Getting Started ....

After Browsing on Internet often We found some interesting Articles on Trading ....
some of those I'll post on this thread....
All this articles are not my creation it's a simple copy paste job for my side...
Authors of this article are mention below the post .
Hope this will help our fellow novice traders ...

Regards
AnAtheist

Each year as we prepared for these holidays, we planned for all those we had bought gifts for and careful thought was put into each person's gift:

* We planned where we will shop for the gift
* Our trips to the stores were planned to eliminate too much back-tracking
* Consideration for the type of wrapping paper and bows was given
* After all this, we then had to plan on how we would get the gifts to the people and still allow for the time to get it done

Wow, seems like a lot of work? Believe it or not, most traders will plan this type of event out on paper so that there will be no mistakes. Come that special holiday morning, they will be sitting back and enjoying the holiday because everything on the checklist was done just like it was supposed to be. However, when it comes to their trading, many will simply just "wing it" with no logical or systematic set of rules in place. Being this is the season of giving, I thought we would work on a "checklist for traders" to give them some guidance in the coming New Year.

Principle #1 KISS Principal

We have all heard of this acronym - Keep it Simple Silly. As traders learn more and more about trading, a common trap they fall into is they start to add too many confirmations to their setups. Making your strategy complicated will cause you to have indecision when it is time to take action. Confirmations are used to add confidence to your trade. When you have to start looking at too many, you start second-guessing them. There is nothing wrong with being aware of these added confirmations, but I would suggest you back-test all the ones you use and take the one or two with the highest percentage of success and only use them. By use them, I mean have them identified in your trading plan as the "only" tools you will use to confirm your trade.

Principle #2 Plan the Trade, Trade the Plan

This is where all the thinking in trading comes into play, while writing your trading plan. Once you have created your rules to trade by, you become more systematic and logical in your thought process for executing successful trades. Your personal trading plan will include every step of the trade from identifying to exiting your trade. By having your setup written down in your plan, you will have a better chance of using patience and discipline to wait for your entry. Otherwise, you will use emotions to enter trades and we all know where that will get you. After entering your trade, you will have more confidence because you have back-tested your strategy and know that it has a successful track record and will give you that extra edge over your competition. Identifying your entry strategy will help you execute your strategy in an efficient manner with no hesitation. There will be no guessing or wondering what to do once your setup is identified, you just click and go. Your risk management is also pre-defined so your initial protective stop is set on entry and you know when you will be moving your protective stop to breakeven after the market moves in your direction by a certain amount. Of course, our price target is also known in advance and how we will exit the market at this target. Will we have a set price target, a trailing stop, a time stop, etc.?

Principle #3 Sitting on Your Hands

This is probably the most difficult part of trading. We have this well-thought-out strategy and now we must wait for the setup to materialize. Who ever thought time could pass so slowly? Many of us are raised to think we must always be doing something or it is not work. So we end up taking boredom trades because our market is not cooperating at the moment. One of the advantages to entering a trade is that we can set the conditions and the market must come to us in order to offer us a low risk/high reward setup. This is where discipline can help when patience runs short. You must remind yourself that you will only have your "edge" if you wait for your setup. Otherwise, you will just be gambling and not following your plan. Keep in mind that no one strategy will work all the time in the markets. There will be times when you will miss a market move because you had no setup, or the price did not come back far enough to get you in - do not get upset. Keep this in mind, "The markets were here before us and they will be here long after us." Simply stated, there will always be another opportunity to make a trade. I would much rather miss a market move because I had no signal than know that I chased a market because I let my emotions get in the way. This is a very low probability of success choice.

Principle #4 - Trade in the Direction of the Trend

Trading with the trend is much easier than trying to pick tops and bottoms. Trends offer traders the opportunity to stay with a trade much longer than merely trying to take a couple of points out of the market because they picked a minor top or bottom. Bragging rights for top and bottom pickers will eventually cost them their accounts. My experience has been when I meet somebody that likes to try and pick these tops and bottoms that more times than not, they also have a very large ego. As we have said before, there is no place in the market for ego. Let me mention here that using support and resistance levels as turning points does not necessarily make you a top and bottom picker. These can be logical turning points. People who try and pick turning points based on a bias, opinion or the phrase "It just felt like it should turn," are the ones who are in trouble of blowing out their trading accounts.

