In the early stages of my career as a FOREX trader, I focused more on making money than understanding the principles that make for financial stability. I guess this is because most of us have been taught and indoctrinated in one way or another to focus our attention and energy on the results instead of the process.
There’s no doubt that we want to make money in the market, but while we desire to be profitable, we must understand that the process for profitability is an unavoidable means to our desired end.
The Profit-Driven Trader
Profits are good. Everyone loves the color “blue” (or green).
These days, we have been taught to avoid losses at all costs. I will tell you the truth for free: You can never succeed in the financial market without intermittent failures and taking risks. This trading game is only for the strong at heart.
The profit-driven trader hates losses and does not want to lose even a cent. The effect of this is the creation of psychological blocks that limit profitability while creating streaks of losses.
The more you avoid losses, the more you create them. The more you are focused on just winning, the more you lose sight of what makes a winner.
Every product goes through a process. Every profitable trader goes through the process. A profit-driven trader will hold on to a losing position longer than is necessary simply because this trader has conditioned his mind to win alone without accepting the undeniable truth that losing days are real.
As I said, profit is good, but paying less attention to the process will make you lose what you desire to keep.
Have you ever wondered why sometimes, you feel immobilized to take a trade even when knowing there is a high probability of it going your way? Among the various reasons is the fact that you love profits and do not want to lose any of the money you have gained.
The undeniable effect is that you will miss profitable opportunities, and the trades you enter might result in huge losses.
The Process-Driven Trader
Every beautiful outcome is a product of certain processes. Without keen attention to the process, you will never see the manifestation of your desired result.
Processes create results, and that is why process-driven traders are not only profitable but consistently profitable. They focus more on how profits are made and pay attention to the principles that make for success.
We hear maxims like “Trust the process.” Embedded within that maxim is the secret of the process-driven trader. When you trust the process, you stick to it. And if the process is good, you will see profitability. Back-testing a strategy is testing a process. When any trading strategy is tested and proven profitable, you won’t find it difficult to trust because it is a proven process for profit accumulation.
A profit-driven trader does not have faith in the process. He/she has not even taken time to back-test any strategy. This trader does not even know the systematic procedure for making distinctions in market behavior or spotting trade opportunities.
Common sense has revealed that without the roads, there will be no destination, and without a proper understanding of road networks, you will be lost on your journey. Process-driven traders know this and have found joy in sticking to tested and profitable processes.
