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The Dangers of Being Meek

The second-to-last trait discussed above, aggressiveness, is perhaps one of the most important for the day trader. Please understand that there is a significant difference between being aggressive in the sense of hostility and aggression to your friends, family, or acquaintances, and being assertive in the markets. Although the Bible may be right in stating that the "meek shall inherit the earth," the fact is that the meek will never be profitable day traders. It is entirely possible that the meek can develop into profitable short-term or position traders, but I suspect that they will never have what it takes to succeed as a day trader. In order to make day trading a profitable venture, you will need to spot trading opportunities quickly, you will need to identify them as actual opportunities, you will need to act on them immediately (but only if they're bona fide signals), and you will need to exit them promptly when your system so indicates.

And I give you another warning here: Be assertive with your broker or order-taker. Far too many traders believe that brokers are all-knowing. The fact is that your opinion may be better than your broker's opinion. Remember that the broker is your employee. The broker works for you. The broker is there to take orders from you. You pay the broker's salary for this service. And the broker must do as you say unless what you have told the broker to do is technically incorrect (i.e., placing an order that is inconsistent or not permitted). Therefore, you must be assertive with your broker when you place an order. Don't say softly to your broker, "Hi, this is Joe, remember me? Account 44578? Do you think you'd be willing to buy one June S&P contract at the market for me?" Don't ever do anything like that! Instead, place your order with confidence and assertiveness. Say "Joe, for account 44578, put one June S&P at the market." How you place your order and how you relate to your broker is a very important part of day trading (and this is true for position trading as well).

Finally, remember that as a day trader you must be immune to the persuasive powers of your broker. Remember that you alone are the best person to pass judgment on the validity of a day trade. You are the one who has (hopefully) researched your system. You alone are the one who has studied your system. And it's your own money that's at stake in the markets. Therefore, you must not under any circumstances allow your broker to talk you into or out of a trade. Too many traders believe that their broker knows more about the markets than they do. This may, in fact, be true. However, unless you play your own game and unless you call your own shots as a day trader, you won't learn anything about the game.