Hey there,
There's a confusion in trading that's causing a lot of frustration, and I want to clear it up for you today.
You'll hear people selling strategies saying, “Look at our strategy! We got in here, got out there, made all this money. You can do it too!”
Then you'll hear others talking about their “system” and throwing these terms around interchangeably.
But here's the thing: there's a crucial distinction between the two, and if you don't understand it, it could be making your trading life much more difficult than it needs to be.
What Your Strategy Actually Is
Your strategy is simple: It's where you say, “I think this is happening in the markets. I want to get in here and plan to get out there.”
Your strategy could be:
- Looking for market reversals and riding momentum until it exhausts
- Identifying trend beginnings, waiting for retracements, then entering
- Non-directional approaches like straddles or iron condors
Basically, your strategy is how you plan to enter and exit the market to make money based on what you think is happening.
Your System Is Something Entirely Different
Your system is how you're going to execute that strategy consistently—hundreds or thousands of times.
And here's the critical point: they are not the same thing.
You can have a fantastic strategy with a terrible system. You can also have a mediocre strategy with a solid execution process—and that combination will beat the fantastic strategy every time.
The Truth About Consistency vs. Perfection
Here's one of my favorite principles, and it's absolutely crucial you understand this:
An average strategy executed consistently will outperform and make more money than a great strategy executed inconsistently.
If your trading is all over the place, good luck with consistent profits. But if you have a solid, consistent process that's easy to work with, we can make that profitable fairly easily.
How I Structure Success in Profit Assurance
This is why in my Profit Assurance training, we start with consistency first, then worry about profit.
Here's the three-step process:
- Establish consistency first – Get your execution process locked down
- Optimize for profit – Once you're consistent, we dial in profitability
- Perfect your execution – Mental conditioning to undo past damage and rewire you for automatic, effortless execution
Because here's the reality: if you have a consistent process, making it more profitable is straightforward. But if you don't have consistency, even the best strategy in the world won't save you.
Strategy Is Just Your Starting Point
Having a good strategy is like having a platform to trade on—it's an absolute necessity, but it's barely the starting point.
You don't need to chase the holy grail strategy. You just need a decent one that fits you.
The Strategy Must Match YOU
This is super important: You need to work with something that agrees with you, that you resonate with, where you like how it works and operates according to how you see the markets.
If you're trying to work with a strategy just because you heard it makes money, but there are things about it you're not comfortable with—maybe you disagree with its philosophy or certain aspects—those misalignments will create internal conflicts.
Those conflicts will very likely create friction or even self-sabotage down the road.
This Is the Major Leagues
Remember, trading isn't the minor leagues. This isn't Friday night poker with your buddies or a friendly bet on a football game.
This is professional speculation. We're all speculating on what we think the market will do and placing professional bets on those predictions.
You've got to show up as a professional. You've got to be good enough at this game if you want to not just survive, but thrive.
Having just a strategy isn't enough. You need other tools, other skills, and the system to execute consistently.
Tired of it taking SO LONG to actually get consistently profitable?
Tired of it being so much harder than it seems like it should be to make profits, consistently and reliably?
Want trading profitably to get easier?
Want to get there faster than you've been progressing? WAY faster?
Then check out Profit Assurance™ – the proven method from outside the trading space that gets your trading under control…
…without fighting your emotions, without mental hacks or tricks
…without having to switch to a new strategy – use whatever you like!
Get the step-by-step framework to build trading confidence, clarity, and control—so you can finally trade without second-guessing yourself.
Click here now to change your trading experience
Best regards,
Brian McAboy
Inside Out Trading
P.S. Ready to discover what's really holding back your trading and create a clear path forward? Book a personal call with me at InsideOutTrading.com. Let's identify the gaps between where you are and where you want to be—and create your roadmap to get there fast.
