The one important thing you’ll need to think about (as a trader) is WHY you’re trading. It’s a simple enough question, isn’t it? But unfortunately, many traders don’t understand themselves well enough to give an honest answer. Allow me to share with you what I found out after some deep inner reflection; and see if it helps you better understand yourself as a trader too.

When I first started out in trading, I couldn’t wait to enter into new positions. I was anxious to start making money… or so I thought. A few months later, however, I realized that I wasn’t actually trading for the money… I found out that I was actually trading for an entirely different reason! And this resulted in my discovery of why I kept making the same stupid trading mistakes time and time again.

Today, there are many more traders who trade just like how I used to… making the same obvious mistakes that they don’t even realize because they still think that they’re trading for money.

The Real Reason

The reason why I made plenty of bad trading decisions early on in my trading career is the same reason why many traders are losing money today… I traded for the adrenaline rush. I traded for the excitement of winning, and even for the emotional lows of losing. I know this simply sounds like I was just being stupid, but I’m telling you, there are thousands and thousands of people out there trading because of this exact same reason! They just don’t know it yet.

At that time, I honestly didn’t care too much about whether I won or lost. I just THOUGHT that I did care. I knew in my head that it was normal to want to make money, and to want to avoid losing money. I knew intellectually that making money was the correct goal to have in trading. It’s common sense, right?

What I didn’t know, was that I was only lying to myself. Trading to me was a rollercoaster ride. And I loved the exhilaration of trading. I loved the feeling of winning, and I even loved feeling absolutely terrible whenever I lost money. It took a few months before I finally realized that I was "addicted" to the emotional ups and downs of trading. Trading to me was like a drug... and it was a very expensive drug indeed.

And so I hope that if you’re suffering from the same weakness, that you’ll now at least be aware of it. Identification of a problem is the first step to fixing it.

So think about it. What’s your real reason for trading?