Trading: the hardest game in the world — not for everyone
I’m mainly a cryptocurrency trader. But this following quote from Professional FX and Financial Futures Trader, Tom Dante, also applies to crypto. Actually it applies to ALL MARKETS.
Welcome to the hardest game in the world.
Unfortunately, you’re playing with some of the sharpest, fastest, most intelligent,
well informed, stubbornly irrational and in many cases, unethical minds in the world.
You’re up against the computer that can react faster than you.
The trader who has more experience than you.
The fund that has more money than you.
The insider that has more information than you.
The others that will misinform you.
The inner voice that will do it’s best to undo you.
So, leave all your dreams of making quick and easy money, behind.
The first aim is survival.
Your absolute first goal is to learn how to stay in the game.
You can only do this by mapping the territory.
By understanding how the enemy thinks and acts.
By having a solid game plan.
And by picking your battles very, very carefully.
Ready to play?
So basically if you’re the type that always blames your tools, you will never survive trading crypto, even more so trading in general.
Now if you bought bitcoin recently, expecting to get rich in the near future without actively trading it, I'm afraid I have bad news for you. You have to learn how to trade BTC with leverage to get rich. If you can't do that, you can copy the trades of pro traders for free. All you have to do is pick the right trader.
Manipulation in markets, specifically cryptocurrencies
Now, there is this anti-Bitcoin writer, Frances Coppola which wrote:
Traditional markets can of course also be manipulated, and regulation is perhaps not as effective as it should be. But replacing a manipulated market with an even more manipulated one is not progress. Cryptocurrency advocates should stop pointing the finger at traditional markets and put their own house in order. Source.
If you trade long enough, it would be naive of you to think that free markets are really free. As long as there’s money to be made, people will always find ways to manipulate the markets.
Crypto maybe a new market, but the people trading it are not. As long as there’s something to trade, expect manipulation because you can’t prevent bad actors from bringing along with them their “dastardly” tricks.
Manipulation is everywhere. We have read stories of banks collusion in forex trading. Just Google it - So much news stories on investigations of stock manipulation.
So, if you’re shocked at manipulation, trading is not for you. Leave the trading to your mutual fund manager.
But if you accept that this is a fact of trading, you can use it to your advantage. You can now map the territory, start understanding how the enemy thinks and acts; and then create a solid game plan.
