Trading Priorities

[kevynt]

What comes first, the chicken or the egg...? And in trading, what are the key elements to success and do they have a correct order/priority?

Of all the ingredients deemed as necessary, highly desirable... it is the following three that I would like others to comment on, and most particularly, prioritise.

- Trading psychology
- Entry/Exit technique
- Money Management

Although often there is no clear delineation between these trading elements, it is interesting to know the mindset behind the trading strategy.

Regards
KevynT

 

[Splurge]

I am sure there will be many differing views but I have found the most important factor has to come down to your mind-set.

Whatever method of approach you take to trading , whether it is L2, technical analysis, fundamentals etc you have to prepare your mind for the obvious ups and downs you will endure.

Winning is great but can make you over-confident, losing sucks and can make you desperate. Whatever you do, learn from your mistakes and your successes, then move on, do not linger on what could have been. If you trade, lose, then beat yourself up about it you are not pshycologically prepared for it.

Win/Lose whatever the case, learn from it then move on. We all lose at some time, the trick is making sure you dont do the same mistakes again. The trouble is 9 times out of 10 you do, which is normal. The trick is not to do it a third time. Winning of course is the cream of it. When you win you feel good but remember, you are not better than the market, and staying focussed on the rules you have set yourself will prevent you becoming a victim the next time.

imo Discipline is paramount

Blimey that all sounded depressing didn't it?

 

[FTSE Beater]

Hi All

Kevynt, it depends on where you already are in your trading. If you've been trading for a while then Splurge is right

If however, your just starting out, then the order IMHO should look like this:

- Money Management
- Entry/Exit technique
- Trading psychology

The money management is key for keeping yourself in the game. It's no good being psychology sound or have a good entry and exit technique if your not around in the game long enough to use them.

Once the money management is sorted, then you can fiddle around with the entry and exit technique to suit your lifestyle or your preferred trading style.

The first two can be done while paper trading, but then when you move onto the real thing - then psychology really comes into it!!!

All IMHO