How to Succeed in Trading Over the Long Term

[Trading With Larry Benedict]( How to Succeed in Trading Over the Long Term By Larry Benedict, editor, Trading With Larry Benedict Trading is different from just about any other business I know. You can start with a small amount – maybe as little as a thousand dollars. And there’s no cap on how high you can go… or how fast you can get there. But therein lies the challenge… Some traders burst out of the blocks – but flame out just as quickly. Others come undone from just a single trade. That’s because they approach trading the wrong way. They focus too much on gains rather than the most important aspect of all… Recommended Link [The Perceptron]( [image]( Discover an “invisible” pattern in the crypto market that could help you make large gains, over and over again… while Bitcoin bounces up and down For a limited time, you can get the name and ticker of Jeff’s top crypto pick FREE [Details here]( -- Focus on Risk The problem with only focusing on wins is that it’s only a matter of time before you make the wrong call… I’ve seen traders start with a run of big wins. They soon thought they had the market on a string. As each successive trade went their way, they’d bet an even higher amount on the next trade. When a trade or three finally went against them, they tore a hole right through their account. It shattered their confidence as well. The mistake was only focusing on the size of their potential profits… and not the amount they were risking. It’s something I did as well… When I started in the pits of the Chicago Board Options Exchange 40 years ago, I blew up my account several times over. And I had to go through the heart-wrenching process of starting over again. I only turned things around when I finally realized that risk management was critical to trading success. Banking Wins I learned to take smaller wins frequently instead of aiming for moonshots. It’s hard to overstate how important this is… Get into the habit of continually banking winners. It’s a matter of working the odds. There are a lot more smaller winners than larger gains. So, start small… Try to regularly bank just a hundred dollars. Once you’re doing that consistently, you can aim to build up to $500… and then eventually $1,000. That’s what I did. And eventually, I was regularly banking over a million dollars a trade while running my hedge fund. Throughout my career, I made a million dollars or more on a single trade more than 500 times. But even if you don’t have access to hedge fund levels of capital, you can still make a significant difference in your life simply by consistently banking wins of whatever size. Free Trading Resources Have you checked out Larry’s free trading resources on his website? It contains a full trading glossary to help kickstart your trading career – at zero cost to you. Just [click here]( to check it out. Snowballing Your Account The other key factor is to never overcommit capital to any trade. In general, I recommend risking no more than 2-3% of your trading money on any one trade. And if you have a series of losses, I’d make that even smaller (1-2%) until you get back on track. By banking whatever gains I could, my account steadily began to build. So using a percentage allowed me to organically grow my position size. For example, 3% of $10,000 is $300 put toward a trade. Once your trading capital hits $15,000, 3% becomes $450 per trade. And so on. That’s how you snowball your account to something much larger. Contrast this approach with traders who bet big in the hope of recouping past losses… If the trade goes against them, they lose an even bigger chunk of their account. It’s a spiral that almost always leads to an account wipeout. So instead, focus on managing risk and regularly banking winners. You’ll steadily build your trading account – and confidence. And that’s what will lead you to substantive wealth over time. Regards, Larry Benedict Editor, Trading With Larry Benedict Recommended Link [Your Financial Planner Would NEVER Tell You to Invest This Way]( [image]( For the past several years, Silicon Valley insider Jeff Brown has shown a wide range of folks how to retire wealthy. But he hasn’t done it the usual way… His method is different – unlike anything you’ve probably ever seen. Fair warning: Your financial planner would NEVER tell you to follow this “Retirement Blueprint.” [Click here to see how it works.]( -- [The Opportunistic Trader]( The Opportunistic Trader 55 NE 5th Avenue, Delray Beach, FL 33483 [www.opportunistictrader.com]( To ensure our emails continue reaching your inbox, please [add our email address]( to your address book. This editorial email containing advertisements was sent to {EMAIL} because you subscribed to this service. To stop receiving these emails, click [here](. The Opportunistic Trader welcomes your feedback and questions. But please note: The law prohibits us from giving personalized advice. To contact Customer Service, call toll free Domestic/International: 1-888-208-6550, Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm ET, or email us [here](mailto:feedback@opportunistictrader.com). © 2024 Omnia Research, LLC. All rights reserved. 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