You need to treat trading like a business. Trading is a performance sport. Take it seriously.
You need to understand how to achieve peak performance when the pressure is on:
Educate yourself to give yourself the best chance at success and get mentorship from those who have done it already.
If you’re a new trader reading this with no education, stop trading right now. If you’re struggling, get help. Reach out to us, we have been working with aspiring traders for over 10 years. We have seen every mistake there is to make and have solutions to fix them.
Join Our Next Live Trading Boot Camp!
Our Live Trading Boot Camp is designed to take you from A-Z on everything trading-related, and give you the on-going mentorship from veteran traders you need to get your trading career off the ground. Class starts on August 9th, space is filling up fast.
