According to the author, he has been trading in financial markets for 7 years and has earned several million dollars from them. Below are five principles that, in his view, a beginning trader should have known from the very start.

1. Strategy Doesn't Make a Trader Profitable. Consistently Following One Strategy Does

Many novice traders search for the "best" strategy and believe that it alone will determine their success. A trader's edge and the probability of success in the market are indeed important. In practice, however, a trader often applies a randomly found strategy, loses on the first trades, and concludes that it doesn't work.

A strategy may work for some traders and not for others. The trader's task is to find a strategy that they fully understand and to stick with it for as long as it shows stable profitability.

The most common mistake of beginners is switching from one strategy to another after the first losing trade. According to the author, this is the main reason for the losses of unprofitable traders.

No strategy yields 100% winning trades. If such a strategy existed, everyone would be rich. A strategy only increases the probability that a trade will be profitable and ensures a larger profit on winning trades compared to the loss on losing trades. That exhausts its function.

Thus, a strategy must have three properties:

• a high probability that there will be more winning trades than losing trades (a good percentage of successful trades);
• a high probability of a larger profit on winning trades;
• a high probability of smaller losses on losing trades (a good risk/reward ratio).

2. Losses are part of trading

Profitable traders accept losses as part of a probabilistic model. They understand that a strategy does not succeed 100% of the time, but it provides an edge over the long run.

An unprofitable trader perceives a loss as a mistake. They look for what they did wrong, figure out how to fix it, or change their strategy. A profitable trader perceives a loss as part of the strategy's statistics.

Any strategy can generate profit if it provides a probabilistic edge. To find such a strategy, the author recommends:

1. Finding a strategy, including from open sources.
2. Conducting backtesting, that is, testing on historical data.
3. Determining which strategy provides a good percentage of winning trades and a good risk/reward ratio.
4. Accepting that losses are inevitable, since profits from winning trades cover losses in the long term.

3. The Market Doesn't Know the Trader and Owes Him Nothing

Many traders believe the market is working against them. For example, a stop order gets triggered by a single tick, after which the price quickly moves toward the take-profit level. In such a situation, the trader says the market is "hunting" him.

The author argues that his success, both in trading and in his personal life, began when he stopped looking for external culprits for his problems and took full responsibility for his results.

The reason is simple. If a loss is explained by the market, then the situation cannot be improved, because the trader does not control the market. The same applies to external factors: bad mood, other people, family, or the people around him. When a result is tied to something a person cannot influence, it is also impossible to change future results.

A more productive way of framing it sounds like this: "I caused my stop to be triggered. What can I improve?" This approach makes it possible to influence future results.

4. All Traders Experience Emotions. The Difference Is in Their Actions

Emotions arise in all traders, including profitable ones. The difference is that profitable traders do not act under the influence of their emotions.

The author illustrates this with an example: if a person is very angry at a friend, acting on that anger, for instance by hitting them, is almost never reasonable. If, however, they control their reaction, take a few deep breaths, and assess the situation more calmly, the decision turns out to be more deliberate and based on the available data.

In trading, emotional reactions show up as follows:

• after a loss, there is a desire to open a new trade immediately to prove oneself right;
• after a loss, the risk of the next trade increases in order to recover the money faster.

According to the author, these decisions are typical mistakes of unprofitable traders. The main advice is to ask yourself before every action: "What am I feeling right now?" and "Is this decision reasonable at this moment?" Awareness of one's own emotions reduces the likelihood of wrong actions.

5. Торговый план создан для защиты капитала

Многие трейдеры считают, что торговый план или план управления рисками должен приносить прибыль. Автор утверждает, что его основная функция — защита капитала.

В стратегии обычно заложено несколько условий, которые должны выполниться до входа в сделку. Например, трейдер ждёт снятия ликвидности (liquidity sweep), затем слома структуры (break of structure) и затем появления зоны справедливой стоимости (fair value gap). Эти условия защищают от входа, который может привести к убытку. Без них трейдер может купить сразу после снятия минимума, не дождавшись подтверждения.

План управления рисками защищает от крупных потерь, снижает влияние эмоций и позволяет продолжать торговлю.

Планы создаются не для получения прибыли напрямую, а для сохранения капитала и ожидания качественных возможностей на рынке. Прибыль в долгосрочной перспективе, по мнению автора, возникает именно из этой дисциплины.

Conclusion

The author claims that these five principles would have helped him skip several years of unprofitable trading and reach profitability sooner.