Entering a trade in the direction of a trend can be much more forgiving than countertrend trading. With trend trading, you have the momentum of the market in your direction to help if you get in a little too early or a tad bit too late. When countertrend trading, you have to be very precise with your timing or you will take some very quick losses. Trading with the trend allows for a better risk/reward. You will be in the trade for a longer period of time to capitalize on what the market has to offer.

Principle #5 Define Your Setups and Stick to Them

Much like Principle#1, we must identify what setups work best for us. Each trader will have certain styles that they are comfortable trading with. In your trading plan, you will identify your style of trading. Are you going to trade with Support/Resistance? Are you going to be a breakout trader? Are you going to use indicators? Or perhaps you are going to use a combination of the above. The important point here is that you identify your choice and stick to it. Many times a trader will get into a trade and hear somebody say for example, "Stochastics is really overbought." Now you have never looked at this indicator before but you flash it up on your screen and now you start thinking maybe you should exit your long position because you see it is overbought. Of course you exit the trade and it continues in your direction for a handsome profit without you. This is like trading by the seat of your pants. Had you done some research on stochastics and were very comfortable using it, then perhaps you could use it to help you identify your exit. If you do choose to use this indicator or any other method, just make sure you have tested it and you have written in your trading plan that this can be one of the criteria you will use to exit your trades. If it is not in your plan, then you should not use it.

Principle #6 Don't Marry a Time Frame

During the trading day, it is very easy for us to get comfortable watching just one particular time frame. If your time frame is too short, you will lose perspective on where we are trading in relation to some important levels during the trading day. Some of these important levels include: Knowing where previous day's high, low and close are, new swings on longer time frames created during the trading day since your pre-market analysis, speed bars from early morning resulting from news reports and knowing what today's high and low have been. Switch to different time frames during the trading day so you do not miss any of this important information. If you have room on your platform, leave a couple of different time frames open at the same time so you can see them all at once.

Principle #7 Morning or Afternoon Trader

By studying your personal trading journal, you should be able to tell whether you are better at trading in the morning or afternoon. In my opinion, the morning is the best time of day based on liquidity and true supply/demand in the markets. If you find that you are a better morning trader, then adjust your risk if you decide to trade in the afternoons. Perhaps trade smaller contract sizes or only take very high probability setups and don't settle for anything else. My plan also states that I will not initiate a new day trading position during the last half hour of the trading day. This period is just filled with people trying to square up positions and trying to get back to even for the day. Another event at that time of day is that people with small accounts are being forced out of positions because their clearing firm knows they do not have enough equity in their account to hold positions overnight.

Principle #8 Trade What You See and Not What You Think

When you place a trade, make sure there is a setup and that the charts are confirming what you see. Too many times, we start using the words "I think," "Maybe," or "What if" and you can see the pattern here. We must stay in the moment when trading. Do not worry about what happened recently or what might happen in the next few minutes. All we can be for sure about is what is happening right now! By thinking in any moment but the now can let fear and indecision enter your thoughts. This will cause paralysis when you need to execute your trade. This, in turn, makes you late entering your position because you are going to be looking for that extra confirmation.

Principle#9 Trading in Front of News is Like Gambling

We have all seen a news event come out that on the outside, looked bullish. Then a few minutes later, the market sells off in a very unforgiving manner. There are just too many variables to try and trade off of the news. Many large traders position themselves days before the report comes out. Once the news is out, the inexperienced trader is entering the market based on their perception of the news and the large traders are more than happy to offer their contracts to these people and book their profits. The liquidity in the markets seems to evaporate for a short time after these major reports are released. Too many traders try and bracket these reports and take breakout trades from them. They soon find out that they are whipsawed from the news report with larger than expected losses due to slippage. Then the market finally starts to trend in one direction or the other. Let the news come out and the calm heads will prevail again after a short time. Then while the gamblers are licking their wounds, you can identify your setup and take a well-thought-out trade and capitalize on the opportunity.

