I remember back in 1997 when I entered into Maverick Trading as a brand new trader. As I watched over the shoulders of the traders who had been trading for years, I couldn’t believe how easy it looked. They seemed to go in and out of the market with precise timing, always evaluating when the market was going to move. However, when I sat down at my own computer, it didn’t come as easy to me as I was pretty sure I was getting in and out at the absolutely worst time. How in the world could they make it look so easy while I was having a difficult time with the easy stuff?
As I sat pondering this issue, I recalled a young kid|recalled one of my players I was coaching on the high-school rugby team I was coaching ask me how in the world I could kick as accurately as I, or pass a ball that far, or read the defense of the other team. At first I thought, well…I just can. When I really thought about it, I recalled all the time and practice I put|But my next thought took me back to all the weeks of practice I had put into the sport of rugby since I was a teenager. I remembered all the days going outside practicing kicks, pasing the ball as far as I could and watching every rugby game I could get my hands on| all the times kicking that oval rugby ball, pasing the ball as far as I could and watching every rugby game I could get my hands on|analyze every video of the New Zealand AllBlacks I could find. I recalled playing hundreds of games over 15 years of my career. And the answer I gave that kid was, “practice, practice, practice”. He took that advice and became the most amazing|my urging and soon became the greatest rugby player In the nation. as he grew up,He ended up playing on the US Eagles national team, surpasing any of my personal achievements in rugby.
As I struggled my first couple weeks trading at Maverick Trading, I quickly realized I was just like that kid. What I wanted was immediatesuccess without putting in the years of hard work to get there. Over the years, I have seen this fantasy of trading the markets are the easy way to make a living. In fact, they tout it on infomercials, seminars and websites all around.

So, you announce to your family that you are going to quit your job, become a full time trader, profits will flow effortlessly into your account and life will be wonderful. It all seems so easy, everyone else is doing it, so why can’t you. You are equally as smart as the next guy.

This type of thinking borders on the delusional. Just as one cannot wake up one day and announce that one, without any formal education training including the school of hard knocks is going to start practicing law or medicine, one does not start making a living from trading. Get over yourself, because it is a fantasy.

No matter how many indicators, website subscriptions, trading books you have, you have to pay your dues. Trading is simple, but not easily mastered. Successful trading is a skill that takes effort, time, study and disciplinededication. In order to achieve and master these skills, one must progress on a path, which is mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. As most traders will tell you, this is the hardest test ever taken. Start where you are, and realize it won’t come without work|understand that it is about the process, that it takes time and Champions execute the fundamentals with unconscious competence. That means they’ve practiced the moves so many times in the past that they can do them almost perfectly without thinking about it. Television has blasted us with all the images of game winning shots that Michael Jordan made look almost effortless. However, we never see the 100 shots he took every single day or the early morning practices before anyone else was at the gym. Practice makes perfect.

Robb Reinhold, Head Trader
Maverick Trading