Don’t Focus on “Profits”

Get the “Trading Process” Right First

In the early stages of trading, 95% of traders make the same mistake: paying too much attention to profit and loss results. They either set goals like “make XX dollars a day” or dwell on a single loss for half a day. The more they focus, the more chaotic it gets, and their trading decisions become completely driven by emotions.

The real key is: focus on the process you can control and ignore the results you cannot control.

What you can control: strictly following your trading rules, doing proper reviews, managing your position sizes well.

What you cannot control: market movements, the profit or loss of a single trade (no matter how perfect your strategy is, normal losses will occur).

If a loss is a “normal fluctuation within the strategy”—for example, you entered and set a stop loss strictly according to the rules, but the market just didn’t go as expected—then there is no need to regret it. Calmly move on to the next trade.

Over-fixating on profit and loss will only make you lose your way in the market’s random fluctuations and lead to worse and worse results.