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If you are still interested in trading after all this, go ahead.

Let’s talk about the second stage – conscious incompetence.

I think many people have heard about the organization “Alcoholics Anonymous”, at least the name. Recall: this is a non-profit partnership that helps people suffering from alcohol addiction. It helps with phenomenal efficiency. This method is based on the “12 steps” program.

We sometimes see it in the movies. The person gets up and says: “Hello, my name is Jack, and I’m an alcoholic”. The most important first step is to admit your powerlessness in front of the problem. Everything else later. There will not be this first correct step – there is nowhere else to go. If a person sincerely does not see the problem, says: “I sometimes drink, it happens every day, but of course I’m not an alcoholic…” – it won’t work. Many people get drunk and die without finding the strength to admit the obvious.

Let’s draw an analogy with the levels of competence of a trader.

You are a beginner, you are only taking the first steps. Gradually realizing that for some reason there is no permanent profit. In the market, you lose much more than you earn. You make mistakes in your forecasts every day. You are tormented by panic fear, then animal greed, unwillingness to lose even one dollar. As soon as you open an order, a bearish trend instantly turns into a bullish one, and a bullish one turns into a bearish one. The market seems to have taken up arms against you personally, does not allow you to earn a single cent, constantly deceiving you.

Is this a problem? Without a doubt.

What should I do? To begin with, recognize the problem – incompetence.

Everything else later.

The beginning of recovery begins with the recognition of the disease. Any ambulance doctor can tell a hundred stories when people really died, trying, for example, to cure pneumonia – paracetamol, an acute attack with a ruptured appendicitis – aspirin, chronic bronchitis with laryngeal edema – warm milk with honey, etc. These people did not want to admit their problems and paid for it.

Most traders are eliminated at this level. Surprisingly, people can take the “ostrich position” for years. Lose whole fortunes, but never admit to themselves that they have real problems with trading.

The next trap on the way of a trader who realizes that something needs to be changed is the most dangerous illusion that someone will do this work for you. Let’s explain: more competent people can really help you, suggest something, teach you something. This is absolutely normal. But they can’t become a trader instead of you.

But trusting people are beginning to subscribe to paid signals, buy (sometimes very expensive) indicators, look for investment managers (who will earn them 100% profit per month), connect trading robots, the principle of which they do not even understand… This is the way to nowhere. More precisely, to a quick or slow loss of money. Do you need it?

Trading signals will start to fail when the market changes (for example, from a quiet trend to a volatile trend). An anonymous manager will suddenly disappear after draining your deposit. Trading robots will start making losses instead of profit, and you will not even understand what is the matter. Bill Williams wrote in “Trading Chaos” that if there really was a trading robot that consistently brings profit always and everywhere, it would be rented out for at least $ 30,000,000. Per hour, of course. We will make an adjustment for inflation (since the writing of the book) and estimate the cost of this hypothetical lease at $ 50,000,000. For a non-existent robot.

Imagine the following situation: you are in a foreign country, and for a long time. And you need to live and work in these circumstances. What to do? Learn the language of this country. By myself. If you want to survive. Textbooks, dictionaries, translators will help you – but the main work is still yours.

It’s the same in trading. You have found yourself in a new environment (financial markets), where you need to first survive (not go broke), and then succeed (make a profit). Learn a new language for you – the language of the market. There is no other way.

Recommendations:

– Never despair. Having realized your incompetence, think about the fact that you have just made the right first step. The majority (up to 99% of traders) could not do this either. Further improvement is absolutely real. Stable profit generation is possible and achievable. Go forward.

– There is nothing to do in trading without serious self-education. Again – do not look for easy ways – they do not exist. Don’t chase flashy headlines from anonymous authors: “Eight myths… ten facts… five simple steps… a new indicator… a strategy that gives 310% per month…” and similar information garbage. Most often, such nonsense is written not even by traders, but by copywriters who have not earned a cent on the market. Don’t let them earn money from you. Learn to earn money yourself.

– Constantly read professional literature. Without haste, thoughtfully, making extracts, performing exercises. From my personal experience: I realized myself as a professional after about a hundred books I read and several years of constant work on myself. And who said it would be easy?

– Don’t rush things. Don’t set any hard time goals: “I have to become a trader in a year”. This will take as long as it takes. A doctor, before performing the simplest operation, studies for at least six years. Who said that the profession of a trader will be easier? Why on earth would a market with a turnover of trillions of dollars start sharing profits with dilettante? Think about it.