NexusFi: Find Your Edge


Home Menu

 





Why do we trade?


Discussion in Psychology and Money Management

Updated
      Top Posters
    1. looks_one Patrick S with 7 posts (5 thanks)
    2. looks_two FB2012 with 4 posts (13 thanks)
    3. looks_3 GaryD with 3 posts (8 thanks)
    4. looks_4 DarkPoolTrading with 2 posts (23 thanks)
      Best Posters
    1. looks_one DarkPoolTrading with 11.5 thanks per post
    2. looks_two FB2012 with 3.3 thanks per post
    3. looks_3 GaryD with 2.7 thanks per post
    4. looks_4 Patrick S with 0.7 thanks per post
    1. trending_up 6,445 views
    2. thumb_up 65 thanks given
    3. group 14 followers
    1. forum 26 posts
    2. attach_file 2 attachments




 
Search this Thread

Why do we trade?

  #1 (permalink)
 
Patrick S's Avatar
 Patrick S 
Raleigh NC
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Ninja
Broker: Mirus/ZenFire
Trading: Oil
Posts: 628 since May 2012
Thanks Given: 394
Thanks Received: 518

Why do you trade?
The Quick easy answer is... For The Money.

Am I niave to say that the money will only come when you can break through your own personal mental blocks?

So shouldn't the answer to the question of why do I trade be... I am on this journey of self discovery. A journey that takes a lifetime. As I hit certain waypoints I start to make more and more money.
I believe that if it was just about the money we would never enjoy it.

Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Started this thread Reply With Quote

Can you help answer these questions
from other members on NexusFi?
Cheap historycal L1 data for stocks
Stocks and ETFs
Better Renko Gaps
The Elite Circle
ZombieSqueeze
Platforms and Indicators
MC PL editor upgrade
MultiCharts
REcommedations for programming help
Sierra Chart
 
  #3 (permalink)
 
keymoo's Avatar
 keymoo 
Bedford, UK
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: SierraChart/TT Feed
Trading: NQ
Posts: 129 since Mar 2012
Thanks Given: 212
Thanks Received: 215


  • Fascination
  • Freedom
  • Security
  • For itself (love of it)
  • Challenge
  • Money

Follow me on Twitter Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #4 (permalink)
 Itchymoku 
Philadelphia
 
Experience: None
Platform: corded black telephone
Trading: ticker tape
Posts: 2,894 since Apr 2012
Thanks Given: 1,683
Thanks Received: 3,681

I believe I can reallocate the money I make more efficiently.. eventually

R.I.P. Joseph Bach (Itchymoku), 1987-2018.
Please visit this thread for more information.
Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)
 FB2012 
Munich Germany
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: MultiCharts .NET,MultiCharts,Amibroker
Broker: Interactive Brokers IQFeed
Trading: Stocks,Index CFDs
Posts: 149 since Aug 2012
Thanks Given: 81
Thanks Received: 84

Hi Patrick,

great idea to make that question.
I am currently doing research in my own life history what made me start trading.

During the time i considered myself a profitable investor, by buying two or three stocks in the 90s and selling them profitable before the crash in 2001, money was not as important to me as it is now.
During that time i said to myself i am happy with what i have and believed that my life will always prosper.
But one event turned that. After that i got very greedy and started to trade options which didnt work i lost a lot of money. But ok at that time i realized a had to do my homework, made my homework tried again and lost again.
The last really profitable trading time i had, i considered money not as important as it was two years after the event, which made me greedy, i just wanted to have the possibility to go wherever and whenever I want to go. So definitly freedom seems to be the most important motivation for trading.

But the problem is : The pursuit for freedom, implies the premise that i am currently not free. Being not free means unhappiness. And being unhappy with my current situation can result in bad trading.

So much to the hard stuff i have to deal with, when it comes to why i am doing what i do.
But now to the positive motivators.

Scrooge Mc Duck inspired me during my childhood.
The movie "Trading Places" fascinated for commodity trading. ( Right now i can do only stocks but i defintly want to trade orange juice :-D )
One German tv film with Helmut Fischer acting a tramp who got broke by trading pork bellies with his friend, who claimed to have a computerized system which is right 90%, of the time now also a tramp.

Being in a business where most of the others fail, I think 90% of retail traders go broke.
I love the thought being one of the best.
I seek challenges. ( This can be dangerous because if i master a challenge i could be bored easyly, resulting again in bad trading or feeling like god and throwing money management away trading to big)

I am not sure if i can say that in a explicit way, but girls can be expensive.
Therefore girls are definitly a motivation to make a big bunch of money. And trading seems to be the best way to do that. But girls especially when there are more than one in my life can be very stressful. This emotional roller coaster can also lead to bad trading.
Cars having a big house all that status symbols are only girl driven motivated, i myself do not need a car or a fancy dress if i cannot impress girls with that a muscle car renders itself for me useless.
Therefore girls is not a good motivation for trading.
And finding a supportive spouse should not require much money.

