Traders often cling to strategies past their expiration date or constantly seek new methods without fully understanding their current one. Successful traders instead take ownership of their strategy, becoming experts in its understanding and execution. They observe the market and test minor strategy alterations over time, adapting to shifting factors, rather than constantly searching for a perfect system. Taking absolute responsibility for results by developing a clear success vision and critically assessing everything is the first step to profitably implementing a trading strategy.

1. www.netpicks.com

2. Whether we’re talking EWT, Fibonacci,
Donchian Channels or indeed Trend
Jumper, the trading strategies and
market analysis techniques a trader
uses are rarely original.

3. Ideas from seasoned traders and
market technicians wax and wane in
popularity as the next revelation
becomes hot.

4. Knowing that traders often cling to
their once reliable strategies way
beyond their sell-by dates and at the
same time people are constantly
dropping methods in favor of the
latest and greatest that the trading
world has to offer, demonstrates an
important (and obvious) fact:

5. FACT: the traders who are constantly
seeking new methods are not
achieving particularly good results
with the ones they currently use.
If they were, why would they be
actively seeking to change to a new
method at all?

6. The problem is that people are not
taking full ownership of their trading.
They might accept that it’s their choice
when to take a trade and to exit, but
there are many traders who fail to
really get to the heart of what makes a
strategy tick.

7. Conversely, the traders who make a
living from this profession make it
their business to become experts in
their understanding and execution of a
strategy. They know when it’s good to
push their trading in certain
advantageous situations and when it’s
a good time to step back.

8. They do this because trading is like a
constantly unfolding story, where you
can never quite be sure what’s going
to happen – one where you need to
have your wits about you and always
be assessing the incoming data.

9. Observing and testing, then making
minor alterations where necessary.

10. In contrast to the professional who has
in essence emulated someone else’s
strategy and adapted it to suit many
different shifting factors, there are
traders who are constantly trying to
find a perfect system.

11. Observations of the stereotypical nature of this
kind of trader (or phase of a trader) include for
example a feeling of never having enough
knowledge and always wanting confirmation
from an “expert”. And although this is natural up
to a point, there comes a time when a trader
needs to take responsibility for their trading and
make a strategy their own.

12. You are the one who clicks the mouse
and the immediacy of trading is such
that when it’s time to act, you are the
one who decides to take or pass on a
trade – nobody is going to do it for
you. Traders live and die by the
decisions that they make in real time.

13. An implicit understanding of a method
allows you to trade your plan
seamlessly.
But the strategy or method itself can
be thought of as a framework around
which a plan is formed.

14. Although making changes for the sake of it
isn’t always desirable, if you spot
something that might make it more
profitable when trading Crude Oil or avoids
trades in the Bund where probabilities
clearly drop significantly, then test your
theories and define rules to incorporate
them into your plan.

15. It’s these nuances and knowhow that
can really make the difference
between a solid strategy in theory and
a profitable performance in practice.

16. Taking absolute responsibility for your
trading destiny and the results you get
is the first step to take.

17. This might seem pretty obvious, but
it’s amazing how many people
meander about without having laid
down a clear path to achieve their
vision of trading success
(if they even have a clear vision of success).

18. Once you’ve defined a path for getting
where you want to be, you’ll
automatically start to critically assess
everything you do, see or read. You’ll
start to question what’s in front of you
and whether it helps or hinders you.

19. With this mindset, you’ll begin to fully
appreciate the true nature of a
strategy and see its strengths and
inevitable weaknesses as all the “non-
signals” play out in front of your eyes.

20. Accepting that a technique isn’t always
going to produce a winning trade is also
essential. There is no perfection in trading.
Markets are always changing day by day
depending on who’s active in them.

21. They shift over time as fundamentals
change and old participants drop out
with new traders with new trading
ideas enter the marketplace.
Being okay with this is part of taking
responsibility for your plan.

22. But there are also times when with a deep
understanding of your trading plan and its
interaction with the market, can help generate
specific rules and ideas to adapt with the
shifting trading sands.
Take ownership of your trading and the tools
you already have can be the foundations for
your success.