10 Things That Do Not Matter in Trading

10 Things That Do Not Matter in Trading

Here are 10 things that too many new traders worry about that really do not matter in the long term in trading.

  1. It does not matter who your broker is as long as they give you fast execution in the market with minimal slippage and their commissions are about the same as other brokers. Who your broker has little to nothing to do with your success if they are average or better.
  2. It does not matter how much money you make in the markets if you trade too big you will eventually just give it all back over the long term. What you make in the market does not matter it is what you keep that makes all the difference.
  3. Profitable trading is meaningless if you can not define your edge, quantify it and repeat it over and over again. Too many confuse randomness, luck, or a bull market with skill.
  4. No single trade matters outside the framework of a trading system. Any one trade can just be random in nature without the context of a system’s performance expectation based on quantified signals.
  5. It does not matter how much money you make in a bull market if you lose all your profits in the next bear market. Locking in profits and taking money off the table while it is still there is the skill that does matter.
  6. Your trading plan does not matter if you have not defined your edge.
  7. If you have no trading rules then your trades do not matter, they are all violations of rules.
  8. If you did not back test your trading system on historical data then it does not matter. If you do not know how it performed in the past you have no expectations for the future.
  9. If you do not manage your position sizing and risk of ruin your trading only matters until you blow up your account, then it doesn’t matter.
  10. If you don’t do your homework when the market is closed it does not matter what you do when the market is open.