Here in tropical Australia, the saltwater crocodile is a fearsome and intelligent predator known to wait patiently for days or weeks on end until unaware prey come to the water’s edge and become its next meal. Crocodiles are by many accounts the most successful animal that has ever lived; they’ve been around for about 200 million years and have out-lived the Dinosaurs, and they’ve evolved over time to become perhaps the most successful predator on Earth, next to humans. Crocodiles are opportunistic predators; they’ve been known to learn the behavior of their prey and lie in wait for long periods of time almost to the point of starving, and then when the time is right they snatch their prey with confidence and precision.
In fact, it is quite common for people to swim with these animals for days or even weeks without any sign of aggression, until one day somebody goes swimming, fishing or even walking, and they never return. This demonstrates real-world evidence that one of the oldest and most methodical predators on Earth is also one of the most patient and disciplined that has ever lived. Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory certainly favors this creature; they’ve been around since Dinosaur times because their method of hunting and adapting is so successful. The salt water crocodile is perhaps nature’s ultimate “sniper”… it only needs to eat once a week or so because it makes high quality kills rather than a high quantity of low-quality kills.
As traders, there’s a ton of things we can learn from the crocodile, let’s discover some of them…
Crocodiles are a trader’s best role model
The crocodile is actually our best role model as traders; their behavior is really the perfect metaphor for how a trader needs to behave. We are without doubt predators, not just trading predators, but as humans we are naturally built and function as hunters. As traders, we must copy the crocodiles’ methods of hunting; we must be disciplined, patient, adaptable and methodical in our approach. Crocs have also demonstrated an ability to learn quickly and avoid risky situations as we will discuss more about later, these are also things that we need to do as traders.
Think of the crocodile…he’s big, fat, long and needs A LOT of protein in his diet to survive, to swim and to hunt. Is his energy best spent going around all day eating little bait fish which are easy to catch? Imagine how much energy he would expend trying to catch a high quantity of low-quality prey like that all day. If you have ever seen these crocodiles like I have in person, you will understand what I am saying; crocs are designed and have evolved to be patient “sniper” hunters…many little meals do not interest them as much as a big juicy nourishing meal does.
By trading less… our aim is to make a nice large “meaty” size trade that sustains us until our next trade. Sure we may have a few losses along the way to our big prize, but the goal here remains clear; waiting on the sidelines (or the shores of the river like the crocodile) to pounce on our prey and cop a huge nourishing meal. We don’t want to be running all over the pond or river looking for any small piece of meat or fish that we can find…we are going to wait it out and score ourselves a nice big juicy profitable trade (or in the crocodiles case, probably a kangaroo, a dog, or maybe even a human).
There is an expression in the English language that most will have heard at some point in their lives: “All good things come to those who wait”. This phrase is merely discussing the merits of being patient, possibly frugal, disciplined and well planned, but its implications are profound and very true for both the crocodile and the trader.
It may shock some of you to know that nowadays I may trade only 3 times per week or even less some weeks. You’re probably thinking “That’s not enough trades to make money”, I don’t blame you for thinking that way and it’s easy to think that way with most mainstream Forex websites pumping day trading andhigh frequency trading. But, my own personal experience is that it’s much more lucrative to wait patiently for high-quality trade setups than it is to stay glued to your charts all day and night trying to trade everything you can find. The best trades are obvious, they almost “talk” to you and tell you to trade them, once you know what you’re looking for this will become apparent to you.
For definitions sake I would refer to myself as a swing trader and a trend follower. I attempt to capture the larger moves that occur over multiple trading sessions or possibly multiple days or weeks. In this way, I am very much analogous to a crocodile in my trading, in fact I might even buy a picture of a crocodile and hang it up in my trading office to remind me of how successful a predator the crocodile has been throughout history and most importantly, why it is so successful.
Crocs have a high strike-rate
It’s fairly safe to say that if a croc gets its jaws around its prey, the prey is not getting away.
Crocs have a good strike-rate because they are patient and wait for the “easy” opportunities and then act with confidence and speed…they don’t hesitate. Whereas a Lion might have many failed hunting attempts trying to catch a Gazelle or some other quick animal, expending a lot of energy in the process, crocs tend to have less “losing trades” or failed hunting attempts…because they don’t waste time or energy…they wait and wait and control themselves with precision until their prey almost walks into their mouth…then they feed.
As traders, waiting and being patient can increase your strike rate. Controlling ourselves is really all we can do as traders…we cannot control our “prey” (the market)…we can only conserve our money and wait patiently until our trading edge presents itself. This is how you get a high strike rate as trader, not by trading a hundred times a week in some futile effort to “scalp” the markets.
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