DOING NOTHING

Believe it or not, I spend most of my days “doing nothing”. I am always managing my trades accordingly, but in all reality, I really do spend a lot of my time doing nothing.By doing nothing, I mean not trading. And by not trading, I mean sitting on my hands.


I heard a quote a long time ago that really stuck with me:
You don’t get smarter once you’re in a trade


I agree with that. In fact, I think not trading is as important as trading. One of the common misconceptions that a lot of traders have is that they think they more they trade, the greater chance they have of making money. They feel that there must be something going on at times.  Long periods of doing nothing is almost considered useless by today’s hyperactive traders, who are in love with checking stock quotes every minute. We live in a get-rich-quick era where traders and investors are afraid they are going to miss something. Traders are obsessed about analysis about what the markets have done or are going to be doing – even if it has no connection to their trading decisions.


So what does doing nothing mean? We discuss this a lot in the trading room while we are watching the markets everyday. The idea is simple. We know what to do, we know exactly where our entries, stops, targets are going before even getting in. If what we are looking for isn’t there, we aren’t doing anything.


The common phrase we use is:
If there’s nothing going on, there’s nothing to do.


Staying patient and doing nothing is the key to successful trading. You may not believe it, but did you know that most successful poker players are usually the ones that bet the least amount of hands? A lot of the same things apply in trading the markets. Waiting and being patient is by far the most important thing and for most of us, maybe the most difficult. It’s no wonder that 95% of traders fail. Lack of patience usually has something to do with it. That and the fact that they have no trading plan.


So, there you have it, if you want to put yourself in a greater position to be a consistently profitable trader, do nothing. When a setup that is according to your trading plan occurs, you take it without hesitation. When it’s not there, sit on your hands, play a game, read a book, do something as long as it’s not trading. You’ll be surprised to find out sooner or later how easy and relaxing trading can be.




courtesy :-http://www.ratiotrading.com