When Being Right Becomes More Important Than Executing

The Thursday Trader's Tip edition offers to-the-point trading performance advice that can be read under 5 minutes.

May 29, 2025

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The moment you enter a trade, your mindset either keeps you grounded — or throws you into chaos.

What happens next is what separates consistent traders from emotional ones.

Some traders enter a valid setup and then spend the whole trade trying to be right. Others stay focused on the plan they chose — until the market proves them wrong.

Here’s the difference between those two approaches — and how to shift into the one that builds consistency.

Trader Type 1: The Predictor

This trader enters… and immediately disconnects from the trade as soon as the price starts moving.

Self-talk might sound like:

“Was this the wrong side of the market?”
“Where’s the market trying to go?”
“Why is it moving like this?”

They’re not present with their trade — they’re chasing directional certainty.

They’re not playing their edge — they’re trying to solve the market.

This tweet from Nick is spot on:

As a result:

They close trades too soon if price goes against them, fearing they’re “wrong.”
They reenter impulsively to “correct” their mistake.
They analyse price action with the goal of being right, not profitable.

In essence, they’ve abandoned their strategy the moment they entered the trade.

And ironically, the need to be right is what keeps them wrong.

Trader Type 2: The Executor

This trader makes a clear, confident decision, enters the trade, and honors it.

Their self-talk and thought process are entirely different; it might sound something like:

“Price is going against me — is that invalidating my setup?”
“Is this behavior confirming or disconfirming my thesis?”
“What level tells me I was wrong?”

See the difference?

This is what makes the best traders so effective:

They’re not trying to decode the market. They’re letting the market give them feedback on one specific scenario — their trade.

That’s the whole game.

You’re not trying to understand every candle. You’re not building theories or forecasting narratives. You’re simply asking:

“Is this helping or hurting the trade I’m in right now?”

Even if you spot an opposing setup mid-trade, it doesn’t matter.

This is one of the most common ways traders fall back into the prediction mindset: they feel the urge to exit their initial trade early and flip to the opposite direction.

From my experience — and that of the traders I coach — switching directions mid-trade always brings more risk than reward.

The most painful scenario is to see the second trade turn into a loser… which makes the first one a winner. You’re left regretting the switch — and wondering why you can’t become a confident trader.

Let the trade breathe.

Let the market talk.

Let it validate or invalidate your initial thesis.

If you trust your setup, you don’t need to change direction. You can hold your ground.

Once the task at hand is done, which is managing your current trade till the end, you’re ready to reanalyze the market and look for the next opportunity.

What Happens When You Shift

If you fall into the trap of trying to “make sense” of every market move, you open yourself to an infinite world of possibilities.

The brain loves that. But trading doesn’t.

When the field is infinite, your edge disappears. You lose the structure, the clarity, the consistency…

To trade well, you have to channel the chaos of price action into a small, specific set of parameters — the ones of your strategy.

Trying to know the “why” behind each move is irrelevant. These are the traders who always get an explanation for why they’ve lost.

They say:

“I was right… but my timing was wrong.”

Let me be clear: In trading, if your timing was wrong — you were wrong.

Trading is all about timing. You’re not investing.

It’s like having the best business idea in the world but failing to launch. The world is full of ideas. Execution is everything.

So, stop making excuses, accept the outcomes, and let go of personal attacks.

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Practical Shift

How to transform this advice into a practical strategy?

Once you enter a valid trade, do this:

Reframe your self-talk mid-trade: If you catch yourself thinking, “What is the market trying to do?” Switch to: “Is this confirming or invalidating my setup?” That’s all that matters. Treat each trade like a small business you commit to. You don’t close your well-researched fruit shop just because coffee is trending.
Treat each trade as a small bet: You’re not predicting. You’re simply executing and gathering feedback.
Review your losses like a scientist, not a storyteller: No more “I was right but…” Was the trade valid? Was the timing aligned? If not, it was wrong. Learn. Adjust. Move on.

Play your strategy. Do your thing. And analyse price through the eyes of your edge, not through the lens of ego.

Let the predictors keep explaining and be entertained by their ego.

You’ve got work to do.

Peaceful trading,

Sara

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