I receive many emails from traders asking for advice. Here’s a few lines from some recent ones:

  • Help!  I can’t stop myself from putting on impulse trades! It’s killing me, how can I stop?
  • I have a hard time taking a loss after a series of wins, can you give me some tips on how I can stop giving my profits back after a good run?
  • I can get into good trades, I have a system I believe in, but I continue to get out of my trades very early. I could be making a nice profit if I could only hold winning trades longer.  What can I do to hold my winning trades longer?

Most of these emails are from traders I don’t know. Without knowing someone and how they trade, I can offer generic advice. For starters, read my blog post from last month about your Primary Task.

 

I suspect many of these traders will never actually do anything to address their problems. They will seek advice, read books, watch webinars, etc, but most of them won’t actually do anything about it. Change nothing, and nothing will change.

 

One of the things I do with my coaching clients is teach them a technique I refer to as The Drill Down, an exercise in self-awareness that leads to improved behavioral control in high pressure situations. One of my clients, Bob, has done an excellent job with this and has now come to the point in trading where he is leaving the corporate job and relying on his trading as sole income.

 

Here’s an email I received from Bob last month:

—-

Andrew

 

So grateful for the drill down process to help make decisions based on ‘why’.

 

Classic example was yesterday near the close. I had a really large SPY option position on that was making good money. Resistant to sell, but the final conclusion was I was resistant due to fear of missing out of more, and that my intuition screamed sell stupid, nice gain, nice trade, go flat and enjoy the weekend.  Looking at /ES after the dismal jobs report this morning, very glad I recognized why I wasn’t selling. That would of been awful for the next 3 days. Now I can go to yoga smiling this morning.

—–
Bob regularly thanks me for his vastly improved performance, but I’m always quick to respond that he should really be thanking himself because he is doing the real work by following through on the ideas and techniques we discuss in the coaching.
The emails I receive from traders I don’t know are full of frustration, often I can sense the heart-felt desperation within their words. For the most part, these are traders, unlike Bob, who will complain, seek advice, but not address the real issues and make real changes.

 

My self-paced Advanced Course is designed for the trader who is truly ready to do something to change their performance. 4 out of 5 traders report that this course has been a significant help. I also work 1:1 with a limited number of traders who are very motivated to move to higher levels of performance.