I am sure all of you have heard about Albert Einstein. Probably he is one of the most famous scientists who created a big revolution in the scientific world and opened several new gateways of research and development. Theory of relativity, founding of relativistic cosmology, the prediction of the deflection of light by gravity that was later ended to understanding of black holes, the quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, the zero-point energy concept, the quantum theory of a monatomic gas, and… are only some of the things that he has done. But does Einstein have anything to teach us about trading? Yes, he has 8 amazing trading lessons.
1. Persevere
“It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
When you read the above quote, you may think that Einstein just tried to look humble and down to earth, because everybody thinks that Einstein was a genius. He really was a genius but at the same time humble and down to earth, however do you think even a super genius can do anything if he/she just ignores the problems, gives up and walks away? Definitely not. The top secret is, to do something extra ordinary, you do not need to have an extra ordinary IQ. You need to be a hard working and focused person. There are so many genius people who come to this world and go without doing anything important and useful. But there are so many ordinary people who focus on something and make a big positive change finally.
You can not achieve anything overnight. It takes time to become a good trader. If you like to become a good trader, you also have to spend time on trading. There is no holy grail, nor a magic system or robot that can make you a millionaire trader within a short time. The holy grail is you and the experiences that you gain and experience can be gained through working and “staying with the problems longer” as Einstein says.
2. Focus:
“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”
Staying with the problems is not enough. We have to focus on them. In trading, “focus” doesn’t mean over-trading. You can trade 30 minutes per week only. But be focused during that 30 minutes. Also do not distribute your time and energy on trading so many different currencies, stocks, CFDs through so many different trading strategies and systems. You can not focus on several things at the same time. Novice traders think that analyzing several different markets and finding as many trade setups as possible is the best way to make more money faster and sooner. It is such a big mistake. Most of those who think so are among the traders who will give up finally.
3. Create Value:
“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”
In trading, success means profit and profit is the value of the work of a trader. “Profit” can be made only by having more “successful” trades and successful trades can be acheived only by finding valuable trade setups that do worth taking the risk.
That was very easy to understand, right?
4. Be Curious:
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
You do not have to have any special talent to become a good trader. You just need to learn a trading system and wait for the trade setups. Trying to be too smart makes you lose, because the market is smarter than you. Just learn a simple trading system and be curious for the trade setups. That is all that makes you a good and profitable trader.
5. Make Mistakes:
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
During the past a few years that I have been in touch with so many forex traders through my website, I have seen so many novice traders who start very passionately and eagerly but give up so easily by losing the first trade or blowing up their first live account. Obviously, most of these people will never try the trading anymore and will lose the chance of making any money through the forex market, for the rest of their lives.
On the other hand, most of the successful traders that I have seen, have been able to achieve their success through a very hard way and losing a lot of money, before finding the right way. I am not saying you should also lose a lot of money to become a successful trader finally. In fact, I believe one can become a good trader through losing the minimum amount of money, if he/she learns and follows the money management rules first. What I am trying to say is that you learn some of the lessons from your own mistakes and if a mistake causes you to lose money, you should not give up. If a losing trade tells you that you should have a proper stop loss, take it as a good lesson and never take any position without a proper stop loss anymore.
6. Don’t Be Insane:
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Are you still losing because of having no stop loss in your trades, working with an improper time frame, trading with an unreliable platform or broker or following a useless trading system? If you answered yes, then the next question is why you expect a different result by repeating the same thing over and over?
If you lose because you do not set a proper stop loss or you do not follow the money management rules, or because you still do not have a proper trading system or you try to make money through a time frame which is not for you (it is either too fast or too slow for you) then why do you still do it?
If you answered “Because I am insane!”, then you should expect more losses
7. Expect Opposition:
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
Probably you are blamed by some people after losing some money in the forex market or any other businesses that you tried to run and develop. Discouraging words can stop you at anytime, but if you stop, then you’d better not to think about making any changes in your life and just leave yourself to the events and chance. Pessimistic, negative, jealous and according to Einstein, mediocre people are always around. If you want to be one step ahead of the mediocre minds, you should do something more than ordinary and usual and you should not listen to those people.
Since the time that I have published the $53,000/month article, I have been criticized or even accused by some “mediocre minds” who did not even bother to read that article carefully just once to see what it is about exactly. But I always had one answer for them:
George Bernard Shaw:
People who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it.
Just do whatever you think is right to do. It doesn’t matter if you are wrong. You will become a more experienced person, when you find out that you were wrong. If everybody wanted to think like these “mediocre minds”, now we still had to cover our body with the plants’ leaves
However, keep in your mind that in trading you should always limit your risks by having a good money management plan. Do not let the first mistake be the last.
8. Learn the Rules, Play Better:
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
You have to learn the rules of your trading system. Then you have to wait for them to occur. If you sit at the chart while you still don’t know what you should wait for, or if you are used to enter the market while you have no answer if I ask you why did you take this and that position, it means you still don’t know the rules of the game.