Hey Trader,
I’ve shared in past writeups that when I was in a younger body, I practiced martial arts with full contact sparring on a weekly basis.
I learned a lot about reading an opponent’s subtle moves, the mechanics of my own body, and how to handle pain in the middle of a bout.
I never fought in a tournament or a paid match, but I think there’s a lot to learn from that training mindset, especially in this volatile summer. Let me start with the fighter to set the stage.
If a prize fighter has a bout and loses, what do they do? Do they quit because they lost?
Do they say, “I got knocked out, no more fighting for me”? Do they count their bruises and tell all their friends how much fighting sucks?
Do they blame their loss on the referee, their trainer, the media, their friends? The short answer to all of these is no, not if they’re a professional.
A professional fighter is often back in the gym the next day with their trainer.
They treat their injuries, review their performance, and strategize how to avoid the same mistakes next time. As soon as they’re feeling well enough, they’re back in the ring.
They may start with shadowboxing, roadwork, jump rope, and working the bag.
But very quickly they get in the ring with a partner, someone who isn’t trying to knock them out but will hit them and help them improve their footwork, their speed, their dodging, their counterpunching.
The goal isn’t to avoid hits. The goal isn’t to quit.
The goal is to learn, grow, adapt, and get back in the ring, and even friendly sparring in the trainer’s gym still comes with real punches and impact.
The prize fighter in trading does a lot of the same. If a trader has a losing trade, they shouldn’t throw in the towel or quit.
It does them no good to blame the markets, their trainer, the weather, the politicians, or the tweets. It doesn’t help to sit and sulk while counting their bruises.
As a professional trader, we review our losses. We revisit our trading plan or strategy and make sure we have one.
We adapt to the current markets. We work on our footwork, our speed of execution when we see a signal.
We shadowbox and work the bag, which means paper trading. We get back in the ring for sparring, which means trading live with small positions and small losses.
We’ll still feel the punches, but they’ll be small and less significant, certainly not a devastating injury.
This is how we get back so we can win the prize money. It still requires throwing punches and taking punches, and in the end, we can and will win the bouts, and the prize money with it.
Blake Young
Senior Market Strategist, TheoTRADE
