Independent thought is the ability to think for yourself and develop ideas separate from anyone else. This allows one to think creatively, and sometimes contrary to other people to attain goals many might have otherwise considered impossible. Independent thought allows you to think in a contrary way but contrary thought for its own sake is of little value. You must think independently and if necessary in a contrary way.

From infancy we are taught to get along with other people. We learn that the benefits of socialization and getting along with others far outweigh the other extreme of isolation and loneliness. Many of us tend to develop beliefs and opinions which are in the mainstream partly due to our socialization process. People with contrary or strange ideas and actions are often ridiculed and sometimes ostracized. The trading world is much different from our "normal" world. Unlike many other occupations, where work is done in a team fashion, trading success is strictly up to the individual.

Trading requires a different view about the world. Markets generally go down when most people are bullish, and up when most people are bearish. There is a simple reason for this. If everyone is bullish and long the market, there is no one left to buy. If there are no buyers left, the market can only drop, because people will begin to lose enthusiasm and start to sell. The same holds true when everyone is bearish and disenchanted with the market.

Though the concept of being contrary may be easy to understand, it can be hard to implement. It is difficult to take the opposite side of a trade when everyone around you is giving excellent reasons why you are wrong. You will immediately question your decision and find it hard to maintain your position in the face of obvious opinion against you. Trading requires you to make decisions and take positions contrary to commonly accepted ideas, and this naturally makes you question the validity of your ideas.

Traders do not, and should not, take a contrary opinion just for the sake of being contrary. A trader must instead possess independent thought, which fosters our ability to think clearly and separately from the crowd mentality. Independent thought allows the individual to pursue ideas and possibilities that most people might find unusual, or simply not possible.

Independent thought is a way to think creatively, or in ways which many others might have considered unimaginable. Excess and extremes are quite possible in the market because emotions such as fear and elation may run high and low in good or bad times. The market moves in ways which are inconceivable for many but possible for some.

Creativity is thinking in terms of possibilities, as opposed to impossibilities. Trading requires creativity because you must always think in terms of what the market may possibly due and the chances of such a move occurring. Being able to anticipate certain moves of a market can spell the difference between disaster or opportunity for a trader.

The life of a trader is closer to that of an artist. It is a struggle of ideas, within and without, which are continually tested by a different judge. The trader creates ideas and has them tested, sometimes brutally, by an uncaring but usually efficient market.