TRADING FLOOR SECRETS: The Psychology and Mistakes of Trading, Scott Kramer

"Everyone who trades will have losses. Period. That's why it is termed trading, and not profiting. Along with education, how you mentally prepare for the inevitable is what will determine your success in trading-or life, for that matter.

The difficult thing about losing trades is that they can drain people mentally, physically, emotionally and perhaps even spiritually. Maintaining the right frame of mind is key in getting past hurdles, as it is frustrating for even the most mechanical traders to admit that they made a mistake. After all, no one forced you to make the trade, so admitting that you are your own worst enemy can be very humbling. Even Sir Issac Newton (arguably the greatest mind history has seen, inventor of integral calculus, physicist, discoverer of gravity, philoso! pher, etc.) after losing his fortune in the South Sea Bubble of 1720, went on to state in embarrassment and self-deprecating modesty, “I can calculate the motions of heavenly bodies....But not the madness of people.”