It's Human Nature
No matter how intelligent and rational futures investors may be, when they trade they tend to become emotional. The voice of emotion is all too familiar. "I really feel gold is going up." "I believe the war will send oil through the roof." "I was so sure the market had bottomed, I jumped in-big." "I am losing, but I'll wait until the contract bounces back." "I could kick myself, I took profits too early." "I could kick myself, I stayed in too long and lost my profits."

Most "human" traders, whether they are amateurs or professionals, run the risk of rising emotions. For some investors its ego, greed or wishful thinking that undermines effectiveness. For others its denial, fear or panic that shakes confidence. When it comes to investing in complex futures markets, human emotion can cause investors to be inconsistent and undisciplined. The commonly held belief that 9 out of 10 futures traders lose money can be partially explained as a consequence of human emotion. After all it's human nature.

System Discipline
Futures Trading Systems are the "machine" antidote to human emotionality. A computer-based trading system generates instructions based solely on programmed rules. These system rules determine timing for market entry and exit, profit targets, and protective stops to limit losses. A system's binary code is emotionless. The system does not believe, feel, worry or obsess over a trade. It simply transacts unemotionally. System execution is objective, disciplined, quantitative and scientific.

The Non-System Investor Immediate gratification Changes mind mid-stream Undercapitalizes trades Over commits to single market Unable to monitor all opportunities Tries to predict/outsmart the markets

The System Investor Follows system's long-term strategy Disciplined implementation Account size predetermined to fit system Diversified into multiple markets Constant observation global markets Assumes favorable ratio of gains over losses