In trading, the hardest battle is not with the market. It’s with yourself.
This is the idea Alex Gerchik — a professional trader with 25+ years of market experience and one of the most licensed trading coaches — explains in this powerful lesson. While thousands of books break down discipline, psychology, and trading techniques, the truth is simple:
Most traders fail not because of poor strategy, but because they cannot control themselves.
Gerchik has trained and evaluated thousands of traders, worked as a partner in one of the largest U.S. proprietary trading firms, and traded millions of dollars inside one of the most competitive environments in the world. He knows exactly why traders lose — and what the minority do differently to succeed.
This article distills his core message:
You only win in trading when you win the fight against your own emotions.
Gerchik doesn’t sugarcoat it: only about 5% of traders survive long-term.
Is it because they don’t understand charts?
Because they read the wrong books?
Because they lack talent?
No.It’s because they cannot win the internal battle — the fight against fear, greed, hope, ego, and revenge-trading.
As Bruce Lee said:
“He who wins over himself becomes immortal.”
But most traders lose that fight.
Not because they're bad traders — but because they're human.
According to Gerchik, there are only two tools that reliably help a trader beat their own emotions:
In his early years at a proprietary trading firm, Gerchik and his colleagues used automated risk controls that would:
stop trading after a trader hit daily loss limits
block accounts after a series of mistakes
automatically cut positions during emotional decisions
This wasn’t optional. It was survival.
He shares a famous story:
Once, after making over $150,000 that month, he exceeded his $5,000 daily stop-loss by just $500. Convinced he could “make the money back,” he asked the risk manager to reopen his access.
The answer was simple:
“No. Your stop-loss is your stop-loss.”
That day was life-changing — and cemented the rule:
“When it’s bad, you stop. Period.”
Without risk management, no trader can win. Not even the best ones.
This is why Gerchik & Co developed one of the strongest risk-control systems in the industry — including automated Risk Manager protection that blocks emotional trades before they destroy your account. For many traders, this system becomes the turning point between constant losses and disciplined growth.
Gerchik begins every trading day the same way:
with a sheet of paper labeled “HOMEWORK.”
Every trade he makes — and he has traded for more than two decades — comes from a predefined plan.
He never enters the market thinking “let’s see what happens today.”
Because that mindset ensures one thing: emotions take over.
Trading without a plan leads to:
chasing price
reacting to volatility
widening stops
overtrading
breaking rules
Charts move like a heartbeat — up, down, up, down — and the trader’s emotions follow.
Without a written plan, the market becomes chaos. “No plan — no game.”
The plan must include:
levels
conditions for entry
conditions for exit
risk per trade
invalidation criteria
And the plan must come before the trade. Not after.
In Gerchik & Co’s training course traders learn how to systematically build a trading plan based on levels, breakout/false-break patterns, and strict risk management. These are the same principles Gerchik used on Wall Street.
One tool alone is not enough.
A risk manager without a plan protects you, but doesn’t guide you. A plan without a risk manager collapses the moment emotions take control. Success requires both.
If you rely on willpower alone, you will fail — because emotions always win.“Every time you fight yourself, you lose 300%.”
Gerchik’s message is clear:
You cannot become emotionless by reading books.
You cannot “think your way” into discipline.
You cannot rely on motivation.
You must engineer your environment so that emotions cannot hurt you.
This means:
using automated risk controls
preparing homework daily
trading only according to plan
stopping instantly when you break your rules
never trading to “make money back”
When your emotions “die” — meaning they lose control over your actions — you become a real trader.
Gerchik emphasizes transparency:
He holds U.S. licenses Series 7 and 55, obtained in 1998, and you can verify his record publicly.
He has:
traded successfully for over 25 years
been a partner in a major U.S. proprietary trading firm
trained thousands of traders
seen every type of mistake traders make
And he distills all that experience into one message:
Don’t repeat the mistakes of others. Do exactly what works.
If you want to succeed in trading:
Stop fighting the market.
Stop fighting your emotions.
Build a structure that does not allow your emotions to win.
Risk manager + trading plan.
Two simple tools that save traders’ careers.
As Gerchik says:
“If you don’t want to repeat the mistakes of thousands of traders I’ve seen — do exactly what I tell you. Good luck.”
Trade with Gerchik & Co
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