Discipline in Investing and Trading

Discipline can be simply defined as your ability to follow your investing and trading plan.

Discipline is a rather simple concept. You just need to define what, when and how you want to trade and manage it. You also need to decide how to handle your account when you are making money and also when bad days come along!

Psychological issues make up 90% of the trading equation. Discipline is the essence of all of the psychological issues. It permeates throughout the whole process. All the rules and procedures and plans do not matter if they are not followed.

There is little doubt that for those who seek success in trading, failure rarely comes from writing the wrong plan. It comes from not writing one at all, or not following the one that is written!

Once you make your plan the following three rules are in order:

1. Don't change your plan during the trading day.

2. Commit to only making changes when the market is closed and

3. Go over your plan every morning before you trade.

The best way to enforce discipline is just by awareness. Keep records of your trades. On every trade, include an answer to the simple question, "Was this trade part of my trading plan?". Yes or no. There is no in-between!

Be aware that the undisciplined traders are almost guaranteed failures.

Ask yourself if you are keeping the discipline, or are you just taking random trades that look good at the moment?

You can't fix something if you do not know it is broken.

You must first be aware that you have a discipline problem!

If you do have the discipline problem, there is an absolute answer for you!

The answer is this:

JUST DISCIPLINE YOURSELF... There is no alternative!

Copyright © 2005 I.E.C. Haramis

haramis@greekshares.com http://www.greekshares.com

Ioannis - Evangelos C. Haramis was born in Greece in 1951 and he studied in Greece, USA and in Belgium. He has been active in the stock markets since 1972. Since 2002 he is New Business Development Managing Director at an Investment Bank.


Trading Expert Discovers Ways To Beat Stock Market Odds With Money Management

The first point to mastering money management is that you... Read More

The Differences Betweeen the Wealthy and Everyone Else

I recently received an e-mail from a young lady who... Read More

Makin The Sauce

Let's face it, you're on a roll. After getting down... Read More

Retirement Is A Scary Proposition If Youre Without A Plan, And Running Out Of Time

Of the 75 million baby boomers nearing retirement today, many... Read More

Investing As A Sport?

I said last week that money doesn't generally buy happiness,... Read More

Why You Need To Buy and Sell Gold Coins (Part 6)

Pre-1933 Gold Outperforms Today's Gold Bullion...Since 1970, an investment strategy... Read More

Real Estate Clubs Hot Among Investors

Six or seven years ago, the stock market was booming,... Read More

Better Investing Made Easy

If there were one piece of advice that an investor... Read More

Rolling your 401k: Contributory IRA vs. Rollover IRA

In an ideal world you would start your working career... Read More

Expand Your Pool of Investors for Your Company

If you own a company that sells complicated products and... Read More

Sell Discipline for Investors: Importance and Execution

Investors usually don't have an aversion to buying an asset.... Read More

Exchange Traded Funds

They call 'em ETFs.There are hundreds of them.The mutual funds... Read More

Invest To Make Money, Not To Get Rich

The technology boom of the '90s romanticized the "rags-to-riches" ideal... Read More

How to Choose the Right Share Class

You'll want to opt for the no-load or institutional share... Read More

Annuity Investment - The Whole Truth

Do you ever feel like you haven't been told the... Read More

Dumb Money

Many people have, at one time or another, taken some... Read More

Overbought/Oversold

Has your broker ever told you that a stock is... Read More

Why You Need To Buy and Sell Gold Coins (Part 3)

Putting Rare Coin Market Cycles to Work for You...Until recently... Read More

DXPortfolio: A Great Passive Investment of 25% to $40% per month

First, I need to explain about e-currencies or digital currencies.... Read More

Justify Social Security ... Dont Save for Retirement

It is a common question when investors review their retirement... Read More

5 Day Trading Tips for Success

1. How to Treat Gap Openings A gap up or... Read More

Which IRA Is Best For You?

An Ira is one of the greatest ways to save... Read More

Financial Planners

"Financial planners are like dentists: they may occasionally inflict pain,... Read More

Asset Location ? Increase Investing Returns & Reduce Your Taxes

Location ? Once the holy grail only for real estate... Read More

Economic Survival in the 21st Century - the Three Key Questions to Ask

In this "special report", I want to pose a few... Read More