The surprising key to trading confidence

Does it get your goat?

Being told, "It's your psychology," that's holding back your trading. It should!

Because it's advice from someone who hasn't solved the real cause.

Your psychology isn't the root cause—it's a side effect of something deeper.

The real culprit?

A lack of confidence. But where does confidence come from? Doing more of what feels like...

Let me share how it feels through yesterday's trading.

First, do you see the trades below from Wednesday's session?

Buying, adding, taking profits and then exiting completely...To flip to the sell side for a quick scalp...

Before re-engaging the long side...cautiously at first—increasing size as the market confirms its hand—to capitalise on the move, including exiting entirely at the high.

Now imagine feeling calm and self-assured as you made the above buying and selling decisions—a heightened sense of clarity and decisiveness as your executions aligned almost perfectly with the market's real-time movements.

Emotionally, it manifests as controlled excitement because, on the one hand, trading is business. But on the other...

Isn't the reason you got into this for fulfilment and life satisfaction? Not just financial reasons?

Fulfilment and life satisfaction occur when you're confident. So if trading feels stressful and emotionally exhausting, it is either not for you, or you lack confidence. And my guess is—if you've been at this for some time, the latter is the case. Agree?

Trading is challenging and competitive, so you'd better feel confident. Otherwise, why put yourself through it when you don't experience the satisfaction of being self-assured in your trading?

How you build confidence

It's surprisingly more straightforward than people are aware.

And to bust some myths, you don't need 'nerves of steel' or 'an affinity for taking risks'. Fun fact: the best traders are very risk-averse.

Consider this

While the trading above is from yesterday, I can show you the same trading sequence from many previous trading days spanning years. I know this trading scenario deeply.

I hear some of you say, "I know a particular setup, but I'm not confident taking it."

And to be blunt, you have no right to be.

That's because if you're using some technical analysis setup at best, it's giving you random results—just one of the many ways the majority trade plays into the hands of the minority.

By contrast

The easiest way to win again at trading is one where you've won many times before—because you excel at what you do more of. Correct?

Referred to as a playbook (of strategies), it sorts out where and when you have a legitimate competitive advantage to trade. It is built from understanding the trading game's deceptive tactics—how real opportunities are initially disguised to catch out the unsuspecting majority.

An armoury of playbook trades is trades you internalise. They become easier to trade in real time because there's less to think about—just spot them and act.

Is the following counter-intuitive?

The heavy lifting isn't in buying and selling. It's in internalising playbook trades. Let's ponder that point for a moment.

If the heavy lifting is already done, buying and selling doesn't feel threatening, uncomfortable or dangerous. Make sense?

You gain confidence because you've internalised trades you WANT to take. Trades you ENJOY taking. Trades, YOU KNOW, take profits out of the market.

Putting on my mentoring hat for a moment: Once you've learned how the game is played and how the money is made, your next step is to see playbook trades play out in the real-time market. You'll hear and see an explanation of what's happening to assist your comprehension.

At this point, take your notes and observations and start internalising by trading that sequence using recorded playback—a historical simulation of what occurred. Slow it down, pause to note key observations, etc.

It's easily the quickest way of internalising trades to develop confidence. So, it's no surprise that it plays a significant role in the curriculum at professional trading firms.

And for fun—because trading can be fun...

Here is a sequence of trades from yesterday.

Same MO... playbook trading.