Discipline in Trading

Why do so many people who attempt trading give up before they are profitable? In our humble opinions - it is Discipline. Or. more accurately, a lack there of. The psychological hurdles of starting something incredible difficult without a clear set of established trading setups and hard rules, or the dedication to honor them.

There will come a time where you develop a real edge in trading, but regularly lose or blow accounts. This is your lack of sufficient discipline. And we think you know it…

The struggle to be disciplined is real and our aim is to normalize it because it's something that you're warned about but it's also something that you don't truly understand until you really get into the peaks and valleys of your trading. No one is immune and it does not discriminate. And there’s an even bigger need for more discipline the better you get. Everyday is a fresh and new chance to honor your discipline or self-sabotage.

Psychology rapidly becomes the biggest hurdle and most critical factor once you learn some basics in trading. You start to realize things like an inability to follow data or be patient can result in entering a trade too early, or exiting a trade before the intended target. This can be so painful to then see it play out without you. Having a perfect setup is only part of the equation. Allowing yourself to take full advantage of the opportunity is how winning is done.

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces, while regret weighs tons.”

~ Jim Rohn

There's an element of trader maturity that we all have to reach and how long it takes to achieve is different for everyone. You have to go through the phase of realizing what your disciplinary struggles are and then acknowledging them out in the open and targeting them with purposeful choices that can turn your trajectory around. Whatever that looks like for you, whoever you need to talk to, whatever you need to implement in your hard rules and how you might want to upgrade your self-talk... There are so many ways to target improvements to your most dangerous habits once you honestly call them out. In order to get to consistent profitability, we have to figure out what we need to do to have that trader maturity, to stay humble, to be appreciative and full of gratitude and let success come with time.

We both try to embody in our training journey: progress over perfection. Thinking that every day can be perfect is just not accurate. It's not realistic. It's not a healthy way to try and be, because then there's just too much disappointment. And so instead, to recognize that this has to be a journey, that there's so much to learn, and that the market is going to teach you. When the market humbles you, you need to take the lessons as they come and take them multiple times until you really feel like you understand how maybe you're missing something and then how to transition and evolve your playbook.

This topic of Discipline is significant in elevating your trading career and finding sustainability and consistency. If you are still struggling with your trading discipline, we FULLY UNDERSTAND!