Stop Blaming Everyone Else

By Avi Gilburt  /  GoldSeek

While most of the articles I write are focused towards the Elliott Wave analysis we practice, there are times that something comes to my attention which almost begs me to write publicly about it. This article is one of those that beg to be written.

I have written many articles in the past which provide general advice to traders and investors. Some of the articles I have written warn investors of the evils of using leveraged ETF’s inappropriately, or entering a trade or investment without a plan, or not using stops, etc. As I have said before, after running a trading room with over 3500 members for 6 years, I have certainly seen it all by now.

Moreover, I have also written many articles trying to explain why the metals market is not as manipulated as many are led to believe. While there is a certain amount of manipulation that does go on, which is why we have seen some of the fines being charged to certain banks, this type of manipulation is not going to cause you a large loss.

As I have written in the past:

“You see, the manipulation dealt with in these cases were attempts by these banks to move the market by a very small percentage in order to make a quick buck off a very small move which they attempted to control, often during low volume periods of market action. This is what is claimed within the actual legal complaints filed against these banks, which generally provide that the banks “manipulated the bid-ask spreads of silver market instruments throughout the trading day in order to enhance their profits at the expense of the class.”

Moreover, and quite importantly, this type of small degree “manipulation” occurred whether the market was going up or going down, and such manipulation was not geared towards only dropping the market lower, as the manipulation theorists want you to believe. Please read that again. It was not claimed in these lawsuits that the manipulation had the purpose of taking the market down as you have been led to believe.”

If you care to read about it further in detail, the full article is here:

Was The Metals Market Manipulated To Drop From 2011 To 2015?

So, when I see an analyst get caught on the wrong side of a metals move and then claim that “the banksters often try to shake traders out of their positions so they can steal their shares,” I get quite angry, as the analyst clearly got caught being long when the market dropped, and then chose to be dishonest with his subscribers.

You see, too many use the excuse of manipulation to blame someone else for their lack of knowledge or understanding about the market, or their bad trade. While it is certainly easier to blame the big bad banks for a loss rather than tell subscribers that you screwed up, it is still extremely dishonest on so many levels.

So, I decided to write this article to add one more piece of advice to traders, investors and analysts: MAN UP!! It is no one else’s fault when you lose on a trade. It is your fault when you lose on a trade. And, the question then becomes what are you going to do about it?

And, if you chose to follow an analyst, you had better make sure he lays his plan out before you enter the trade. Again, you must know where your entry is, your stop out is (in case the trade goes against you), and what the target is when you will take your profit.

In other words, you must have a plan. For, as Ben Franklin once noted:

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

And, if the analyst you follow does not have a plan, then you may want to consider whether it be appropriate to continue to follow that analyst, especially if that analyst then attempts to blame someone else when they get it wrong. That is both bad analysis and dishonesty all rolled into one trade.

So, if you chose to enter a trade without a fully laid out plan (whether you are following an analyst or not), don’t blame someone else when it does not go your way. It is only your fault. Learn what you did wrong, and correct it in the future. But, for heaven’s sake, take responsibility for your actions. It is your money, and no one is going to care about your money more than you. So, it is your job to protect it.

Avi Gilburt is a widely followed Elliott Wave technical analyst and author of ElliottWaveTrader.net (www.elliottwavetrader.net), a live Trading Room featuring his intraday market analysis (including emini S&P 500, metals, oil, USD & VXX), interactive member-analyst forum, and detailed library of Elliott Wave education.

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