Why Do You Want To Trade?

You may be comfortable accepting the fact that you don’t know everything there is to know about trading yet, but you definitely should have a good idea about several things when you get into trading. The first is why you want to trade in the first place. People have a number of motives for trading, all of which have merit, but you should be clear what it is that is driving you into trading. Your reasons for trading may go a long way in determining your trading style.

Profits

Probably every trader’s goal is to make money. But if that is your main reason for trading, are you willing to do what it takes to achieve this goal? It will mean you have to provide the seed money and other resources you need to be successful, and it will involve a commitment to learning to gain trading experience.

If trading is going to be your business, you obviously have to put making money high on your list of goals. That requires consistent, strong discipline and the ability to control your emotions as none of the experience or success you have gained in other areas will guarantee that you will be a success in trading. Your trading approach may even be boring, but if your real goal is making money, you will have to have the discipline to stick with a trading plan.

Being ‘right’

Are you a person whose greatest satisfaction comes from being right about things? Traders generally love to compete and be better than everyone else in whatever they do. Just having the opportunity to crow a little about their prowess is their biggest reward.

However, trading may be one of the worst places to look to feed an ego. Whatever success you have had in other aspects of your life may not transfer very well to the trading arena, which has been known to humble even the strongest ego. Of course, traders have to have a strong sense of ego to have enough confidence to trade, but you’ll have to keep that ego in check whenever you enter a market position if you want to survive as a trader.

Excitement

Trading certainly can provide plenty of excitement, both highs and lows, and that may be reason enough for trading. But expect to pay an entertainment tax. Just being in a market position can be exhilarating and can inspire you to keep up with what’s happening in the market and in the world’s news events.

However, to be successful over a longer term – unless you have deep pockets – you usually will have to forego the excitement and emotion generated by trading, just as you have to keep a lid on your ego trip. You naturally will experience some excitement whenever you are trading, but it is a factor you must control. If excitement is an objective of trading for you, perhaps the solution is to have one account you trade conservatively and another account where you get a little wilder.