On Patience
"When you are doing nothing..."
The Trap Door Spider
A trap door spider is an interesting arachnid. It waits patiently, in its burrow, for its prey to come along.
Then, at the exact right moment, it strikes.
Fascinating.
Most of us, however, lack any of the extreme patience required if it was necessary to our survival. We can barely imagine waiting 20 minutes to get into our doctor’s appointment, let alone three days straight without moving just to catch or next meal.
But this type of patience is not only helpful, but necessary, if we want to be successful in stock trading.
Doing Nothing
Sometimes doing nothing is the hardest thing to do. But it’s the best thing to do. Jesse Livermore, master trader, puts it this way:
"When you are doing nothing, those speculators who feel they must trade day in and day out, are laying the foundation for your next venture. You will real the benefits from their mistakes."
-Jesse Livermore
Not only is doing nothing the best thing to do, doing something is often counterproductive.
By doing something, we end up wasting our actual capital, as well as our emotional capital, trying to create something from the market that just is not there.
Because sometimes, in bad markets, what we want from the market is just not there.
Is this one of those times? Maybe, it depends on what type of market is best for our style.
What’s important here is being able to recognize when to be in, and when to be out. And take the time to rest our mind, and keep our money safe, when the time is not right.
It’s hard to do, but it’s a lesson many of the greatest traders have had to learn, often the hard way.
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