Don't expect fun.

It's time to dispel the myth about trading profitably for a living

Good afternoon valued subscriber

*In yesterday’s premium post, I posted a 2 match trading tutorial with complimentary annotations and audio analysis, explaining how I successfully scalp football matches and routinely lock in profits before games go in play.

Next up, I have a special guest on the podcast where we explore his road from losing to profitable trading and the impending decision he will soon face as to whether or not to go full time!

Use this link to enjoy a free 7 day trial to the premium letters so you do not miss the interview: https://anymantrading.substack.com/0d051801

The trading community is missing this sort of content so I’ll go out of my way to make it a staple when possible!

Today’s post I want to discuss the biggest misconception that comes with trading and it concerns the psychological aspect. Making a living by pitting your wits against others and being financially compensated for being right, all with the click of a mouse sounds like a dream way to make a living. Getting to watch your favourite sport, work from the comfort of your house, choose your own hours, not pay tax and live a life under the radar.

It couldn’t get much better, but it could be a lot worse. The most exciting part of the trading journey is going from losing to winning. Nothing beats the feeling of knowing you’ve unlocked the door to a potential lifestyle where your income hinges on watching sport. The earliest part of your success is where the highest levels of dopamine are released. Locking in your first £15.70 is more exciting than the 100th test match you’ve traded and made £1k. You’re first profitable week, where you’ve been picking up fivers and tenners consistently from race to race beats making £2k off Cheltenham for the 5th year.

Your first 4 figure month beats making you first 5 figure month after years of grinding. This phenomena doesn’t just apply to trading. Obtaining your first car, relationship, promotion or any worldly pursuit you’ve longed for unleashes a tide of new emotions that are only experienced the 1st time.

The first thrill is the biggest. It’s downhill from there.

We all know this. Desire is a hole that can never be filled. This wasn’t meant to be a philosophical post on the meaning of life. That’s something we’re all figuring out. But one thing I’ve learned is that at least satisfaction (not happiness) comes from gratitude for what we already have. Enjoying the process, loving the mechanics of what we’re doing, staying present and smelling the roses along the way is the highest expression of what we do. When we follow that natural order, success is INEVITABLE. When we are not content with what he have, are not present and let moments sail by to chase bigger thrills and highs, we’re compelled to take risks and do things that are unnecessary. You can only wing it for so long till it inevitably ends in disaster. This is why nobody walks away from a casino when they hit jackpot. This is why many lotto winners end up skint. The same fate goes for the novice trader who lands his first 10/1 trade. Once the dopamine wears off, its time for the next hit.

Long term profitable trading is boring since it relies on a consistent, disciplined approach. Get comfortable with boredom.

The novice gambler/trader is the most dangerous person to himself. Betting is a profession that brings your uglies qualities to light: desire, compulsion and addiction. If you’re addicted to clothes or food, the consequences often take longer to show up. If you’re addicted to betting, the consequences are devastating and impactful immediately.

Nothing hits you harder than losing money.

The novice trader who makes money early, cannot clearly quantify what extent greed contributed to his results. This is why even a perfectly capable trader who has a keen eye for reading a game, interpreting data and positioning himself to profit nearly always gives it back. Because adhering to strict management is largely ignored. There is no motivation to honour it if you’ve made money without it. A rigid approach would hamper the profits of a free willed risk taker.

During my first big run on trading I turned £100 into over £3,000. The numbers and projections of what I should make by the end of the year and year after ran into multiple 6 figures. Naturally, the novice who tastes success for the 1st time can only entertain the idea of scaling up aggressively. Needless to see, I gave most of it back.

I’d previously blown through 3 bank rolls before the run up. The biggest reason why I was able to finally turn profitable was because I understood the sports I was trading. This is not necessarily easy, but it’s the easiest part and it’s why there’s plenty of content out there. I too, will be sharing ample content to premium subscribers on strategy and execution in different scenarios on different sports.

But in order to exploit them correctly and consistently, a realistic expectation and an appreciation for the process is what’s required. This is the least spoken of aspect to trading and it wasn’t till I understood that in order to scale up , being able to last the undulations of a trading calendar by following a mechanical process, letting the opportunities come to you and not try and hit home runs is what ensures survival.

By planning a trading schedule, pin pointing the events you want to target and having a pre defined bank roll management, you WILL inevitably leave money on the table. That is a small price to pay for ensuring your endeavour is built to last.

This is the aspect that most struggle with. Why hold back on a play you’re sure of? Because we are dealing with probabilities and not even a 1.01 shot is a guarantee. As aforementioned, you will get away with poor bank roll management…until you don’t. You may have a phenomenal hit rate, but if you continually allow everything to hinge on one play, you’ll lose it all. This sort of thrill chasing and trying to hit home runs maybe fine if your gambling with some change at the casino. At the end of the day, we all have that itch that needs scratching. But if you’re going to replace patience and planning with thrill seeking and dopamine chasing, then your trading foundations are being built on stilts.

By now the dichotomy should be should be clear: a high risk, volatile profession like trading the financial/sports market only bear long term fruit to the rigid, boring individual. Adhering to strict risk management and forecasting your profits in the context of your betting frequency and staking will ensure you last year after year profitably. From there, the level of growth you experience pertains to how disciplined your spending and saving habits are outside trading and what threshold you have for risk as the stakes increase. The thrill chasing fool who has goals with no process in place will see his bank roll battered by the whims of variance.

Your first goal is survival. But in order to thrive, you don’t need to do anything special. You just need to go through the same protocol, day after day. Rinse and repeat. This is boring, and boredom can easily spill over into thrill chasing pursuits, even for a profitable trader: It’s very easy to get twitchy when plateauing after a profitable run. This is why having a planned schedule, forecasting your profits and having a staking plan go along way in mitigating the boredom. We are so conditioned to thinking about money linearly i.e a 9-5 job, that we cannot fathom, days or weeks without profit, only to collect a months wages in one fell swoop.

Trading demands a total rewiring of how you think and approach money. Grasping strategies and concepts is two dimensional. It takes work but it’s not difficult.

However, the psychological side is multi faceted. It requires a fundamental understanding of your personality, triggers, your flaws & weeding them out. You must develop patience and discipline. You must learn to be defensive, protect your capital and be controlled with your aggression which will mean leaving profits, but more importantly avoiding catastrophic losses. Losses hurt more than wins. Loss aversion is a cognitive bias that describes why the pain of losing is twice as powerful than the pleasure of gaining. Wiping yourself clean will hurt you mentally. Loss of confidence, pressure and expectations are unsettling and this will spill over into your trading. You can not trade optimally if you are not relaxed.

Finally, you must learn to love and enjoy executing the process. Do not be possessed by money. Trade correctly, become process rather than goal orientated and it will come. Be satisfied with what your doing, what you have and what will inevitably be built over the long term. Take care of the process and the results take care of themselves.

Speak soon.

AT

*excuse the cynical title! On Wednesday’s premium post, I will take a deep dive into my risk management and staking plan on horse racing + portfolio allocation essentials in crypto. Enjoy a free trial to view the content using this link: https://anymantrading.substack.com/0d051801