Tired about hearing about paper trading? I’ve got a suggestion I’m sure nobody else is making…

Now before you think I’ve lost my marbles, let me setup why I’m recommending the following ‘training’…

One of the most difficult skills to develop in trading is patience. That is, the ability to wait for the right opporutnities to come along and taking action when they are present.

Now as I tell all traders, papertrading is a one way to accomplish this. Unfortunately the one thing that papertrading sometimes doesn’t encapsulate is the real emotions felt when trading with real money. To many this exercise becomes just that… an exercise.

So how can you overcome this limitation?

I find that competing with others injects that emotion into the mix…

So what do I suggest?

Online poker.

Now before you think that I’ve totally flipped my lid, let me say… I’m NOT telling you to play with any money.

What I am trying to get across is the cellular learning of being able to sit and wait while “action” is going on is a valuable skill.

Because in trading, depending on your trading style, you may be “waiting” 60%-80% of the time, whether you’re in trades, or waiting for trades to setup.

Waiting is probably the most overlooked skill, because it can’t really be taught the way that chart reading can be, but without it, you’re going to face an uphill battle to success.

Now before you think I’m off my rocker, here’s a quote from Gary Bielfeldt from the book Market Wizards,

“… My father taught me the concept of playing the percentage hands. You don’t just play every hand and stay through every card, because if you do, yiou will have a much higher probablity of losing. You should play the good hands, and drop out of the poor hands…

… If you apply the same principles of poker strategy to trading, it increases your odss of winning significantly. I have always tried to keep the concept of patience in mind by waiting for the right trade, just like you wait for the percentage hand in poker.”

Just a thought for the day…

Continued Success!

Ray

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