Trading in the Zone: Full survey response.

Here's my full response to the attitude survey

1. To make money as a trader you have to know what the market is going to do next. 

Disagree  -- you just have to prepare for a probabilities of risk v reward. 

2. Sometimes I find myself thinking that there must be a way to trade without having to take a loss. Disagree

3. Making money as a trader is primarily a function of analysis. 

Agree to an extent as the analysis allows you to take a position to make money from a trade if the analysis is correct.

4. Losses are an unavoidable component of trading. Agree 

5. My risk is always defined before I enter a trade. Disagree  (see previous post)

6. In my mind there is always a cost associated with finding out what the market may do next. 

Agree Disagree.  I think to some degree there's a price to admission. There is either a real cost or an opportunity cost. 

7. I wouldn't even bother putting on the next trade if I wasn't sure that it was going to be a winner. Disagree,  I don't know if any of my trades will be winners. 

8. The more a trader learns about the markets and how they behave, the easier it will be for him to execute his trades.
Agree Disagree   knowing the market structure and what is in the realm of probable, and possible makes it easier. 

9. My methodology tells me exactly under what market conditions to either enter or exit a trade. Agree   (but do I always follow it)

10. Even when I have a clear signal to reverse my position, I find it extremely difficult to do. 

Agree . Taking profits on a "clear" signals  is sometimes harder.  A position that goes against me is easy.  

11. I have sustained periods of consistent success usually followed by some fairly drastic draw-downs in my equity.
Agree : see previous post

12. When I first started trading I would describe my trading methodology as haphazard, meaning some success in between a lot of pain.

Agree.  I'm sure I, like a lot of other traders jumped around a lot. I followed others and attempted to rationalize trades.  

13. I often find myself feeling that the markets are against me personally.

Disagree.  I don't often get that feeling.  But even though I know better, I've had moments where those thoughts creep in.  Usually after a series of 

14. As much as I might try to "let go," I find it very difficult to put past emotional wounds behind me.   

I think I'm okay here. 

15. I have a money management philosophy that is founded in the principle of always taking some money out of the market when the market makes it available.
Agree. I like profit taking. 

16. A trader's job is to identify patterns in the markets' behavior that represent an opportunity and then to determine the risk of finding out if these patterns will play themselves out as they have in the past.
Agree.  100%

17. Sometimes I just can't help feeling that I am a victim of the market. 

Agree.  I've had multiple positions gap against me in a week. I know they are my fault but still sometimes those thought creep in.  Conversely, I sometimes feel I am the greatest trader ever.  As much as I know better, those thoughts creep in as well. 

18. When I trade I usually try to stay focused in one time frame. Agree Disagree.

I use multiple time frames. Monthly momentum, weekly breakouts, daily charts for exits. 

19. Trading successfully requires a degree of mental flexibility far beyond the scope of most people.

Agree 

20. There are times when I can definitely feel the flow of the market; however, I often have difficulty acting on these feelings.
 Disagree  

21. There are many times when I am in a profitable trade and I know the move is basically over, but I still won't take my profits.
Agree Disagree

22. No matter how much money I make in a trade, I am rarely ever satisfied and feel that I could have made more.
Agree Disagree

23. When I put on a trade, I feel I have a positive attitude. I anticipate all of the money I could make from the trade in a positive way.
Agree -- and those usually are the trades that lose money.  

24. The most important component in a trader's ability to accumulate money over time is having a belief in his own consistency.
 Disagree

25. If you were granted a wish to be able to instantaneously acquire one trading skill, what skill would you choose?

how to do insider trading.  Just kidding. How to hold on to stocks that make parabolic runs to catch most of the move without waiting until the backside. 

26. I often spend sleepless nights worrying about the market. Disagree.  

27. Do you ever feel compelled to make a trade because you are afraid that you might miss out? Yes 

28. Although it doesn't happen veiy often, I really like my trades to be perfect. When I make a perfect call it feels so good that it makes up for all of the times that I don't.
Agree.  Perfection in anything feels amazing. 

29. Do you ever find yourself planning trades you never execute, and executing trades you never

planned? Yes.  Occasionally. 

30. In a few sentences explain why most traders either don't make money or aren't able to keep what they make. 

See prior post.