The Waiting Game

After watching the market action over the past several days, I have come to the conclusion that patience is arguably one of the most important tools that a seasoned trader must utilize. It doesn't matter how many monitors you have hooked up to your PC. It doesn't matter how complex or fast your software is at spitting out stock ideas. And it doesn't matter how many years of trading experience you have. If you are missing one key ingredient (patience), then the rest doesn't matter. Patience is what keeps you in the game during the boom times and patience is what keeps you out on the sidelines during the market meltdowns as well. As traders, we all have this inherent itch to constantly trade. It's as if it were an addiction. But this little itch is what gets us into trouble and helps us lose our profits. In order to be successful, one has to control this itch and substitute it with patience. Only then can one really master the markets and become consistently profitable.