Let’s look at what hasn’t changed.

The markets have no master. They answer to no one and will take turns and twists that are impossible to foresee. Even when there are no catastrophic events occurring, even the best of trading systems will be right only slightly better than half the time at telling you what direction the markets will go.

Anyone with money can trade. All it takes is filling out some disclosure documents and enough money to fund an account.

No training or pre-requisites are required. Never have been. Unlike driving a car or flying a plane, both of which can represent a significant risk, there is no mandatory training and testing before you can begin trading. You can open an account, get off in a wreck, and lose your money all in one day. The rate at which an account can be cleaned out is incredible.

There are still human beings making the trading decisions. Creatures with brains and feelings.

We get confused when faced with complexities and uncertainties that we haven’t faced before. We get frustrated and upset when things don’t go as we hope. We want to make money and provide nicely for our families. We want to acquire wealth and have fun doing it. We feel bad when we make mistakes, especially when we repeat the same mistakes more than once. We have feelings of fear, greed, anxiety, anticipation, pride, shame. We’re still a skin-bag full of emotions that lead to bad trading decisions.

The central point of the trading activity hasn’t changed a bit.

So what can be done about it?

Judy Crawford, the Manager at Peak Trading Group, seems to have discovered a solution to this common problem. She focuses on helping her clients develop the emotional control and the disciplines that separate the losers from the winners. So many novice and amateur traders spend almost all their time only on trading. If people would invest the time in themselves, with the intent of becoming a successful trader, to develop that skills and temperament and become the person they need to, a higher percentage would survive long enough to trade long-term.

The technological advances will continue to come and provide traders with additional tools and advantages. While nothing can be done about the weather, politics, the news and people in general, at least some progress is being made to help traders deal with the fact that they have feelings and they need help in turning that aspect of trading from a liability into another advantage.

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