The Truth About August

When I get closer to the end of each month, it’s time for making some reflections and deep thoughts about the performances that I’ve had in order to assess my ability to reach the self-imposed goals and to ultimately implement adjustments for the future. During this crucial time, sometimes I’ve decided to introduce new strategies that I was testing or to entirely switch them and replacing with new ones (like many months ago when I’ve made the switch from mid-large caps to trading momentum on penny stocks and, then, when I switched back).

Personally, I don’t like to live with the regret of not having tasted the water with something new that attracts my curiosity. That’s why I strongly encourage new traders to explore every strategy that can be found interesting (I’ve talked more about it here). With that said, it doesn’t have to be this drastic every single time.

In fact, even the tiniest detail that gets introduced into a daily habit can result into having a huge impact on the overall result. But it’s critical to always keep readjusting in order to refine and perfect the way we approach the market. One of the best quality of a trader is the ability to adapt to the surrounding market conditions instead of fighting with them.

If you love your work, you don’t “work” a single day

Moreover, I really believe August is a special, strategic month. In Europe, almost every worker takes some weeks off and here in Italy it’s not uncommon to see people spending the entire month out of office. In other words, this month is a big deal where almost everything shuts down. And even for me, this one has been the first August of my life where I did not take a single day off.

Even in the US market where we operate, August is a kind of slow month. Historically, summer is the season where the less amount of volume takes place, resulting into overall lighter moves and less volatility. But since we focus on a very selected set of requirements to plan for a trade, we end up having opportunities to place nice shots even when the overall market is flat and trading with low volume compared to the average.

But August is also the month when motivated traders stay in the market in order to keep learning and be ready to catch the opportunities that stand out. August is a huge opportunity to outwork almost anybody else. And I believe that if you love your work, you don’t actually “work” a single day of your life. That’s the secret that kept me trading for the whole August without a glitch.

Given my passion about traveling, some of you may think that I’ve sacrificed it in order to keep on working. Instead, I’ve spent almost ten days visiting the awesome Paris while I could continue to work. To me, the fact that the job of a trader can be performed from anywhere is just another aspect of the beauty of doing this for a living.

“It is not more vacation we need. It is more vocation.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

See you in chat-room.

Trade safe,

Roberto Barbaro