Dear Reader

Trading and investing in the stock market not only means you need to have a thorough understanding of Fundamental Analysis, Technical Analysis, Trading Strategy, Portfolio Management and Risk Management. You also need to be able to understand yourself, or more importantly understand how you react to certain situations.

Here we have a list of personality traits that are akin to people we all know, and in fact we all have a little of all of them in us. Here we detail the positive personality traits. 

Captain Contrarian

“A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.” Warren Buffet.

When the news is as bad as it could possible get, when brokers are losing their shirts, their jobs and their Porsches, when apparently sane people are moving to the country to live off the land because of economic meltdown, THAT IS THE TIME TO BUY, and BUY BIG. That is where the biggest profits are.

Sir Right Royal Run for the Hills

All successful traders incorporate the gentry into their trading style.

Be ready to change your opinion, quickly When the trade goes bad, get out! Pride = Pain in the stock market.  

Corporal Commitment

Not a role usually associated with young males, however when you commit to a trade commit.

The most successful investors, when they have made a decision commit with everything they have. George Soros broke the Bank of England through his commitment to his belief. If he had gone into the commitment half heartedly, he would have lost everything.

Even if you commit everything be prepared to back out quickly, the size of your commitment, should not hinder your ability to change course in rough seas.  

Sir Houdini

Always have an escape plan, know the criteria by which you will get out. Be it a bad earnings report, a loss of 5%, or a potential global financial crisis.    

The Saint

My mother is a living example of this as she has the Patience of a Saint. Unfortunately I did not inherit this trait naturally, and have had to learn this the hard way. Profits, like a fine Italian Bardolino wine, take time to develop, but when they have developed taste so much better.  

Private Timeout

You do not always need to be in stocks, give yourself a rest stay in cash until the coast is clear.  

The Runner

Do not cut your profits short. Never say “when I make 15% I will sell”. I made this mistake with Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (SWHC). I bought this stock end of March 2009, for $ 3.25, when it broke through a 4 month resistance line. I sold on 10th March 2009, for $ 4.25 (30% gain in 10 days. A healthly gain.´ the stock went on to a heady proce of $ 6.61 over 100% gain. Ouch. Most important is of course make a profit. But if you can learn to control your emotions, and let it run, it big wins are there.  

Brigadier Big Win

It is OK to loose, chances are you will lose 50% of the time, ensure you lose small and win bigger. We will learn more about stop loss strategies in future articles.   I hope this section helps you to learn more about positive mental attributes required to help improve both the numbers of winning trades and the size of the wins.

Summary.

I hope this section helps you to learn more about positive mental attributes required to help improve both the numbers of winning trades and the size of the wins.

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