I like soccer so much that I cannot stop talking about it. Am I crazy? No, of course not. However, I do believe that successful traders are constantly looking for events around them to identify valuable lessons from which they can learn. So, I am looking at the success story of Spain, who was crowned the champion of the Euro 2008 on June 29, 2008 as an example we can learn. Although England was not part of this game, I was still delighted because Fernando Torres, the star strike for Liverpool and Spain, scored the only goal in the final game against Germany. Just to recapitulate (for some readers who have yet to know me well), I''ve been a Liverpool fan for more than three decades. Now, Fernando Torres as a Liverpool star striker scored in the final. How can I not be happy?

So, what can we learn from Spain in this championship? I guess the most important lesson I learnt from Spain is consistency. During the initial phase, Spain won the first three games and topped Group D. It first beat Russia (4:1), followed by Sweden (2:1) and Greece (2:1). Spain was one of the best performing teams during the initial phase, apart from Croatia (Group B) and the Netherlands (Group C).

I talked about the fate of Croatia in my article last week when it was knocked out by Turkey. So, I am not going to talk about Croatia again. I do want to say something about the Dutch team. During the initial phase, the Dutch did play very well and I thought that it had a good chance at least to go to the semi-final. However, I was disappointed with the Dutch because in quarter-final against Russia, the ‘expected’ consistent performance of the Dutch players suddenly disappeared. The Russians controlled the entire game and put the ball three times in the Dutch’s net.

Now, let’s look at Spain. Spain met Italy in the quarter final. This game ended up with a draw and Spain beat Italy on the penalty shoot-out. In the semi-final, Spain met Russia and continued with its outstanding performance by beating Russia by 3 goals again (3:0). In the final game, Spain beat Germany by 1:0. For the first time since 1964, Spain is the European champion again. If you followed the Euro 2008 games, I trust that you agree that Spain’s performance had been very consistent. In fact, it was the only team who did not lose any game during this championship. No wonder Spain is the champion.

I believe trading is the same. Your success is reflected by your bottom line figure, which in turn is a function of your consistent performance. You can have your first three winning trades – like the Dutch, Croatians and the Spanish. However, if you make a big mistake in your fourth trade, you may lose a lot of money or even your entire account. This is exactly the fate of the Dutch. However, if you learn how to trade well and stop losing any money (in this context, it includes acceptance of a small loss in any of your trades), you will survive in this game and your life goes on as a trader. Look at Spain as the example. I am sure you aspire to be a successful trader. So, you have a choice now – do you want to have a consistent performance in your trading business like the Spanish in the Euro 2008?  Or are you okay to settle down like the Dutch? It’s your own choice, but I think it is obvious.

To access previous articles written by Jack Wong, please click here.

Jack Wong 
Staff Writer and Instructor
Optionetics.com ~ Your Options Education Site

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