Big amounts of money can be made in the Forex markets. While profits are definitely there for the taking, I wrote this article to help you learn how to maintain the highly effective habits of forex trading. Improving these habits will lead you to overall success quicker then any winning trading system.
1. Patience
…Trading for the excitement, not the profit.
The standard life in a Forex trading is between 5 minutes and 9 months. Not all traders in Forex Trading trade because they want to make money. Many trade because they want the action. Reflect on it – you must trade everyday, or can you patiently wait for higher probability trades, even if it staying Flat for 2 to 3 days or even a week?
For those of you who wish to learn how to make money in the Forex markets, rest assured you can. However do not expect to make money in each and every trade. If you concentrate on not breaking the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Forex Trading, you have a greater opportunity of making money over a period of time.
indeed you will have losing trades. Unquestionably the markets will do the unexpected and at times you will lose more than you expected; but if you persevering avoid making these habits you must make money.
In trading Forex, it has been my rationality and helping new and seasoned traders, that the lack of self-discipline is the distinguished cause of losses. You need self-discipline to follow your trade plan; to be patient; to take losses… and profits! And, to practice sound money management.
3. No To Fear and Greed
With the incredible leverage Forex trading offers, you are commonly exposed to the basic character of fear and greed. At certain times throughout your trading career these emotions can make you completely and positively irrational, oblivious to what is really happening. It can make you rely on hope; hope that the market will do what you want it to do because it “must”! Otherwise, you will lose all of your trading capital.
4. Success
Each time I ignore the habits of a forex trading, I aspired myself that I would not recall the same mistake, but as I was once again successful, as I gained money, I potentially became overconfident, sloppy, and “dangerous”. You are most likely to make these same habit when you are making money, not losing it. After several losses, you naturally tighten your discipline and become more conservative, or lose your trading account. After several losses you are likely to lose the least amount of money on a trade. 5. Overconfidence
It is following a string of profitable trades that you are most likely to lose large amounts of money. If you invested trading with a $5,000 account and limited yourself to a maximum 3% risk, you could lose a maximum of $150 per trade. With profits increasing your account to $10,000, you can now lose $300 per trade. Worse yet, flushed with success you are more prone to break your rules and “wait a day”, when you should have been stopped out.
When I was a new Forex trader, I found that some of my largest losses have occurred from my smallest positions. After making large profits, I let these small positions run into extremely large losses because I was overconfident.
6. Balance
Trading Forex is a game of psychology. It is a game of balance. Emotional extremes create an imbalance. In your journey to make money, you will make mistakes of greed. In your reluctance to take a loss, you will make mistakes of fear. The tremendous emotional release you will feel when you ultimately close out a large losing position is astonishing. You will fight the market, yet know it will to go against you, but wanting it to go in you favor – hoping for it, worrying about it, praying for it. After a few hours or a few days of that, it will feel as though the weight of the world is taken off your shoulders when you finally take the loss.
7. Hope
One of the early signs that you have made a serious mistake is when you change your system and begin to tell your spouse and friends the”reasons” for the market to go your way. Or, registering the internet looking for those taking your same level, asking your Forex broker what he thinks you should do; hoping that some government action will grasp you out. This is not Forex trading; it is hope. Hope is the most devastating of all emotions in trading the Forex markets because it can plug you into complacency. You know when you find yourself hoping, that you are wrong, and should immediately get out of the market, but it takes an unusual amount of self-discipline to take that very large loss. Once you’re able to digest the highly effective habits of forex trading, I’ve outlined above, your odds of making money are be greatly increased.
About the Author
Steven M. Matrix has been a trader for 23+ years and manages two funds at Green Rock capital in addition to running http://fxcoaching.com/ where he provides his trade signals based on the award winning http://superadx.com/ along with the exact education needed for successful trading on your own.