TradingBlog

It’s a short odds bet that the loudest yell for foremost man / woman will arrive from the ego. Brushing aside sagacity and requests for enclosure alike, the ego will articulate his / her pre-eminence and seize control.

Statistics that habitually substantiate that only 10-20% of traders are reliable net winners are music to the ego’s ears. No self respecting ego could tolerate the prospect of being in the realm of the also ran, those poor, impoverished, less able 80-90%.

Moving back into the unfamiliar shadows the ego usually brings with it an account balance fresh from a rendezvous with nemesis.

A renegade from self inspection, the ego, as befits the original usurper, skulks off in search of more accommodating environment.

Ironically, the ego enjoys its separateness yet slashes towards an undeclared desire for belonging that cannot be articulated. With the ego in the head trader’s seat the drive for action will be dominant, for the ego both needs and loves being in the thick of the action, whatever the merits marketwise. The ego is a vicious force in our trading.

No question that on our trading skills balance sheet the ego is an everlasting occupant in the liability column, the benefit column being considerably overshadowed until it reaches for the light. The way of the deliberately undertaken “egodectemy”, self sought and administered.

The diminishing noise of the ego facilitates the growing incidence of quieter qualities such as intuition. Intuition is perhaps the yin to the ego’s yang, the passive to the active. Unlike the ego which announces itself with such instantaneous urgency, intuition presents itself self effacingly.

It doesn’t require the ego’s display. Intuition is not exempt from egos predatory pulse. To the ego, all is fair game. So, as well as the necessity to be watchful in monitoring our trades we need to be vigilant for contaminations by the ego. For trading mastery, read 24/7 ego monitor.

Prioritizing intuition allows for the gradual development of trust which in turn allows for intuitive insights to be made tangible as signals to act upon. Running before you can walk is one of the ego’s most cherished mantras. Of course, intuition is only one of the skills available to counter the ego’s threat and itself is not infallible, in trading or elsewhere. Trading intuitively doesn’t preclude mistakes.