On Being Invincible
"Who then is invincible? The one who cannot be upset by anything outside their reasoned choice."
— Epictetus, Discourses
This is a really interesting topic when we look at it through the eyes of a trader!
There are two sides to this, so let me explain.
As successful traders we can take what the markets throw at us, because we have prepared ourselves to be ready for any scenario that may occur during a trade. This is because we have a strategy, a plan, a set of rules and criteria that has to be met "BEFORE" we enter a trade and we know exactly what we need to do, regardless of what happens when we are in that trade. On most occasions our trades will run according to plan and we can get matched for our targeted pre-race/game profit. We must however act swiftly and decisively without hesitation if we have to, ensuring that we are protecting our bank at all times when trades are not going our way. This makes us appear invincible because we can control everything that the markets throw at us and execute our trades correctly through constant practice, rinsed and repeated over and over again. Because of this we know our strategies inside out and we are at peace and comfortable with what we are doing.
The other side to this, is that we can get complacent, cocky, over confident, even have an air of arrogance about ourselves, because we feel invincible. Our mindset is slowly switching to thoughts like "this is so easy" and we then start to become careless with our trades!
I must stress that it is vital for us to remain humble and stay grounded when we are doing well and be 100% disciplined at all times, to stick to the rules/criteria for our strategies. Don't undo all the hard work by feeling invincible and becoming ill disciplined and careless with your trades. Every trade we make needs to be executed exactly the same as the last one and the one before that. If we stay disciplined and patient, with the correct mindset, we can be invincible to what the markets throw at us.
So when we have successfully executed a trade according to our plan, we can say; "next!"