That’s a bloody heavy title… Definitely not going to be able to address it within one blog post, but…
I just listened to an enjoyable podcast with Warren Berger and Shane Parish on Fs.blog and they talk a fair amount about questions…
Here’s a quote from Warren Berger that explains why I believe asking the right questions is key
Now, yes, that can easily be understood for engineers, for entrepreneurs and scientists, but what about traders?
Questions for traders
What is the market?
It helps to think about the entire market, what is the stock market? why does the stock market (on average) go up? Why do currencies exist? Why are there several currencies? Why is the price of a certain currency worth more than another one? How can I forecast that?
Now this won’t improve your trading 10-fold I’ll give you that, but having a larger understanding makes the next steps a lot easier…
Plus, the more you learn the more intrigued you’ll be trust me, I’ve fallen into a dark rabbit hole more times than I wish to admit
Why FX?
You can easily ask yourself, why do I trade FX? Why do I trade this way? Why do I need a trading plan? (I hope by now you know why you need one!!!! Otherwise this blog has failed you I’m sorry! :S ) What are the positives and downsides of having a trading plan? What will I learn from my trading plan?
(A previous blog post about trading plans can be found here!)
Knowing the answers will give you the motivation to build one? You can ask yourself the same questions about anything btw, would that be why you want to trade full-time, why you need a routine, why you should eat healthy etc
How do I trade?
How do I build the right foundations to become a full-time trader? What is the process I should follow to achieve my goals? What set-ups am I allowed to trade? Why can I trade those set-ups and not others? Why is limiting the number of trades I take good?
Those questions will probably make you understand that sticking to your plan has way more benefits than downsides, you will understand that the only reason you trade those set-ups is because you are playing out an edge with a positive expected value and you definitely don’t want to start playing around because that will costly…
What questions to ask?
Now I’m not going to list hundreds (I easily could) questions instead here are a few questions I like to ask myself
Why did I take this trade? Does this trade fit my trading plan? Did I forecast it?
Why will the price go in that direction? What is the structure telling me?
Should I stay out? Why shouldn’t I pull the trigger on this position
What would my mentor say if I took this trade?
Would my mentor take this trade? Does it fit with his previous “behavior?”
Why would this trade turn out to be a loss?
How will I feel after taking this loss?
Am I still happy taking this trade?
Hope those questions help you.
I truly believe that everyone has the answers to the right questions (yes even you!) you just need to ask yourself the right questions…
If you can’t answer a question, then dig into it? Ask yourself what do you need to know in order to answer it?
Ask yourself questions and the following questions
How do you make money trading while traveling?
I trade currencies
How do you I make money trading?
By betting that a currency is going to be worth more than another one
Why are currencies worth something?
Because it’s a store of value
How do we know what value that is?
Ugh… I’m not digging my own hole, I’d need an entire semester to debate this
How can you analyze that one currency is going to be worth more than another?
Well, there’s fundamentals, news, technical analysis, etc
I use technical analysis…
What is technical analysis?
It’s looking at the historical movement of price and forecasting that it will do something similar in the future
How do you forecast it?….
You get it by now right? I can stop this game?
Please.. Say yes…
Ask yourself the right questions and your trading and life will improve. Sometimes those answers will force you to look up something else to be able to answer it but in the end you’ll be better off
It’s easy to make something sound complicated, the truly hard part is to make something that’s really complicated sound simple
Once you are able to explain your trading strategy, why you take certain trades and not others you’ll have truly mastered your trading plan, and that’s exactly what successful traders do – it makes executing it a lot easier!
It’s only with the right questions that our lives can improve
Most of the biggest discoveries started with why or how, so get used to those two words and use them!
Anyway, I will definitely fall into a rabbit hole if I keep writing this post, I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, please do leave a like or a comment 🙂
Onwards
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