A Losing Thesis (Part 2)

I realized this week how little discussion I have seen lately about trading losses.

Because I believe one of the best ways to improve as a trader is to discuss and study losses, I am a bit surprised more people aren’t doing this. I’m quite sure not everyone around me is realizing windfall trading profits. Is it a matter of ego where people feel ashamed/embarrassed to talk about losses since many regard losing as failure? Maybe people feel angry or depressed and don’t want to rub the sore spot? I talk freely about my losses and you will rarely hear me expressing heroic victory over a win unless I am being sarcastic.

Perhaps people aren’t talking about losses because they aren’t doing any significant trading. I mentioned the woman from August 11 who is currently out of the market. Everyone from that Tuesday Meetup mentioned a full-time job. Mr. Know It All, the day trader from the Wednesday Meetup, is retired so he probably isn’t devoting 40+ hours/week. I know a few others from that Meetup work full-time and hope to learn enough about investing to supplement income. Everyone in my option trading group has a separate full-time job.

It’s quite clear from my experience that the vast majority of traders do so part-time. The level of commitment among part-timers ranges from serious/intense to intermittent/zero. When trading part-time, it’s easy to close a position or two and not be trading at all.

One other thing is quite clear to me as well: people doing no trading are not developing as traders. Luck aside, if they want to make consistent money in the markets then they need to consistently work and develop the craft. I believe only the serious part-timers have a good chance to fare well so the rest might as well disappear when the going gets rough to live more comfortably, right?