The Lure Of Trading

Trading offers the individual limitless freedom of creative expression, something that has been denied us most of our lives. In the trading environment, we formulate all the rules.  There are hardly any restrictions or boundaries on how we choose to express ourselves. The range of scenarios that exist for how you go about trading are virtually limitless.  

Nonetheless, to operate effectively in the trading environment, we need rules and boundaries to guide our behavior. To avert the possibility of exposing ourselves to damaging trades we need to forge an internal structure in the form of specialized mental discipline & a perspective that regulates our behavior so that we invariably act in our own self-interest. This structure must exist within us, due to the fact that unlike society, the market does not provide it.  

The markets do provide structure in the form of behavior patterns that signals when an opportunity exists to buy or sell, And that is literally where the structure ends. From the individual's perspective, there are no standardized rules to guide behavior. There aren’t even any beginnings, middles or endings as there are in virtually every other activity we take part in.

In trading, nothing begins until you determine it should, it lasts as long as you want, and it doesn’t end until you want it to.

One of the many paradoxes of trading is that it offers the boon and a bane at the same time. The gift is that perhaps for the first time in our life we are in absolute control of everything we do. The curse is that there are no external rules or boundaries to guide or regulate our behavior. This structure to guide our behavior must spring in our mind as a conscious act of free will. This is where many problems begin.