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The Secret to Successful Trading

Hey Traders,


My older son has his first baseball tournament of the season today.


And he’s going to do well …


How do I know?


Because he understands the secret to successful trading.


At some point this weekend, he’s probably going to strike out (hopefully swinging, if it comes to that) …


BUT he’s not going to take that strikeout with him back to the field once he leaves the dugout.


By the time he’s fielding a ground ball, he will have completely forgotten about his last at-bat.


You see, he has it in him to forget his failures and move on …


And he also learns from setbacks …


If he faces the same pitcher the next time up, he probably will get a hit.


There’s another kid on his team, who’s maybe even more talented, but he won’t get the same result after a strikeout (if history is any indication).


He’ll get into his own head, maybe make an error in the field …


… and potentially start crying.


He’ll be done for the game.


No Crying in Trading


You see, it’s not just skill and talent.


It’s having the mental capacity to move on that allows one kid to have a great game and another to have a seat on the bench.


This is also the secret to successful trading.


When I was in Group One’s training program learning to become a market maker, I made a “healthy” number of mistakes.


But I rarely made the same mistake twice — and I never let the trainers’ grilling get to me.


Mental fortitude allowed me to get through the training program, along with just five others out of a class of 20, while nearly all of the kids that went to Ivy League colleges got chopped.


I’m not kidding …


There were 16 Ivy Leaguers and four non-Ivy Leaguers in my training class …


Total graduates: 3 Ivies, 3 Non-Ivies


Those of us who went to Villanova (me) or Fordham had it in us to move past our mistakes.


Many of the Ivy Leaguers had never actually experienced failure.


In a high-stakes training program, when you screw up … you hear it.


Luckily, I was pretty used to hearing it (thanks Mom and Dad! )…


Failing and being unable to get past it ultimately led to 14 brilliant 22-year-olds getting the boot.


What It Means for You


You need to know that in trading …


YOU ARE GOING TO EXPERIENCE FAILURE.


I lose on trades often.


I have losing days.


I have losing weeks and losing months.


Does it bother me?


Heck yeah!


But does it affect me?


Only in positive ways.


Take our Robinhood Trader program, for instance. I went through a good three weeks of drawdown a couple of months back.


I grew my account from $5,000 to $8,700 dollars in about five weeks.


Pretty good!


I then traded my way out of $2,000 dollars over the next three weeks.


Yeesh.


Yet every day I sat down with the same game plan:


Use the Robinhood radar, find the best trade — and trade it.


As I was in drawdown, I huddled with my team of pro traders and asked, “Am I doing something wrong?”


The answer was NO — when it came to the trades.


But the answer was YES when it came to risk management. I needed to tweak how much I was willing to lose on a trade …


And I did.


That is why, since the beginning of January, I have had just one losing week —  and it was only marginal.


Losses, while annoying, do not affect my killer instinct or my belief in what I’m doing.


When the trading day is over, I move on and go back at it the next day.


That’s why I’m able to put together huge win streaks — because I’m able to forget about losses.


But for many retail traders, a couple of losses gets them scared.


And just like the kid on my son’s baseball team, when you get scared, you make more errors …


You ride losers and cut winners short.


Coming OUT of losing, I had some of the biggest percentage winners of my career.


I never lost my ability to ride winners, and by tweaking to cut losers, my account has gone up and up.


So if you want to be a winner … know you will have losers and learn from them — but don’t let them change you.


On Your Side


The vast majority of retailer traders could benefit from professional assistance …


And that’s not a knock!


It’s simply that the education and insights offered by a team of pros is a great way to help everyday traders make more money.


Our Option Pit Pro students certainly agree. 


We teach concepts, we teach trading, we technical analysis …


And most importantly, we coach you on the mental side.


I always have my team around me … and an entire Elite Pro Chat Room that I can consult with when I’m in a funk.


And they won’t see me crying on the bench …


Because I’m always in the game.


Who’s your team?


Your Only Option


Mark Sebastian

Mark Sebastian

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