I spent over two decades as a full time futures trader and scalper, and I learned your edge isn’t just your strategy. It’s your focus.
It’s the amount of hyperfocus it takes every single day. Blocking everything out, slowing your heart rate down, staying calm, believing in your homework, executing at a high level. Trading has to be your number one focus each day. So if you’re learning to become a successful trader, here are three things you may be focusing on that are working against you.
First, other people’s money. Stop looking at how much everyone else is making. That’s the number one thing you have to look away from. I was around thousands of traders on the floor and I barely remember us talking about money. It was private. The goal was to build a life. It felt blue collar. Today everyone talks about what they make, trying to prove someone wrong about the market. It’s a different place, and a lot harder for a new trader to block the noise out.
Second, the access. Overnight used to just be overnight, where you managed a position if you had one. Set time to start, set time to break, set time to come back. We traded mornings, skipped midday, came back for the close. Now the access never stops, and it’s spread everyone’s focus too thin to stay locked in.
Third, understanding the market environment. We move between environments at a very rapid rate. We go from trending higher with no signs of a pullback, buy the dip and hold on, straight into sell off mode. Trying to guess what those days will be like going into them is very difficult. You have to stay open minded and understand how quickly the tape can change. Last Friday was the perfect example. A market runs higher a lot further than most thought, then unravels all at once. It’s the same psychology we see in traders. They stay in their own trend for only so long, then unravel all at once. If you’re not focused, or you’re clinging too hard to one market environment as you move into the next, you aren’t allowing things to be what they are. You’re fighting them for what they were.
So here’s the simple part. Slow everything down. Survive a game where you pay your bills and stay in long enough to make a living. There will be moments this business really pays you, and you won’t choose them. They choose you. The rest is grinding, surviving, enjoying the process. Arguing with people on social media is a time waster, and the people who do it are usually unhappy in their own lives. Spend your time wisely.
Focus is the whole game. Protect it like your account depends on it, because it does.
Enjoy your life. Have fun. This is the greatest business in the world if you let it be. And it’ll be the worst, and destroy your life, if you let it.
Cheers, DELI
Pavel Durov: "I haven't had depression in 20 years, here's why":
"I normally never have depression. I don't remember having depression in the last 20 years, at least maybe when I was a teenager."
Pavel's approach to difficult emotions is completely counterintuitive.
As he puts it:
"I'm a human being like everybody else. I do get to experience emotions and some of them are not very pleasant. But I believe that it's the responsibility of every one of us to cope with these emotions and to learn to work through them."
On what creates depression:
"Self-discipline is particularly important because without it, how can you overcome this seemingly endless loop of negativity or despair that ultimately leads to depression for some people?"
His method:
"One of the reasons I don't have depression is I start doing things. I identify the problem, I can see a solution, and I start executing the strategy. If you are stuck in this loop of being worried about something, nothing's ever going to change."
The mistake people make:
"People often make this mistake thinking 'Oh, I should just have some rest and then regain energy.' This is not how it works. You gain energy by doing something. So you start doing something, then it happens. You feel motivated, you feel inspired, and then ultimately you do something else a little bit more."
He continues:
"The whole point is to do first and then feel, not feel and then do. Going to the gym is a good example. There are many days when you don't want to start working out. But you have to overcome this initial reluctance and then you get to a point that you enjoy it and you think 'Oh my god, it was such a good idea to come to gym today.'"
Action creates energy, not the other way around.
If you can make $1000 trading, you can make $1 million.
- The process is identical
- The patience is identical
- The discipline is identical
The only difference is time and position size.
Keep going.
Everything you need to find success in trading is online for free.
No need to pay for memberships, courses, discords...ect
Most of the people selling that stuff hardly look old enough to drive a car. 🤷
Trading is becoming a more and more important skill each year
Job industries are getting worse, the economy is looking unstable, the stock market will likely crash soon
But none of this really matters if you’re a trader
In fact, you can have your best trading results while the economy is tanking and things are going badly for everyone else
As the world gets more unstable, traders will be the ones who capitalise on this and make more money than ever
THIS is why you should never quit trading
Introverts can stay inside for days and weeks. No plans. No people. No drama. No nothing. Just chilling alone. Reading. Meditating. Listening music. Staring at walls. Watching movies. Snacking. Napping. Thinking about life and all. And trust me, they regret nothing.