My journey in trading has mirrored that of other disciplines I've engaged in throughout my life.

When I was studying martial arts, my teacher shared with me a quote from Bruce Lee (I'm paraphrasing actually):

"Before you take Kung Fu, a punch is just a punch.
When you learn Kung Fu, a punch is no longer just a punch.
After you master Kung Fu, a punch is just a punch."

While I don't pretend to have ever mastered the martial arts, I did study them for many years and was able to experience the truth of those words.

They also apply to trading.

Before we begin trading, it looks deceptively easy:

- Simply follow the trend and buy on dips
- Simply buy the breakout.
- Simply trade the double tops, double bottoms, head and shoulders.
- Simply trade the trend line.
- Simply ...

Simple.

Easy.

Then you start trading and discover that it's not as easy as it first looked.

So you try various moving averages, proprietary indicators, different time frames, a variety of charting platforms, the newest book, the latest mentor ... and after many, many losses, you realize that trading is neither easy nor simple!

But if you stick with it long enough, and go through the trial and error of all that "stuff," and don't quit ... you get frustrated with it all and realize that there is nothing that predicts what the market is going to do.

Nothing.

There's only so much you can do, and that "so much" is to put probabilities on your side. So you abandon trying to predict or forecast, you accept that losses are an inescapable part of the business, you establish a probability scenario (your trading method) and then you trade it with the discipline of a professional. And when the probabilities are not on your side (which is most of the time) ... you simply wait until they are. That means you spend most of your time waiting!

You realize that successful trading is more about managing your own behavior than indicators and chart patterns.

So you go back to basics.

After seeing all the stuff that "doesn't work," you fall back on the simple basic things:

- A simple trend indicator.
- A simple momentum indicator.
- A simple cycle indicator.
- You become more patient and take fewer, better trades.
- You employ impeccable discipline and money management (the best known "secret" to trading).

And then trading becomes simple again, perhaps less exciting, but certainly more profitable!

At least that's been my experience.

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