To Bet Or Not To Bet? That Is The Question When Trading
It has been great to witness the rise of some of the best traders on our forum in the past few weeks, so much so that we want to start rewarding our best ‘posters’, is that a phrase? I’m not sure but I think you know what I mean. We want to have some kind of monthly MVP or trader of the month award. If you have any ideas for this or for prizes please let me or Ryan know.
Anyway, to today’s topic and it is something that I have seen a lot recently and has worried me. I am talking about people betting when they shouldn’t, just because there is nothing better to bet on/do. Now, I will start this by saying I am not one to criticise, I have fallen for every trap during my journey as a trader over the years.
It seems like a ‘no brainer’ doesn’t it? Wait for a great opportunity, don’t force your bets but this is easier said than done. If you only have one spare hour a day, you will want to utilise that hour to best effect by getting a days worth of trading in. Problem is, trading doesn’t always work like that, it doesn’t tailor itself to suit your schedule, we need to accept that. It is far better to leave it and wait for the right opportunity and wait a bit longer to win than bet just because you are free and lose.
Ok but how do I know when I am falling into this trap? A few pointers I use as a rule of thumb:
Don’t make a bet I wouldn’t make if another better one was available
If there was a great bet available that I would definitely take, would I also still take this lesser bet? Sometimes, yes, as it is still good value! Other times questioning this makes me realise the answer is no and therefore I should not make this bet.
What would Ryan do?
Is Ryan the messiah? Not quite, but he is a damn good trader and his style is very conservative, one or two great value bets a day does this trick. So he doesn’t need to force it and therefore neither do I!
Not much on, would I be better off spending this time learning/researching?
We all know the value of education, it is drummed into us as kids and we drum it into our kids (mine are metaphorical as I don’t have any but I plan to drum it into them when I do!) So why not spend the hour reading up on strategy or reading back through some posts on BTC? So much good info/education available on trading these days that we all should be spending time on it!
So that’s it! Pretty simple advice I have learned over the years.
