A lesson from the courts
My son and daughter are decent tennis players (My son is in the UK top 10 for 12U and daughter top 60 or so for 14U, so they are decent, committed players). They get that from their mother, not me, and I regularly get beaten by any of them if I ever dare to pick up a tennis racket. As you can imagine, tennis is a regular feature of our lives and competition is, quite literally, a way of life.
Not all points are equal
So, why is this relevant to trading you say. Well, my family point out to me that, in tennis, not all points are are equal. In tennis you are in the match as long as you are still playing. The game is not like football where if you were 11-0 down in the 85th minute you can't possibly recover the match. In tennis you could be 6-0, 6-0, 5-0 down and still turn the match around to win 6-0, 6-0, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. This is because not all points are equal, some are way more important than others.
So, for example, a game point wins you the game to go 1-0 up. That 'game point' won you the game. It didn't matter that you lost 3 points in that game you won the 'game point'
Similarly, a set point wins you the set. All the previous point in that set are not as important as that ONE point. You see in tennis, not all points are equal.
Not all trades are equal
Well, this made me think about trading and how not all trades are equal. Some trades are going to bring home the main returns for the quarter or year. There are smaller trades and speculative trades, but recognising that moment when to use leverage and make the trade count is what makes the big difference. So, watch out for those 'game', 'set' and 'match' points in your trading. If you have any stories to share below, please do so to keep the conversation going!
