Be true to yourself…
and you’ll find the edge.
I remember hearing him say ‘we’ve been selling this course for years and not one person has ever complained!’ Those are words of poetry are they not? It depends if you’ve been around the block a few times.
To cut a long story short however, this was not the case, because I had been in the trenches with many students of this course and found that although no one had the heart to complain, some were struggling.
Was it the system’s fault? Most people always jump to that conclusion first and it’s such a misrepresentation of the real ingredients to success. No the system is not at fault, and I know this because the owner is always being approached by fund managers because of his amazing results.
So why do some traders struggle with it then? I mean its simple enough, if A happens then, look for B, and if B happens do C. How hard is that? It seems so ridiculous to think that something that a 6 year old could do is so hard for many adults.
I’m going to be totally honest with you now and tell you that I too struggled with it. But by this stage of my trading career I knew enough to realize that this was a challenge being sent to me, a challenge that when answered would cause me to grow.
To draw the easiest parallel, think of the yellow pages. The yellow pages are usually the first place you look when in need of a service such as a plumber for example, however there is one huge drawback when using the yellow pages – multiple choices.
Did you know that the yellow pages are designed to have most ads appear the same, and I don’t mean by way of graphical look, but by way of layout. This causes us most of us as humans to default to the largest ad because we are overwhelmed by choices as all seem to offer the same thing. Our reasoning is that if the company can afford the largest ad, they must have the best offer, quality etc and therefore doing the best. Then the yellow pages use this statistic to coerce companies into taking out huge ads.
Anyway; as a trader I started to realize I do not like multiple choice. I also realized that when I first started in trading I was actually facing the same issues without being aware of it. This latest challenge was the learning point for me, it was the point in time where the penny dropped and I knew that I was only fit for certain styles of trading.
Some people don’t mind multiple choices, or they overcome the issue by buying expensive software that filters out a lot of choices; however I’m not into that. I don’t like spending huge amounts on software programs unless it’s designed by me. This is not to say it’s wrong, I just prefer not to.
So for me, I prefer to stick to a few instruments and no more. I don’t like systems that will use a scan method (whether programmed or manual), and then leave me with the job of deciding which of those I should proceed with. And because of this, I am much more comfortable with my trading. More comfort means less confusion and stress, which means better trading. It’s as simple as that; your edge in trading comes from finding who you are.
Happy Trading
Dean Whittingham
Pentagonal Trading - Trading Systems
Financial Market Fisherman © 2004 - 2007
