I’m a huge NBA fan.  Have been since I was a kid and my family had season tickets to the Nicks.   

I used to have loads of fun going to the games with the old man and cheering for Michael “Sugar Ray” Richardson and Ray Williams

I also loved playing basketball at school, along with tennis and swimming.  

I know you are wondering what this has to do with trading.

Everything!

You see watching professional athletes perform on a world-class level is fun. 

It’s glamorous.

It invokes dreams of “living the life” in the young and old alike.  

But when you actually play sports, at any level, you realize how much work goes into developing the skills.  

I remember hearing a story about Jordan when he was in high school.  He was cut from his JV basketball team one year. The coach could clearly see he was disappointed – so he asked Jordan if he wanted to make the team the following year.

Jordan answered “yes,” and the coach told him to be in the gym every day an hour before school. 

Not only did Jordan make the varsity team the next year, but he also went on to become the greatest player to ever play the game. 

Without those early mornings, we would likely have never seen Jordan soar from the Lane Line, tongue out, ball-in-hand to dunk on everyone and anyone in the NBA at the time. 

It’s the disciplined, ugly, boring, hard work that makes people great.  

And the same is true when it comes to trading.  

Recently, the market has been a bit unforgiving for traders.  We can make money when the market goes up, and we can make money when the market goes down…

But when it is just sitting in a tight range – that’s the time WE grind it out.

We manage our positions, discipline ourselves from entering trades for the sole purpose of doing something, and we wait…

Because the market is never still for long, and when it starts moving, we will be ready to reap the rewards of the grind.  

If you want to be ready when the market starts to move again, then click here and grab your $19 trial membership to Options360.  

To Your Success,

Steve

PS. This is the time for discipline, not the time to start chasing “one-hit wonder” high flyers.  Yes, you can make an impressive ROI on a trade or two, but as a strategy, it almost always leads to disaster. 

I’ve been doing this professionally for decades because I don’t allow myself to fall prey to the siren song of hot IPOs or other speculations.  My way is not as exciting, but it still offers solid gains (48% overall last year) and it keeps you in the game for years.