Today's Quote: "There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still." Franklin D. Roosevelt.

At VCM we have found something to be true. There is a common step that many traders go through. That is when many of the strategies we teach begin to come together and the trader begins to see the light. This can happen slowly with cautious traders who have been exercising the needed discipline, and now begin to up their share size. This happens to aggressive traders as they start to have some big numbers in profit on some days. However, while this feels good, there may still be a problem. While the light is coming on, the account is not growing. You are not alone, and the reasons are often very similar.

If you review your records you will likely find several good trades throughout the week, and then a bad trade. One so bad it really sticks out. So bad, it erases all the hard work of the prior gains of which you were so proud of. It may show up as several profitable days and then one day that erases all the prior gains. If this is the problem you are having, there is good news and bad.

The good news is that you are now doing well with the ‘technical part’ of trading, and now have only to deal with the psychological part. The bad news is that you are now doing well with the ‘technical part’ of trading, and now have only to deal with the psychological part! Psychology is not an easy thing to deal with. The answer? Easy, just eliminate that mistake. Sounds simple? Well, it is not that difficult if done right.

The first step is to acknowledge that this is the problem; some occasional really bad trades. We teach many things to try to combat this. Use a trading plan, keep detailed records, and track the strategies you use. Analyze all bad trades, use money management that prevents catastrophic trades or days. Sometimes traders uses all of these tactics to get to where they are, then get ‘over confident’ with the new success and abandon everything that got them where they are. Either way, the first step is to acknowledge what the problem is and then to come up with a plan to fix it.