Last update: August 2021

First of all, is the market treating me or am I the one who’s treating the market? Or, let me rephrase, how am I treating the money that I put into the market?

Slawek J —

Lots of friends know what I do for a living. Newer friends and also my wife’s friends don’t know. Once I enlight them, funny situations occur.

Some of them get weirded out, some are polite and ask additional questions. Situations like that happen at family reunions and job picnics during national holidays.

On the 4th of July, just prior to the actual day, my wife’s workplace usually arranges a picnic to which they would invite all workers and their family members as well. I got to meet all of her crew and bosses, the entire accounting department.

So, the Boss of all Bosses approaches me and asks the ultimate question:

— ‘So tell me Slawek, how is that market treating you?’

— ‘Hmmm, you must have been talking to my wife about what I do, right?’

— ‘Yes, sir, she told me. So how is it?’

— ‘Great’, I answered.

— ‘Oh, thank God. You know I have a friend who is also doing good, but another friend lost everything. What a shame. I guess he got in at the wrong time.’

After that last statement, I was yessing him to death. As a matter of fact, I knew that I would be yessing him to right after the first question. But it would be stupid to respond yes after the guy asked how was the market treating me.

How is this market treating me, anyway?

First of all, is the market treating me or am I the one who’s treating the market? Or, let me rephrase, how am I treating the money that I put into the market?

There might be some people out there that will disagree with this statement. To them, I am the one who treats the market or the money that I trade in markets, which is exposed to risk.

Let me ask additional questions, then:

If I don’t participate in the market on any given day, because I oversleep and won’t be able to trade AAPL for example, do you think it will trade in different fashion without me trading 400 shares whatever the trend is?

If I don’t get up early in the morning to trade and place orders, will the markets act differently?

Some of you will probably argue that each time I place an order, the market goes for my stop and once I am stopped out it goes in the desired direction and, therefore, the market treats me bad.

Let’s be real. Do you really think that the market will do that and go for your $100 $1,000 $10,000 stop? Do you really think that after you get in the trade, the market maker goes like “Okay, Jack is in, let’s go for his stop before we move in the direction he wanted us to go”?

The market stays neutral for retail investors. And the retail investor is the one who treats the market or money that is exposed to risk while trading. You have to move with the market like a flea in a dog: it will go wherever the dog desires to.

If I, for example, put my money at risk by trading it, I will always have a stop loss in place. If I get stopped out I will take my loss and move on looking for the next set up. I will not hold losing position because my analysis is showing it should go somewhere else but it is not. And I always pick the smallest possible loss.

So, if you are constantly losing and not treating the market as your personal ATM, don’t you think that maybe it is time to learn new tricks or ask for help? I am the one treating my money while trading, not the other way around.

The market taught me how to be nimble and humble. It tried to teach me right away but it took me a few years to learn.

I do hope you learn right away.

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