Happy Friday, traders…

Ben here.

I hear a lot of excuses from people when it comes to trading. 

Some say they don’t have disposable income to trade while others feel the market is stacked against them…

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard traders say that the market “always does the opposite” of what they do.

According to these unlucky traders … When they buy calls, the market tanks. When they buy puts, the market rallies…

If you trade long enough, you’ll probably experience a period like this at some point. But it should never become an excuse.

As a trader, your decisions determine your success (or lack thereof). You’re in control of your trading destiny. 

This isn’t to say the market can’t occasionally surprise even the most experienced traders. Of course, it can.

But if it does, don’t blame the market itself. Rather, identify what was incorrect in your decision-making and vow to never make that error again.

If you find yourself making excuses for your trading mistakes, looking for anything to blame but yourself, it’s time to pay attention…

The Money Excuse

Trading isn’t for everyone. Unlike most careers, there’s no income guarantee. Many aspiring traders never make a single cent in the stock market.

But I often hear serious misconceptions about how much money is needed to start trading…

“I don’t have enough money. If I had more money, I would open a trading account.”

This is nonsense. Look at Tim Grittani, for example…

One of the most successful students to come out of Tim Sykes’ Trading Challenge, Grittani started with a lowly $1,500 and turned it into over $13.5 million in verified trading profits.

Grittani proves it’s not about starting with a large account … it’s about skill and dedication. 

In fact, starting your trading journey with millions of dollars would likely end in disaster. 

First, you’d have too much capital available to risk before developing a reliable strategy that works for you.

Second, you need to develop a risk management system before putting serious money into the markets. 

How much should you bet on each trade? What kind of contracts are you most comfortable trading? Are you long- or short-biased? 

These questions will answer themselves as you discover what works for you (and what doesn’t). 

By consistently stacking small wins, one after another, you’ll build your small account up naturally. 

This is yet another reason why I advocate for options trading — they allow for maximum leverage on a small amount of capital.

Don’t use the money excuse, it’s bogus. 

The Time Excuse

I hear some people say, “I don’t have enough time to trade. If I had more free time, I would dedicate myself to learning the markets.”

But this never really made sense to me…

You see, the same people who complain about not having the time to learn how to trade will spend years earning a degree that gets them nowhere. 

Or worse, they’ll sit around doomscrolling on social media and playing video games all day.

To be a winning trader, you have to make sacrifices. And one of those major sacrifices is time. Take it from me…

I work all day every day. Granted, I love what I do, but I didn’t get here by being lazy and watching Netflix. 

When I’m not hosting a webinar, writing one of these blog posts, or actively trading the markets — I’m studying charts, analyzing market trends, and looking for ways to improve my performance.

And I do all of this while remaining a dedicated father and husband. 

If you really examine how you spend your days, you’ll probably find there’s some mind-numbing waste of time you engage in regularly that could easily be replaced with studying.

Plus, don’t sleep on part-time traders. I know many who work tirelessly at trading while still finding time to complete the tasks required for their day job. 

The Knowledge Excuse

Last, but not least, I hear would-be traders saying they don’t have the knowledge to trade effectively.

These misguided newbies think you need to have the business acumen of Warren Buffett to be a decent trader.

But again, this is wrong.

I didn’t know a lot about the stock market when I started trading. But what I lacked in knowledge I made up for with passion. 

I was hungry to learn and wanted to succeed more than anyone else. I started studying the stock market like a maniac. 

Then, once I discovered the options market, I was prepared to apply what I’d learned from my previous studies.

If you don’t understand the markets enough to trade yet, don’t use that as an excuse to avoid the game altogether.

Take my buddy Glenn Peters, for example…

When Glenn started trading, he didn’t have any fancy financial degrees. And he didn’t even do it full-time. He was busy with his job as the director of operations for Tim Sykes’ mentoring program. 

This is where some would-be traders use the knowledge excuse, but not Glenn…

He wasn’t intimidated. He went into the gauntlet as a trader and turned $8,300 into over $1.6 million.

This is why I don’t want to hear “the knowledge excuse” from anyone.

The market doesn’t hand you anything on a silver platter. You’ve gotta work unbelievably hard to be a successful trader.

Lose the excuses. Take accountability for your performance and you’ll be a better trader for it. 

Now, before we go, let’s look at:

💰The Biggest Smart-Money Bets of the Day💰

• $4.16 million bullish bet on AAPL 07/26/2024 $227.50 calls @ $3.70 avg. (seen on 7/18)

• $3.19 million bullish bet on PLTR 09/20/2024 $25 puts @ $5.80 avg. (seen on 7/18)

• $2.3 million bullish bet on TQQQ 07/19/2024 $70 calls @ $2.91 avg. (seen on 7/18)

Happy trading,

Ben Sturgill

P.S. Despite what many traders think, earnings aren’t a mysterious enigma, completely unknown before the news breaks…

With the right tools and data, you can often see whether a company will beat or miss before the report occurs. 

Realizing this, I’ve designed a specialized calendar system to accurately exploit earnings season for potentially massive gains…

Example: This calendar system recently projected a 91.2% earnings beat on Broadcom … BEFORE its call options exploded 1,014% in less than a day!*

You won’t want to miss the details I’m going to reveal during Operation: Master Calendar on Thursday, July 25th, at 8 p.m. Eastern.

But spots are filling up fast — Click here now to reserve your seat before it’s too late!

*Past performance does not indicate future results