Why Online Trading Helps You Live Better

The title may appear strong, almost paradoxical. Yet, under certain conditions, online trading can truly help one live better. In other words, it effectively forces the trader to develop certain skills, the so-called soft skills, which can be useful in real life. The necessary (but not sufficient) condition is to take online trading for what it is: a complex activity that requires significant mental, intellectual (and in some cases even physical) efforts. In essence, if an individual emerges more or less unscathed from the initial stages and thus reaches professionalism, they will have almost certainly developed some soft skills that are valuable for life. We discuss this in this article.

Online Trading and Real Life: A Not-So-Obvious Connection

Online trading is still immersed in a sea of prejudices, at least according to the common feeling of the collective imagination. The responsibility lies with the bad apples (fewer and fewer, fortunately) that crowd the Italian and international context of speculative investment. So assigning online trading a full-fledged formative value may sound strange, almost paradoxical. Yet it is precisely true: online trading allows the individual to develop useful skills in the private and professional spheres, at work as well as in everyday life. Indeed, more precisely, it does not allow but forces. Changing oneself is the only way to survive the market, which is normally an environment that puts everyone to the test, from beginner to expert.

Trader Skills Useful for Real Life

Below, we describe some of the skills that an individual develops during their growth path, that is, during online trading activity.

Resilience

It is perhaps the most useful soft skill in real life and, at the same time, a must for all traders. Resilience is the ability to endure negative events, to learn from them, to prevent them from silencing aspirations and ambitions. Normally, following a failure, the average person becomes discouraged, loses self-esteem and effectiveness. Resilient people, on the other hand, keep going and, indeed, improve their performance after a failure. Online trading activity allows one to develop resilience for a simple reason: defeat is a very frequent event. It is for everyone, from beginner to expert. Obviously, experts make fewer mistakes, but they do make mistakes. So for a trader to call themselves a professional, they must develop the ability to process the loss and at the same time use it to improve themselves. The resilient trader is able to learn from their mistakes and, at the same time, to continue undeterred on their path, without downsizing their aspirations and ambitions.

Discipline

Discipline may seem an outdated value, evoking an approach aimed at crystallizing hierarchies. A paradox, in an era (like ours) dominated by individualism. Yet discipline is still a value today; indeed, it is a real skill to be cultivated and developed. It is obvious: by this term we do not mean only obedience to a person or an institution, but also and above all to oneself. Being disciplined today means above all setting rules for oneself and respecting them. Discipline is a fundamental element in online trading. Indeed, in some cases, it is the most effective tool to counter market uncertainty. The disciplined trader follows the strategy that they themselves have developed, leaves no room for improvisation (except for emergencies), and does not allow themselves to be dominated by emotions. They are faithful to themselves.

Concentration

The ability to concentrate is a fundamental skill in all areas of life, including leisure time. It allows, in fact, to optimize time and energy. If you perform an activity by focusing exclusively on it, without distractions, it is inevitable: you do it quickly and well. The ability to concentrate improves performance and frees up time to do what you like most, perhaps to devote to yourself. Obviously, the ability to concentrate is also fundamental in trading. Also because, it is worth repeating, speculative investment is a complex activity that must take into account an infinity of elements and takes place in a context (the market) that is potentially unpredictable. If a trader wins, they do so also by virtue of their ability to concentrate. It can be concluded, therefore, that the trader effectively forces the individual to develop this important skill.

Analytical Skills

The ability to analyze, to give the right weight and consider all the elements in one's possession, is useful both in daily life and in professional life. Understanding a fact, a situation or a context means acting as a protagonist. Much has been said, and rightly so, about the relationship between analysis and trading. Analysis is one of the pillars of trading activity. Without an effective and assiduous analytical practice, it is impossible to even think of bringing home a trader. Analysis, let it be clear, which has several facets: technical, fundamental, sentiment. But analysis nonetheless. Those who trade, inevitably develop analytical skills that are useful to them in everyday life, an ability to understand, to read situations, to interpret events, to extrapolate the truth from the most complex contexts.

Intuition

A connection between online trading may seem strange. After all, trading is a rational activity, in which analysis, study, strategy and planning are the dominant factors. All this is true and cannot be disputed. However, intuition is also necessary. Anyone who has done trading at certain levels knows it: the moment comes when the analytical work no longer finds confirmation in reality, when plans do not work. Normally it happens when an event occurs that can upset the market, change the cards on the table. That is where intuition comes into play, understood as the ability to find the right solution in a short time to new problems, which cannot be solved exclusively with experience. On the role that intuition plays in real life, it is almost unnecessary to add anything: unexpected events and emergencies are part of everyone's existence.

Determination

Determination is one of the most useful skills of all. It is the one that decrees the winner at the end of each race. Life can rarely be compared to a 100-meter race. More often it is a marathon, in which those who resist the most make a good impression. To resist, one must be determined. It is an ability that goes hand in hand with discipline. Determination and discipline are closely linked, they are two sides of the same coin. Now, it is impossible to hope to be successful in trading without being determined. This activity puts the trader in front of very difficult tests, and only those who resist can go on. The successful trader is always a determined trader.

Emotional Stability

Let's make one thing clear: emotional stability should not be confused with coldness, with ataraxia. Those who are emotionally stable are not necessarily cold, insensitive. Simply, when needed, they are able to keep emotions at bay, or at least limit their effects. This skill is more important for a trader than one might think. There are two reasons: first, emotions, especially if strong, reduce the ability to decide lucidly, for better or worse. Secondly, trading is a very particular activity and subjects trading to acute, heavy and continuous emotional stress. Therefore, it is necessary to control emotions, or at least manage their effects.

Propensity to Study

Despite what one might think, studying does not end with the training path (which in any case must be long and intense). Rather, it continues for the entire duration of the trading activity. One never stops learning. And when an excellent level has been reached in terms of knowledge and techniques, it is still good not to stop, as the market is in constant evolution. Therefore, the expert trader is also a scholar. The aptitude for study, or it would be better to say for continuous updating, is one of the skills that one is forced to develop.

Organization

The ability to organize one's time, even to create a routine for oneself, is always useful. Regardless of the area: leisure time, relationships, work. Some have an innate organizational ability, and find it natural to draw up - even if only mentally - a list of priorities and assign specific spaces, times, and solutions to each one. If a trader is not able to organize themselves, they can rarely have a future. Also because there are so many things to do, precautions to take, elements to analyze. It follows that those who survive their debut on the market develop this important skill. And it is a good thing, in terms of trading effectiveness and beyond.