It’s Not My Fault it’s the System !!!

We’ve all heard of blame culture and most of us at some point or another have worked in a blame culture.   Generally speaking they are destructive with a primary characteristic of a lack of ownership.  Nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions.  Someone or something else is always to blame: "Hey I did my best but it wasn't my fault"

Let me draw that comparison to trading.  A signal appears and your hand grabs the mouse to place a trade. “Order submitted”.  Now you  settle in to manage the trade; drop a stop in, set the target and wait for those $$$$ to rack up.

But then it all goes slightly wrong. “How can that be?!! Wasn’t the signal clear?”.  The only possible answer is that the system doesn’t work…….  Or is it?

I guess a good analogy might be crossing the road. I think we all get into the habit of continuously checking for the risk before we finally make the decision to cross and then whilst crossing we are continually checking left and right to see if there any potential approaching risks.

So for me, taking a trade isn’t just about blindly following the signal; there is most definitely a before, during, and after to be considered.

When I’m in front of the charts I like to be continuously monitoring the “landscape” around the signal so that when it comes I can move quickly if the situation determines that this is the best course of action.

This can include factors such as:

• The angles of the lines - are they pointing in the right direction?
• The colors of the lines - red, green or a combination thereof?
• The proximity of major support and resistance
• Are the lines in their natural order or not?

All of that said this will never ever be a 100% success environment.  There are just too many players of all sizes generating too many variables for that to happen.  BUT that said, a heightened awareness will support the process of filtering (which incidentally I have yet to fully master, if indeed that’s possible).

In conclusion I think that to develop as a trader you have to take full responsibility for your own actions. I now write down what I’m doing during a trade, eg, moving the stop, moving the target etc and also what happens after I exit.  This allows me to build a base of experience that will be channelled back into future trades.

Happy Trading and don’t spend too long in front of the screen - you’ll go mad!