Trust The Process: Committing to Your Trading Strategy Leads to Success
Why discipline and consistency are crucial: unwavering focus and commitment to your trading strategy is essential for profitability.
One of the most critical elements of success as a systematic trader is having the discipline to consistently follow your trading system. Developing a robust, well-tested strategy with positive expectancy is essential - but it's only half the battle. The other key component is being able to execute that strategy with precision and without deviating from the rules, even during inevitable periods of drawdown.
With the ability to make continuous analysis and choices, we are instinctively inclined to avoid losses and pursue gains. When a string of losing trades occurs, the temptation can be strong to override the system - to skip the next trade, to exit a position early, or to let a winning trade run longer than the system dictates in hopes of booking a bigger gain. While this may work out sometimes, in the long run these discretionary overrides will deteriorate the carefully crafted edge of the trading system.
Think of a casino. The house doesn't win every single bet, but by consistently applying their small statistical edge over a large sample size, the profits are nearly guaranteed. The same principle applies to trading - by steadfastly implementing a positive expectancy system, the probabilities will play out in your favor over time. But if you start to make discretionary decisions, you no longer have that same probabilistic edge.
Of course, this doesn't mean a trading system should never evolve or be modified. Markets change over time and ongoing analysis and optimization of a strategy is prudent. But those changes should be made based on objective re-testing and re-evaluation of the system itself - not emotionally-driven, ad-hoc decisions in the heat of trading.
Legendary trader Paul Tudor Jones once said "The key to being successful from a trading perspective is to have an indefatigable and an undying and unquenchable thirst for information and knowledge." I would add that equally important is the unshakable discipline to consistently act on that knowledge by sticking to your thoroughly-tested trading rules. Combine a robust strategy with rock-solid discipline in executing it, and you'll be well on your way to trading success.
