Ever watch someone play whack-a-mole at an arcade?
That’s how most traders approach the market. They’re constantly swinging their mallet, hoping to hit something… anything.
And guess what? They end up exhausted, frustrated and broke.
I used to be that trader. I thought more trading meant more money. (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.)
Here’s what these “machine gun traders” do:
➡️Trade every day regardless of market conditions
➡️Take the same position size on every trade
➡️Ignore dangerous market conditions
➡️Use rigid, unchanging trading rules
The result?
Their trading accounts get torn apart by:
❌ Small profits even on their best trades
❌ Unnecessary losses in dangerous markets
❌ Death by a thousand cuts from overtrading
❌ Emotional exhaustion from constant action
Here’s what pro traders know that others don’t:
Maximum effectiveness doesn’t come from constant action – it comes from selecting the perfect moment to strike.
Sometimes market conditions are not optimal to trade, so it’s best to stay out. (This is how the Smashing False Breakouts program works.)
And then other times the market conditions are absolutely perfect, so it’s worth increasing your position size. (This is how Dynamic Position Sizing works.)
The key is to be able to assess the market conditions and adapt your trading dynamically to the market.
Be selective.
As Jesse Livermore said in the book “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator”:
“The desire for constant action irrespective of underlying conditions is responsible for many losses.”
Pick your moments,
Tomas
