Today's Quote: “Who are the learned? They who practice what they know.” Prophet Muhammad.

Never stop learning.

There have been a lot of traders that have come and gone over the years. Being a trader has the advantages of. However, as you know, not all do. Many burn out right away. Some meet with some brief success, which only gives them the confidence to be arrogant and burn out soon after that. I discussed the tremendous need for education in general in an earlier article.

Today’s comment focuses on the trader that gets the initial education and seems to be making it. They have done well over a period of time and absorbed some ups and downs. Then they slowly start having problems. The same old strategy isn’t working like it use to and they have made some bad mistakes after being frustrated from having less income.

You see, the market is always changing. Some of these people may have felt they were fully educated because they understood what they learned and have been making money. But maybe that was during a bull market. Maybe they know how to play an uptrend, but did not really understand how to tell when it ends, or how to change their play or strategies. Maybe their best strategy is less effective and there are better things to do.

Most importantly, psychological problems are always with us. If left unchecked, they always grow. They are like weeds in a garden. If you ignore the garden, the good plants die, but the weeds thrive. The need to continue to refresh your training and learn, or at least be subjected to, new ideas is important. Most occupations such as accountants have to take regular tests to recertify their skills. Trading should be no different.