4 Things You Can Do Now to Improve as a Trader
1) Diversify: If you have a pattern you
trade successfully, you don’t have to grow your size. Instead, look to diversify
to a different pattern (different market, different time frame) not correlated
with the first. You’ll smooth out your returns, as one pattern makes money while
the other experiences drawdown. You’ll also achieve the portfolio manager’s goal
of superior return for less risk exposure.
2) Review Entries: Review your trades for the week and see how much heat
you took on your winners. This will give you an idea of how good your entries
are.
3) Review Exits: Review your trades for the week and see if the market
went in your favor or against you after you exited. This will give you an idea
of how good your exits are.
4) Work Orders: Get into the habit of working orders to buy at bid, sell
at offer or to place orders between the bid and offer to avoid paying a price
that is out of line with “fair value”. For the frequent trader, the single tick
saved by good execution adds up over time.
The successful traders I’ve worked with never stop working on themselves. This
is equally true of successful athletes, musicians, and chess champions. Small,
steady improvements can create massively greater performance over time.
Brett N.
Steenbarger, Ph.D. is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY and author of
The Psychology of Trading (Wiley, 2003). As Director of Trader
Development for Kingstree Trading, LLC in Chicago, he has mentored numerous
professional traders and coordinated a training program for traders. An active
trader of the stock indexes, Brett utilizes statistically-based pattern
recognition for intraday trading. Brett does not offer commercial services to
traders, but maintains an archive of articles and a trading blog at
www.brettsteenbarger.com and a
blog of market analytics at
www.traderfeed.blogspot.com. His book,
Enhancing Trader Performance, was recently released for
publication (Wiley).