Principle #10 Stops are a Trader's Best Friend

Learn to like protective stops. They are nothing more than a circuit breaker that will trip before the house catches on fire. You need these protective devices in the market to protect you against huge losses. Once you start trying to trade without a stop, you begin to trade emotionally. All of a sudden, the voices appear in your head asking questions about "What if this happens?" or "What do we do now?" We have all heard them - they are not good voices to hear when you need to be calm and collected. Forget about the stories of people knowing where your stops are in the Futures markets. They only know where they are because we place them at obvious swing highs and lows. We always place our stops in places that tell us the trade is not working, so being stopped out is no problem. We obviously would not want to stay long a market if prices are making new swing lows against us. Trading is a probability business. The sooner we accept that one or two trades should not make or break us as traders, the sooner we will become successful. By thinking in terms of probabilities you will realize that with each loss you are closer to a winner. For example, out of 20 trades done on a consistent strategy (same rules for all trades), you will find that you did not lose 20 in a row and you did not win 20 in a row. You probably had something like 11-9, 15-5, etc. The key is staying consistent. If we trade different strategies every other trade, then we will never obtain this consistency or any kind of long-term success as a trader.

These principals may seem simplistic to some, but they are often overlooked and therefore, cause inconsistencies in many trading accounts. Review these and perhaps you will find that there are a few missing in your trading plan. Rule-based trading will make you a much better trader. There is just no room for using emotions in trading. If you find yourself trading with emotions, perhaps taking some time off will help clear your head. There is no need to try and trade through any kind of issues affecting your business of trading.

Author : Don Dawson
The Online Trading Academy
(published 29/12/2009)

Regards
AnAtheist

Improve your day trading with the necessary five vitamin

Many people think that day trading is a very easy job because the trader is not required to do anything other than watch his or her screen to make money. However, sitting in front of the screen all day requires energy, which can easily be drained if you are not in optimum health. Therefore it is important that day traders take care of their health, body and mind to be able to the job effectively, as it requires a lot of brain power. As a day trader, you will be required to eat healthy food, get enough sleep and exercise, in order to increase stamina so that you body can provide your brain with the energy that is needed.

If you want to become a successful day trader, you need to be confident in yourself, make the quick and right decisions, be alert and recognize the patterns in trading. However, this can all be difficult due to the fact that trading has become more volatile. The more volatile trading becomes, the more you are required to pay attention as the prices can easily move in your favor or against you. The more attention you pay to the screens, the easier it is to be constantly stressed out over your work. This will exhaust you both mentally and physically which is why it is important that you have enough stamina to sustain the stress for long hours.

In order to build stamina and generate energy when you need it, you will be required to have a healthy balanced diet. So you will need to come up with a meal plan that allows you to enjoy food and at the same time give you health benefits. You will also be required to exercise at least five to six days to stay fit and relax from trading all day. Sticking to both the meal and exercise plan will require some dedication. Once you get into the habit of eating and exercising properly, it will become a part of your daily routine.

There are five essential and important vitamins and nutrients that are required to improve stamina and brain focus, which is required in day trading. There are many different types of supplements and tablets that can be found in the market, which will provide you with these five vitamins.

1. Fish Oil: Also known as Omega 3. This is one of the most important nutrients required by the brain. It is great for increasing memory and reducing the chances of brain function and memory loss as we age. Day trading requires full brain focus, which can be enhanced with Omega 3. You can easily find this nutrient in fish, but if you do not like fish you can easily eat flax seeds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds.

2. Phosphatidyl Serine (PS): This is an over the counter nutrient which is easily available. They act as mind boosters and provide many benefits for day traders. It increases memory, concentration, and focus and ensures mental clarity. All these things are required to be a successful day trader.

3. Vitamin B: This vitamin improves your nervous system and helps in the formation of red blood cells. The more red blood cells you have the more energy will be provided to your brain cells to use when you are day trading. A good nervous system is required to withstand the pressure and tension that is being put on the brain while paying attention on the screen. You will not get fatigue or lose concentration while trading with the right amount of vitamin B in your body.

4. Vitamin D: This vitamin plays an important role in the development of your brain and its functions. With the right amount of vitamin D, enough sleep and exercise, you will be able to improve to function of the brain. This will help day traders keep focus of what is going on around them and make quick decisions when it is needed.

5. Magnesium: This nutrient also boosts brain functions, which increase both learning and memory. It is important to take the right amount of magnesium in your daily diet, as too much of this can cause complications. However, by taking the right amount, you can easily increase your memory and learning ability as a day trader.

These are the five essential nutrients that are required to improve brain focus why day trading. If you are taking supplements, then remember to purchase a well known brand; otherwise be sure to come up with a balanced meal plan that has all these nutrients.

From
Just Trader . com
30/03/2012


Regards
AnAtheist

20 Simple Ways To Improve Your Forex Trading
In todays lesson, I am going to outline 20 things that I personally do in my own trading and that you can start doing to improve yours. Please read todays article closely because I spent a long time writing it for you and its full of solid tips and insight that can make a big difference in your trading. As always, please leave a comment after reading todays lesson and let me know what you thought about it or if you learned anything new. Now, lets get to it:
1) Have real goals and understand what youre committing to
Having reasonable short-term goals that you can realistically achieve within a short period of time is how you achieve longer-term goals. Unfortunately, most traders become fixated on the long-term goal of becoming a professional trader as soon as they start trading with real money. The main problem with this is that just having a big long-term goal with no realistic plan to achieve it, is essentially worthless.
As a trader, a reasonable short-term goal might be that you stick to your trading plan for one month. Then, if you achieve that short-term goal you can give yourself a reward at months end, whatever you decide that might be. Just be sure you define short-term trading goals that you can realistically achieve, if you want to achieve your big long-term goal of becoming a very successful Forex trader. If you are seriously going to commit to become a full-time trader, youre going to have devise a plan to get you to that point, just wanting to be a full-time trader is not a plan or strategy to make it happen.
2) Simplify your trading approach & your thoughts
One of the easiest ways to improve your trading that will also work to improve your overall mindset both when youre trading and when youre not is to simplify your trading approach. My key philosophy of trading is to keep it simple stupid. After years of trial and error in my early trading days, I finally realized that I was just making the entire process of analyzing and trading the markets FAR more complicated than it needed to be. When you use a simple trading method like price action, it eliminates most of the confusion, doubt, and frustration that traders experience as a result of being unsure of how to trade their system or strategy. Trading is not technically difficult, its emotionally and psychologically difficult; therefore it just doesnt make sense to use a confusing or complicated trading strategy or system which will make both the technical and psychological aspects of trading more difficult than they need to be or are.
3) Develop your skills and plan before you trade
I am always amazed at how many emails I get from traders who basically tell me they are new to Forex trading and they want to open a live account. For some reason, people seem to think they need very little experience or preparation to make money in the markets. In reality, this couldnt be further from the truth. Trading a real account is not something you just dive into with no plan or experience behind you.
I personally recommend that all traders have mastered an effective trading method like price action trading, developed a solid trading plan from that trading method, have a trading journal, and trade their plan on a demo account whilst recording their trades in their trading journal for at least 2 or 3 months before even thinking about trading a live account. The markets will chew up and spit out your hard-earned money faster than you can imagine (and you know that already if youve been trading for a while), so the more prepared and experienced you are before you start trading live, the better off youll be in the long-run.
4) Dont fall off the wagon
It seems to be in our nature to get really excited and motivated about things only to see those positive feelings fizzle at the first signs of adversity or obstacle. How often have you or someone you know made a New Years resolution to get into shape and start eating better, only to find yourself back in the same old negative habits by the middle of February?
Youre not alone here; its human nature to be this way. However, we are equipped with very powerful brains that give us the power to overcome our human nature and evolution to the point where we can rise up above our peers and create positive habits rather than the negative ones that dominant many peoples lives. I can promise you that trading does not reward lazy people or people who cannot manifest the motivation to stay disciplined and follow a plan for a long period of time. Its not difficult to get motivated about trading and create a good forex trading plan, what is difficult is digging deep within yourself and sticking to that plan and following your edge with ice cold discipline week in and week out.
Most traders fall of the wagon; they end up trading when theres no trade, forgetting about their trading plan and gambling their money away in the markets. Dont be one of the sheep; be the leader, be different, do the things you know you should do even when you dont want to, persist and be disciplined even in the face of constant temptation, these are the things you must do to be a profitable trader.
5) Stop trading if youre frustrated or confused
If youre frustrated with your trading results or confused about your trading strategy, its best to simply take some time off from trading. This simple exercise can work wonders on your mindset and will restore passion and motivation into your trading routine. Clearing the markets from your mind for a while is sometimes the best thing you can do to improve your trading. Especially, if you just suffered through a series of emotion-fueled losing trades, you need to take some time off from real money trading to regroup and collect yourself.
Even if you are just feeling a little frazzled one day in the midst of a successful run in the markets, its still better to just stop for the day and come back the next day after a good nights rest. Its very easy to get caught up over-analyzing and falling victim to the temptations of the market, without even noticing. If you find youve been at your computer for an hour or two just analyzing the markets and trying to find a trade, youre probably better off removing yourself from the markets for a while. Finding your trading edge in the market should be a relatively quick and easy task after you have mastered trading your edge. It should be readily apparent if your edge is present in the markets after just 15 or 20 minutes of browsing. So, when in doubt, walk away from the markets until the next day or however long you need to calm down.
6) Trade less than you are now, much less
I talk a lot about over-trading, and for good reason, but I wont get into it too much in todays lesson, except to say that most traders trade way too much. I get a lot of emails from traders asking me things like How many trades can I expect per week, etc; when in reality it really doesnt matter. Traders should be far more focused on quality of trades rather than quantity of trades, as you can make a good return each month with only 1 or 2 big winners.
Its OK if you dont trade for a week, you need to understand that. Many traders feel like they need to be in a trade all the time or they are missing out on an opportunity. Well, the truth is that just because the market is sitting there and easy to access, it doesnt mean its an opportunity to make money. In fact, you should think about the market as a way to both lose and make money, this will help you to avoid jumping in the markets when your edge isnt present. Theres only an opportunity when your trading edge is present, if you trade when your edge is not present you are simply gambling. Its a proven fact that high frequency trading is less profitable over the long-run than lower frequency trading. Traders who take a swing-trading approach where they are holding positions for 3 or 4 days or a week on average, tend to keep themselves in business as traders, whereas day traders keep the brokers in business with all the spreads and commissions they generate for them. Unfortunately, day traders and short-term scalpers often up putting themselves out of the trading business simply because they are gambling, not trading.
7) Stop thinking so much and so hard, its bad for you
Whereas thinking and brainstorming are generally good things in almost every other profession in the world, in trading they can actually be counter-productive. The reason being is that often its best to just not do anything in the markets. Whether that means not entering a trade you know isnt quite meeting your trading plan guidelines, or not interfering with a live trade, traders do a lot of damage to their trading accounts by thinking too much about what they should do next.
Dont get me wrong here, Im not telling you that you dont have to think at all to be a good trader. What Im saying is that most traders think more than they need to, theres a big difference. Obviously, you need to think to become a successful trader. But, once you determine exactly what your trading edge is and you know how best to trade it, there isnt a whole lot more to think about. After you know how to trade your edge, it really just comes down to scanning the markets quickly each day to see if your edge is there and then either trading your edge or walking away. This type of approach is best implemented as an end of day trading strategy; however you can also use it on the intra-day charts.
Also, dont over-think your trades once they are live. The default trade management strategy that I use is to set and forget my trades, then I will check in on them periodically and if theres any obvious price action showing me that the market bias is changing against my position, I might manually close out my trade. But, I never manually close a trade simply out of emotion or because I thought about it for too long and convinced myself of something that the markets werent actually reflecting, this is what many traders do.
8) Accept that you dont need indicators
I like to think of my website as one of the few true trading websites that focuses on price action and on real trading strategies, rather than the thousands of trading sites out there talking about indicators. If youve been following me for a while now you know that I focus primarily on trading off pure price action, with a couple of moving averages sprinkled in sometimes. However, if you want to know exactly why I think trading with indicators is a bad idea, checkout this article on forex indicators. Indicators are for those lost sheep traders still searching for some Holy-Grail trading system that simply doesnt exist. The sooner you wake up to this reality the sooner you can get on the track to learning real Forex trading strategies.
9) Use your brain wisely
Youre not a caveman, its 2012, there is no excuse in todays world not to read, not to be educated and not to make a real effort, LAZY wont work. Too many traders want to buy a trading system or attend a trading seminar and magically start printing Benjamins from their computers. Unfortunately, this is not how it works. Trading takes time and effort to learn, and you have to use the large mushy area between your ears to become good at it. Many traders never invest in an effective trading education or take the time to learn and really develop their trading skills; instead they just jump in the markets with little to no formal trading and start throwing around their hard-earned money. Theres so much information at your fingertips these days, theres no reason not to put in the time to learn how to trade effectively.
10) Ditch the fundamentals and news
I know that a lot of you guys spend hours reading economic news, reading forums over on forex factory, or whatever else. The truth is, you are wasting your time. You really are; you need to just accept the simple fact that all fundamentals and forex news variables are reflected via the pure price action on your charts. Im not going to say too much about this topic in todays lesson because I have discussed it in other lessons quite a bit, and theres really no better way to sum it up except to say that every single piece of economic news and all things that affect a market are visible and reflected in that markets price action. So, if you learn to read the price action you also learn to read the fundamentals.
11) Trust your gut, not anothers
When it comes to trading, trusting your gut is something youre going to have to learn to do. Unfortunately, theres no mechanical trading system out there that will stay effective over changing market conditions. Despite what you read on some trading websites, you need to use your brain, your eyes, and your gut instinct when trading the markets. Your intuition and gut trading feel are things that can be harnessed and improved upon if you develop them by learning a strategy like price action.
Turn off the TV, stop reading the business section in newspapers, and dont listen to the opinions of others, instead learn to listen to yourself. A good gut trading feel will only come from experience and confidence, so you first need to really master a trading strategy like price action and then practice trading with it on demo. Once you do this for a while you will begin to develop your gut trading instinct and to get a feel for a price action strategy worth trading versus one thats not, etc. Ultimately, you are the one pulling the trigger on your trades, so you need to trust yourself and not confusing yourself by listening to other people and taking in too many outside opinions. All you really need is a sound knowledge of price action trading, your brain, and the charts.
12) Keep your day job, and work hard at it
Dont set out to be a professional trader from day 1, instead, your first goal should be to gain experience and knowledge and become a good trader, then once youre making consistent money in the markets you could quit your job if you want to. Most traders go about this with the wrong mindset, they think they are going to quit their job after a month of trading and they might even start slacking off at work as a result. This is the wrong attitude to have and the wrong thing to do; you really need to already be financially sound and relatively happy with your life before you start trading with real money. Many traders look to the markets as a way to solve all their problems, when in reality the markets are not there for this. They are for mentally sound people to potentially profit from, so if you are trading the markets just because you hate your job or you want to be a millionaire, you probably have the wrong forex trading mindset already.
13) Be organized and clean (hygienically too)
I am a very organized and clean person, and I firmly believe this has contributed to my success at such a young age. Without trying to sound arrogant or cocky, many people simply dont have the motivation to maintain an organized and clean lifestyle, and I think its very hard to be a consistently profitable trader if you live this way. Everything from having the files and content organized on your computer to having a clean and organized place to trade is important to your overall trading mindset. One of the reasons why many people fail at trading is because they arent organized and disciplined, trading seems easy on the surface, but if you arent exited about developing positive habits and about being patient and disciplined, youre probably not going to make it as a trader.
14) Dont be stupid
A lot of traders simply act like fools in the markets. They shuffle around their charts like lost souls desperately in need of a trading signal, panicking if they dont find one and ultimately entering the market anyways. Biting off more risk than you can chew and generally behaving like gambler in the markets is not the way to make money, in fact its simply stupid, to put it frankly. You need to think like a businessman or woman and act accordingly, that means managing risk and having a plan.
15) Learn to love patience
For many people, patience brings up images of boredom and things they would rather not do. However, in trading, you need patience more so than in most other professions. You need to have patience to sit on your hands when your trading edge is not present, and you need to have patience to see your trading edge play out over a large series of trades, rather than getting emotional after hitting a few losers. Indeed, if there is one key ingredient to success as a trader, it would definitely be patience.
Trading seems to naturally tempt peoples ability to be patient, and the more you can maintain your patience by waiting for valid instances of your trading edge, the better you will do. As humans, we have not been wired by evolution to be patient in most situations; when we are hungry we need to eat now, etc. So, as traders, we need to override these caveman urges which cause us to over-trade and risk too much, by planning ahead and not becoming emotional as we trade.
16) Dont expect to win every trade
Im going to let you guys in on a little secret that all pro traders know; you dont have to be right to make money trading. In fact, you can actually be wrong on THE MAJORITY OF YOUR TRADES and STILL make money. Yes, thats right. If you want to see how, click the article I just linked to.
The point is this, you cant freak out every time you lose a trade, EVEN IF you think it was a perfect trade setup. I get a lot of emails from traders sending me charts of setups they took that they said are perfect and that they just dont understand why the trade lost because it was so perfect. Well, the cold hard truth is that it really doesnt matter why the trade didnt work! Also, why do you care so much? Have you risked too much on that one losing trade? Do you expect to win every trade? If you do expect to win every trade you are in for a lot of struggle and strife as a trader. The sooner you accept losing as part of being a trader and devise a realistic plan to deal with it, the sooner you can get on to making money in the markets.
17) Enjoy Losing Each loss brings you closer to a large win
Similar to the point above, you have to actually learn to enjoy losing. I know that sounds strange, youre probably thinking How can anyone enjoy losing? Well, if you are really passionate about being a trader, and youve already accepted that losing is part of being a trader, then at the very worst you should not make a big deal out of a losing trade. You have to learn to embrace your losers and think of them as just one trade closer to a winner. I always tell my students to stop trying to avoid losses, as losing is a big part of winning a trader, and the more you try to avoid losing trades, the more of them you are probably going to have. Think of losing trades as a coworker you really dont like but that you have to work with everyday. If you take a bad attitude with this coworker and try to avoid them, its probably going to hurt your chances of a promotion and thus make you less money in the long run.
18) Be consistent
You just had 4 losing trades, what do you do, remain calm and collected, following your trading plan as usual? Or, do you freak out and jump back into the market to try and make back the money you just lost? If you lose your confidence and stop trading your proven trading strategy, you are probably going to miss out on the next trade that would have been a big winner. Trading is the ultimate test of being able to brush off and ignore obstacles that are in your way now for a longer-term reward. If you crumble at the first sign of adversity or hardship, you are probably going to become very emotional after a losing trade or two and start making stupid trading decisions.
19) Read, study, and improveAlways
Great investors, traders and business people, read, study and educate themselves on an ongoing basis. You need to invest in yourself because its the most important investment you will ever make, and it will lead to direct growth in your knowledge and skill as a trader or personal fund manager.
I am always amazed at how many traders think they dont need to educate themselves about the markets or on a proven trading strategy. Many of them tend to think they can just dive in head-first to real money trading, with no formal trading or education, and that somehow they are on the right track. Well, thats not the case, trading takes time, effort, and education, like anything else. The trick is to make sure you learn an effective trading strategy like price action and that you learn how to trade from a genuine and honest source.
20) Daily Trading Affirmations
A secret formula of many successful people has been to verbally reinforce the most important goals in their life. For a trader, having a wall poster or post it notes with important goals and phrases will help. We did a great lesson on this some time ago and its worth a read for any of you looking to take your trading to the next levelthis stuff really does work and anybody can practice ityou can check out my trading affirmations lesson here.
Its important to read through these affirmations everyday before you trade, I would even incorporate this into your trading plan. Doing so, will get your daily trading routine started off on a positive note.
Finally, I just want to say that I hope all of you have learned something from todays lesson, and that if you really read through all 20 of the points above, and fully absorb them, you will gain some solid insight and knowledge that will help you improve your trading.


Nial Fuller
author of learntotradethemarket
oct 2012