Many times you keep wondering whether there could be a way to trading better? Such moods come on when one has lost some money or the market is giving you a hard time. For almost all the people the answer to that question is a Yes. Despite knowing the answer we continue to think about it. Then we go into a small journey of finding the possible reason. Often, people come up with items various causes for this, such as: I don’t have good information; I don’t have the right kind of broker; My job doesn’t permit me to trade properly; My wife/husband/father/etc are not in favour of me trading; I don’t have enough money; I can’t afford to lose money; I don’t know technical; I don’t know fundamentals; I think it’s not in my fate…etc., etc. There could be more such ‘reasons’ but you get the idea of what I am talking about. Before reading further, I suggest you do this exercise with yourself right now.
Notice in that list- and perhaps also in what you came up with by yourself- there is no mention about YOU. It is always all about how something ELSE is wrong. Truth be told, it is always YOU. Is there a better way to trade? Of course there is. Well, then, what is it? Answer is not what you might want but here it is (according to me)- Execute better. I can almost hear you saying ‘WTF?’ Execution is something that is done by the dealer, by the broker. I don’t execute, I trade! But take two minutes off and sit down to think about it. Trading is only Execution and nothing more. YOU buy or YOU sell. The broker is just the medium for doing this. YOU decide to buy or sell. YOU analyse and arrive at the decision to buy or sell. All this analysing and deciding are all thinking. When you pick up that phone and place the order, you have Executed.
Now, is that such a difficult thing? Well, no…. perhaps,….you say to yourself. But still, what has execution got to do with making money, you wonder? Think some more. Isnt what/when/ you buy or sell that is going to decide the profit or loss? And the what and when are nothing but decisions about executing. Now that you come to think about it, is it such a difficult thing, this desire to trade better? All you got to do is execute better.
Question then is how does one do that? Easy enough. Think more before executing. Ask the right kind of questions. Is this the right stock or is the stock trading right? Is it the right time to execute? Unless you get a resounding Yes answer from within, don’t take the trade. Without this answer, you are probably trading for many wrong reasons. So start right away by asking these simple questions. You might find yourself surprised by the answers that you get. And if you go as per the rule (the resounding Yes from within) and leave out all the others where the answers were Maybe or No or Could be or I don’t know etc. then you will also find that, suddenly, you are trading better!