We receive wonderful feedback on a regular basis, and we would like to thank you for that. Today we will talk about one email in particular where one of our users perfectly described how we intended Edgewonk to be used. Of course, there are many other ways when it comes to integrating Edgewonk into your trading day and your routine, but especially for beginning traders who have a feeling of being lost or feeling helpless, this user’s insights provide helpful tips – we included the email at the end of this short article.
A lack of responsibility in trading
When something is not going according to plan or when you don’t fully understand how to turn your trading around, it’s very easy to start blaming the markets, an unleveled playing field and just unfair conditions in general.
Looking for excuses and blaming outside circumstances feels great because, then, the lack of success is not your fault and you are not responsible for your failure. Many traders choose to go this path simply because it eliminates the need to face the real problem: a lack of seriousness and professionalism when it comes to your approach to trading.
Without taking responsibility for your failures, improvement is impossible.
Doing what is necessary vs. doing what is easy
From the email below you can see that our user decided to put his active trading on hold for a while because he understood that just trading more wasn’t going to solve his problems. Instead, he went back to his past broker data and transferred his past trading information (manually!) into his Edgewonk trading journal. From our email exchange I know that he transferred more than 250 trades which must have taken quite some time, but he realized that if he wanted to become a better trade, he had to put in the time.
In trading, just as in life, we usually always know what we should be doing: stop eating junk food and start exercising, cutting back on TV consumption and studying for the exam, waking up one hour earlier to write a trading plan; but knowing what to and actually doing it are two very separate things, right?!
Unfortunately, there is no trick that will suddenly make those tasks easy and effortless; you just have to be clear about what you want and then take the steps necessary.
“Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort” ― Theodore Roosevelt
Self-awareness
A trading journal is the easiest and fastest way to become more self-aware of your trading. Most traders will never look at their trades again after they have closed them. This is a HUGE mistake because you are robbing yourself from learning from your mistakes. And it would just take a few minutes…
The average trader repeats the same mistakes over and over again. Mostly because he is not even aware of how much those mistakes are costing him. A trading journal forces you to re-live all your past trades once again without all the hectic and emotional battle that exists during your live trading.
Your system is not the problem
This is usually a huge revelation once traders can actually see that not their system is causing them to lose consistently, but that they are the real problem.
You have probably heard the phrase that you are your greatest enemy as a trader countless times, but those hollow phrases quickly lose their meaning. However, once Edgewonk shows you, based on your own personal trading data, that it’s you who is causing your losses and that profitability could be already within reach, many traders finally start to listen.
Edgewonk is not a Holy Grail, neither is it going to be your quick way out, but if you are serious about trading and tired of not seeing results, going a different direction and putting in the work is the surest way to becoming a better trader.
And now, we want to let our user’s words speak for themselves and we are user that many traders will recognize themselves here:
