Oppetit believes that courage is the second psychological quality of top traders.
"You have to have a lot of courage to admit your mistakes. You have to have a lot of courage to face your losses, and not blame others. You have to have a lot of courage to take responsibility for your errors."
Traders often cannot accept their losses calmly. They do not believe that it is all because of their own mistakes and always want to blame fate or other people. In the book "A Farewell to Arms", Hemingway recalls how he missed his shot and did not hit the prey.
He could blame the guide for startling the animal, but he did not do so. Instead, he thought "If you still have a little skill, any mistake is your problem." Top traders must be responsible for themselves. In addition, a top trader also dares to play the role of a minority.
It also takes courage to hold a view that is different from most people. But, your view being different from the crowd does not mean that you will make money. However, if you can break away from the crowd and stick to your view, this is a very important trait.
In some cases, this represents the key to victory or defeat and allows you to seize an excellent opportunity. The best trading opportunities will not get widespread recognition.
Other people may think you are stupid, but you have to have confidence in yourself, and say to yourself: "This is what I want to do, I believe in my view." When I reach a conclusion that is very difficult for others to agree with, completely contrary to the conventional view, this process represents an extraordinary experience.
I know that my view is correct, and I decisively establish a position based on this view, and then I succeed. This experience can make you believe in yourself, and let you know that you can see things that others cannot see.
Many traders lack this kind of courage. Whenever some authoritative investment newsletters offer different views, their confidence begins to waver. Seeing a report in the newspaper, they ignore and abandon all their previous research conclusions.
A passage from philosopher William James may inspire some courage. He wrote in his book "Pragmatism": "When a new theory appears, it is first criticized as absurd, then gradually accepted, but still regarded as obvious and unimportant; finally, people realize its importance, and even those who originally opposed it claim to be the founders of this theory."
Excellent traders must believe in their abilities. They spend countless times developing trading systems and studying trading objects, and once they establish a position, they focus on the reasons for their position. If they hear rumors and end their position early, this is equivalent to not doing any research or developing any system. They can use a system that follows rumors.
Many traders are subconsciously prepared to let the media's comments decide their positions because this can shift the responsibility to others. Any loss is the media's fault, and the profit is of course attributed to their trading skills.
Putting other people's ideas before their views is often also to avoid responsibility. This is often due to a lack of confidence, especially after consecutive losses.
To solve this problem, you must first make yourself independently responsible for all the profits and losses. You have to develop a system that you are confident in. Only after testing and finding that it is effective, can you have confidence in the system. If the system's performance is not satisfactory, you should try to improve or abandon it.
Next, Bernard Oppetit proposes another kind of courage that is needed in the field of financial trading, but he hopes that the opportunity to use it will not be too much.
"When necessary, you need the courage to place a huge bet, because this may represent a turning point, and you know that this is an opportunity that cannot be missed. In short, once a certain opportunity appears, you have to place a huge bet, and this requires courage."