Being Patient

One of the more difficult skills in option trading or stock trading is being patient. Of course, patience simply means waiting for our turn to make a score. But like as a hitter in baseball we must wait for our pitch before swinging the bat. That hitter never really knows when that 'fat' pitch is going to be delivered over the plate, if ever at all. But as traders we cannot continue to swing over and over and miss each and every time. We simply don't have an endless flow of funds to waste, waiting on the eventual win which may only arrive due to luck. As you recall, luck is defined as preparation meeting opportunity. If we keep swinging, we're bound to get lucky.

Luck is fine for a short time, but it is nothing we can rely on regular. Market conditions won't always be accommodating to our constant desire to trade and make money. Therefore, we need to exercise patience and wait, as disappointing and boring as that may sound. It's okay to wait, because that choice tells us we are evaluating the conditions and the situation in real time, recognizing we may not have an advantage at that very moment.  

We realize that moment when we start putting our precious capital to work is in the future. How far into the future will that be? We don't know the answer nor do we attempt to answer it, but the landscape and environment will tell us it's time to trade. And because we were patient through choppy conditions, we have not risked the capital needed to grow our accounts.

Understand this, we are not waiting for the perfect conditions to trade, just a time when we can feel comfortable that the outcome will be favorable. Trading is not a game of perfect, and conditions are never so ideal that we can make money at anytime. We don't care if it is trading the markets down or up, just something we can ride to increase our wealth. Being patient and waiting for that moment to trade will save you from the pain of falling behind when you put your capital at risk during a tough trading environment.