Over my 20+ years of trading, I have learned that the greatest gift of God to a market trader is patience. Patience offers you deals that you would never have gotten without it. It will save you from unsuspecting attacks on your trade positions. It is the ultimate gift to “UP” your game in the trading world.
I am a very serious follower of Jesus Christ, and I highly respect the gifts from Heaven that are available to all people. I have learned to understand and respect the gift of patience. It has saved me from alot of pain, agony and despair, though I had to learn it through the same pain. I have found through the years, that much of my pain, agony and despair has been because of the lack of patience. This also works in market trading. Here’s a Bible verse that proves to me that patience comes from Heaven and is available to all.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law
I need patience from Heaven, because I am NOT a patient person. I am the guy who wants to “move it, groove it, get r done, rock and roll, let’s go” kind of person. And when I started trading, I became addicted to the very essence of trading. Endorphins ran through my body in euphoria when I would enter a day trade using the highly leveraged emini futures contracts. My training mentor eventually told me after watching me for awhile, “You know, you are not in the market to make money. You’re in the market for the buzz.” He was absolutely right. He eventually told me, “As soon as you hate trading, you will become very good at it. But for now you love the feeling of trading and that makes you very dangerous to your own account.” He was absolutely right. I
was trading to feel the emotions of making or losing money, similar to a gambler in a casino. I never wanted to miss a trade opportunity. And if there was no opportunity, I’d try to create one in my head or on the charts. I would convince myself that I needed to enter the market (long or short) to try to fulfill the trade opportunity. My absolute addiction to my endorphin release and my lack of patience would be devastating to my little trading account. And I would soon learn my lessons through financial pain and suffering. Many of you know exactly what I mean as you read.
I have had to go through the proverbial 12 step program of market/gambling addiction. I have become a trader who wants to make a successful trade rather than just trading for the buzz. I have learned to become very patient and wait…… wait……… wait for the setup to come to me. I would rather give up a marginal trading opportunity than to jump on it with higher risk. I would rather watch the trade go forward without me than to operate in “fear of loss” and take the marginal trade with much higher risk.
Through patience, I learned one of my 5 signature trades called the “Predator Play”. I learned about predators who hunt for their next protein kill. They understand that it’s not feasible to spend 1,000 calories in energy to possibly catch an 1,100 calorie meal. A shark, lion, or hyena makes careful calculations before expending caloric energy. In the same way, a successful trader must calculate risk/reward before attacking a market trade/investment. Risk/reward calculating is everything. Patience is everything. Lack of FOMO (fear of missing out) is everything.
I am no longer hungry for a trade. I am patient. I no longer chase the shiny lures that markets send by over and over. I wait for the trade to come into my zone, into my arena, and into my risk tolerance level. Then I attack, along with the Predators and Giants that I follow and track.
Seek patience, and walk in it while trading. Seek your very best trades. Find a system that’s highly reliable and stick with it. Don’t be tempted to come out into the unknown. Don’t follow the shiny lures. Wait for it………. Ask God for patience and He will give it to you. It will make you an excellent trader!
