Let me ask you this; do you REALLY LOVE THE PROCESS of learning about markets, studying and looking at charts and trading in general? Do you TRULY enjoy it? Or, are you just sort of slugging along because you think you can make fast money? For most traders, especially beginning traders, the honest answer is the latter.

In trading, as with any business endeavor and life in general, if you aren’t IN LOVE with the process you are VERY RARELY (if ever) going to achieve the goal.

Here are some signs that prove you’re trading for the wrong reasons

You’re trading money you can’t afford to lose. If you’re doing this, it's because you’re too focused on the money. People who risk money they really cannot afford to lose are doing so because they want to make money fast and they are only thinking about the prize, not the possibility of losing that money. Bottom-line, don’t trade with money you really cannot afford to lose.

You’re thinking only of money, not enough about trading or your trading plan or strategy. Trading really shouldn’t be all about ‘money’ to you. The money is just a way to keep score in a game that tests your ability to remain disciplined and patient in a world of constant temptation.

If you are trading properly and focused on the process and excited about the process, you will make money and that money is like the score, if your score is going up, you’re winning, if it’s going down you are losing. Ironically, when you focus too much on the score (money) you end up losing.

The right reasons to trade:

You should trade because you love trading, plain and simple. You must love the process of trading, not only the dream of the end-goal, or you will never achieve the end-goal

You’re becoming methodical and well-structured in your approach, making plans and keeping notes and spreadsheets, you’re taking this seriously. Once you start doing things like this you know you’re on the right track. Being methodical and having a trading plan and keeping a trading journal in spreadsheets of your trades is something traders do who truly enjoy the process. These things keep you accountable and help develop proper trading habits and routines.

Your family and friends don’t understand you any more, the conversations have turned into things people can’t relate to, you feel alone, isolated, and feel desperate to find others who think the same way.

You love self-improvement. Trading, more than anything else, is about self-improvement. Show me a successful trader and I will show you a person successful in other areas of his or her life. Intense discipline, focus, passion, patience – these are the ingredients of LIFE success not just of trading success.

You are competitive, you like the competition. The idea of competing with millions of other traders and putting yourself into the that top 10% who are making all the money – drives you more than anything – it’s inside of you – it’s NOT JUST about getting a lot of money it’s about the self-confidence and the feeling of knowing you are better than all those other traders and you out-competed them. It puts you in a very small group of upper-echelon individuals and is a true accomplishment, one you’re dying to achieve.

Do you love the money or the process of trading?