Patience in trading isn't putting up with a losing trade. It's waiting for your conditions before you enter. You wait for information your knowledge says the market has to give you. If it gives it, you enter with a stop and a target; if not, you don't. And once you're in, patience has done its job and you become a spectator. Be patient with your conditions, not with your losses.
Why are patience and discipline the backbone of trading?
Mohamad opens the episode Patience and Discipline with a clear picture: the market is like a money box. What's inside moves from people who aren't patient or disciplined to people who are — the ones who wait for the right time and the right move to enter.
Your patience is your capital.
What exactly are you being patient about?
That's the central question. Everyone says patience matters, but patience about what? Some say: about the trade, until it hits target or stop. Others: about watching the move. Everyone picks a version of patience to suit themselves.
His answer: patience and discipline about the knowledge you have. The market has conditions you've learned, and they need to be met before you go in. If your analysis says the trend is down and a buying move appears, you shouldn't be in it. That move calls for patience and discipline until you understand it: is the trend changing, or is this a correction before the fall continues?
When does patience end?
It ends when you enter. You waited until the market gave you what you needed, then you went in with a stop and a target. Done. From there your only job is to watch. Some people say: I'm in the trade but I can't be patient with my profits. Patient about what? Your knowledge set a target and you entered for it. It's already decided.
- Holding a losing trade in the hope it comes back.
- Entering with no stop and "being patient" as price runs against you.
- Clinging to the target while you're uneasy about the price action.
- Entering before your conditions are met because you're tired of waiting.
- Waiting for price to reach your area.
- Waiting for every condition you've learned.
- Entering with a stop and target, then watching.
- Taking profit before target if that suits you.
Someone who sets no stop and says they're "being patient" while price runs against them has a gap in their knowledge itself. Knowledge says a trade has a stop, and when it's hit the trade is over. More in Why Risk Management Is More Than Numbers.
When only some of the conditions are met
Say your method waits for several pieces of information before entering. Price reaches your area, gives you one, then another, and the third is late. What do you do? Don't enter. A trade missing a condition is a weak trade. Wait — it may just be slow. And if it never comes, not entering is a complete decision.
He says that when he marks a level on a timeframe and checks the chart again and again without price reaching it, he closes the chart. He doesn't imagine things he'd like to happen. Entering on what you imagine instead of what you see is the shortest route to losing an account. That idea gets its own piece: Why You Should Trade What You See, Not What You Imagine.
Why is patience so hard for some people?
Some people are patient and disciplined in life anyway, so trading comes easier to them. Most of us aren't, because everyday mistakes don't cost much. In trading, a mistake costs you money. So you learn patience through knowledge: once you know what you're waiting for and why, waiting becomes possible.
And people who have learned notice something odd: they're not particularly excited when a target is hit. The satisfaction is in the analysis being right, not in the trade. Trades never run out; correct analysis doesn't come every time. A beginner who wins once or twice without knowing why calls it "beginner's luck" — and then loses the account.
See also Why You Should Stop Expecting Instant Results. Start with the free awareness series, and follow the live sessions to watch the waiting that comes before an entry on a moving chart.
Common questions
What should a trader be patient about?
Their conditions: the information their knowledge needs from the market before entering. Not a losing trade, and not the hope that price will come back.
Does patience mean holding a trade until it hits the target?
No. Once you're in with a stop and a target, patience has done its job and you become a spectator. You can still take profit before the target if that suits your situation.
What if only some of my entry conditions are met?
Don't enter. A trade missing a condition is a weak trade. Wait for the rest; if they don't come, not entering is a complete decision.
How do I learn patience in trading if I'm not a patient person?
Through knowledge. When you know what you're waiting for and why, waiting becomes possible. You can't be patient if you don't know what you're waiting for.
