For years I have heard many things about traders and the success rate. Often you will hear that 90% or more of traders fail. I am not sure what the number is but my experience would lead me to believe the number is very high but not nearly 95%.
At the same time, I have read about trading systems working year after year and am obtainable to anyone with a simple Google search. Many successful traders have advised me they could give away their trading system and it wouldn’t matter because most people would not follow it anyway.
On one hand most people lose money, and on the other there are freely available systems that produce gains. It may certainly appear something is factually in error. If you believe people act in their own self interest as I do, how can it be true that traders and investors would willingly lose money when unnecessary?
I believe the gap between traders producing positive returns from trading and traders who lose money may be found in their thoughts and beliefs about themselves and those around them. In the book “Trading On Target” by Adrienne Toghraie and published by Wiley Trading, the importance of what it takes mentally to be successful in trading (and applicable to many other areas in life) is clearly identified with possible solutions to overcome the obstacles.
Toghraie writes in short, lesson type of chapters building on each other making this book an easy and understandable experience. Toghraies writing style works perfectly for busy people that may not have a chance to sit down for an hour or more at one time to read. The comparisons of people entering into the world of trading are exactly what I observe in my chat room all too often. Those that take the time and move slowly without the great desire to “make a fast buck” and or treat trading like a trip to Vegas are the ones that are still in the chat a year later. There are many traders that I come across that I would like to hand a copy of Trading On Target to, and say “you will fail to read this at your own peril”.
Toghraie masterfully describes why we do things that “just don’t make sense” until the motivations behind our actions are revealed by reading. As most experienced traders will say, being overly intelligent is not a requirement to make large amounts of money (although strength in math really does help), and many traders have gone from little or nothing to riches beyond imagination. Trading is the great even playing field and the real enemy for most is within. Facing demons that are within are nearly impossible without first understanding what you’re facing. Trading On Target brings to light the importance of your family support system, your expectations of yourself, motivations for wanting to be a trader and a lot more. After understanding the importance and finding what may be the weak link in your ability to extract gains from the market, methods and techniques of modifying and or improving internal and external influences are provided.
After reading many books on physiology in the last couple of years, I have increasingly realized the importance physiology has with what shows up at the end of the year in my PnL statement. After reading this book, I believe my results will be better this year and every year going forward. That is a big deal when you consider the small price to pay for an enjoyable book. I expect to also enjoy greater returns year after year. Reading Trading On Target could be the best trade you make all year. Get the book, read it, and after a while do what I plan on doing, read it again for a refresher.