But when it comes about trading and i can talk to other people who trade, which i do regularly every second and fourth wednesday a month. I am so fascinating that men become fascinated childs again. So in my opinion trading itself has a very big fascination. Sometimes i think that i really would do everything to be succesful in trading.
And that is not because i want to make money or to have freedom it is just the big challenge the risk all that emotions which are involved. I think trading itself has the biggest fascination.

Oh and trading is for me the last possibilty to express my own warrior within myself.

I could write a lot of pages but i think i stop to make it readable to others.
:-D

Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
  #6 (permalink)
 
iqgod's Avatar
 iqgod 
Mumbai, India
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: ChartNexus
Trading: Stocks, Commodities, Futures
Posts: 1,802 since Feb 2012
Thanks Given: 3,658
Thanks Received: 3,097

@FB2012 has summarized it quite nicely!

To read @iqgod's motivations read the previous post by @FB2012 again. :-)

The 'girls' in my life are hypothetical but exist nevertheless as a deep motivator somewhere in the corners of my mind.

Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #7 (permalink)
 GFIs1 
who cares
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: None
Platform: nobody interested
Broker: none
Trading: forget about it
Posts: 6,938 since Feb 2012
Thanks Given: 6,196
Thanks Received: 15,608

Casino @ Home

For ~90% of traders ...slapped by the market

GFIs1

Follow me on Twitter Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #8 (permalink)
 
Jigsaw Trading's Avatar
 Jigsaw Trading  Jigsaw Trading is an official Site Sponsor
 
Posts: 2,988 since Nov 2010
Thanks Given: 831
Thanks Received: 10,393

Two reasons for me....

1 - Pensions aren't viable any more and 'independent' financial advisers will push you towards whichever fund pays them the most.

2 - Jobs are no more reliable than starting your own business, they just pay less.

There is no guarantee that any person or group will grow your money any faster than you can.

Trading is no less stable than a job (once you know how) and there's always jobs if you decide it's not for you.

I'm 43, worked as an independent consultant for many years and made lots of money doing so. My perspective is not one of somebody needing to make it but of one annoyed at seeing other people lose large chunks of my cash.

Some 20 year old with $5k scraped together will rightly have a completely different outlook. In fact, I think to some extent, trading is an old mans game. The only reason props take on teeny-boppers is that anyone older would not be able to join on their terms.

If you have any questions about the products or services provided, please send me a Private Message or use the futures.io " Ask Me Anything" thread
Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #9 (permalink)
 
Patrick S's Avatar
 Patrick S 
Raleigh NC
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Ninja
Broker: Mirus/ZenFire
Trading: Oil
Posts: 628 since May 2012
Thanks Given: 394
Thanks Received: 518


FB2012 View Post
Hi Patrick,

great idea to make that question.
I am currently doing research in my own life history what made me start trading.


Oh and trading is for me the last possibilty to express my own warrior within myself.

I could write a lot of pages but i think i stop to make it readable to others.
:-D

My definition of a True Warrior is someone who serves a purpose bigger than himself.
A Mercenary on the other hands serves his own purposes. Mercenary - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Would you like to explain what you mean by your warrior statement?

If you always do what you have always done you will always get what you have always gotten.
Celebrate because you executed your edge. Not because you won.
Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Started this thread Reply With Quote
  #10 (permalink)
 FB2012 
Munich Germany
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: MultiCharts .NET,MultiCharts,Amibroker
Broker: Interactive Brokers IQFeed
Trading: Stocks,Index CFDs
Posts: 149 since Aug 2012
Thanks Given: 81
Thanks Received: 84


My definition of a warrior related to the markets.

I do not see myself as a Mercenary, if i would prefer to be a mercenary i would continue my actual carreer.

True warriors are people like you and me, which are definitly competitors, but have to follow a codex of fairness.

It is like sport but you can go break, which is the same as getting killed.
And it is a way to confront yourself with the most deepest fears inside.
And I am willing to go that confrontation.
The codex of fairness is dictated by law and the SEC.
But when i meet with traders i always experienced a high degree of solidarity, between them which are during the trading session maybe enemies trying to get each others money. And that makes those, fair true warriors.
Ok you can discuss if trading always results in one getting the money of somebody else, but i think i have to be aware about that possibility.

That would be my definition of that true warrior in the stock or futures market.
Hope i have not harmed anybody with that statement, who was in a war and maybe says that trading has nothing to do with the brutality he or she has seen.

Please understand this statement as a feeling closly related to my personal reflexion about trading.

Added that:

There are other parallels to a warrior.
1. A warrior has to be physical and mentally fit
2. has to have a high degree of discipline
3. regular training
4. following checklists
5. following tactical statement in case of do that.

This is very related to trading.

Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
Thanked by:




Last Updated on July 12, 2013


© 2024 NexusFi™, s.a., All Rights Reserved.
Av Ricardo J. Alfaro, Century Tower, Panama City, Panama, Ph: +507 833-9432 (Panama and Intl), +1 888-312-3001 (USA and Canada)
All information is for educational use only and is not investment advice. There is a substantial risk of loss in trading commodity futures, stocks, options and foreign exchange products. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
About Us - Contact Us - Site Rules, Acceptable Use, and Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy - Downloads - Top
no new posts