The Past vs. the Future, Which Do I Look At?

This question, on the surface, seems so obvious to answer, the only real information we have is in the past, but thinking back on nearly twenty years with Trading Academy, one thing that has always struck me as quite odd is…watching people study charts and asking what they're thinking about, only to watch them point into the blank space to the right of the chart and start telling me a story about what's going to happen and how it’s going to happen.

Inevitably, there are many people who are sitting there trying to imagine what will happen once price reaches their demand zone, but even how it will go from there. This mental activity is truly one of the greatest wastes of time for a new trader and only a mere time filler for an experienced trader, who would certainly have a much better ability to predict price action. However, what an experienced trader knows is that consistent profitability comes from learning to focus on the setup, the patient waiting, the mental and emotional self-control of putting capital at risk, the management of the trade, either allowing price to run, moving a stop at a point in price action THAT HAPPENED, not…is it going to or could it happen, when price HAS ALREADY behaved as needed in order to move the stop. Is this not all accomplished according to a plan that did not require PREDICTING HOW price will move?

So why are you spending even a moment trying to predict how price will move? Is it fear of the unknown? Or subconsciously hoping and attempting to will the market to go where you need it go to have a profitable trade? Yes, it is a fact, for you make money price will need to move in the direction you selected based on your strategy and plan. Yes, it is a fact, if price does not go your way, either continue from a breakout or turn at your preset level of demand or supply, that will lose money. Hoping you can predict whether it will happen is based on outcomes, not an ability to predict the way price action will unfold.

So, the next time you sit down to trade, be sure to focus on things you do control and things you CAN SEE, not the things you can't control, which are things you can't see. For the answers you're looking for, keep your total focus to the left of current price, either above for supply and below for demand, at the origin of imbalance and you'll find what you need. Follow your technical rules, all of which are based on studying the past.  When the time is right, the future will unfold, price action will occur, regardless of your creative mind that loves to make stuff up and try to fill in the blanks to put your nervous, rational mind at ease, and you will have either made or lost money because the analysis of the past gave the correct or incorrect prediction of the future.

Keep your mind focused on the chart and it will tell your eyes where to look and what to look for. Your thoughts, good or bad are inevitable, your success begins with controlling what you do with those thoughts. You're free to kick out the bad thoughts and only hold on to the thoughts that will lead to the outcomes you want. Start with kicking out the thoughts that keep trying to make the trade work just for the sake of your rational mind that is not comfortable with a lack of information and reprogram yourself to say, "I have all of the information I need right here, to the left."