Desire + Work (Method) = Success
There is no doubt about it among high level traders that you must have a subconscious belief that your method will prove profitable. No matter how many positive personal mantras you recite or write out you have to have a proven method first. The only way to acquire that belief is to write out your trading plan in detail; then back-test that plan extensively, then demo trade or micro trade that plan in live markets for a specified amount of time measured not in days or weeks but in months, even years. It is essential that you become familiar w/ a charting package you can go back in time and manually test out the set-ups and triggers your method calls for.
We know that many of you will fail because you aren’t willing to write up your own trading plan, or willing to put in the effort to find charts that allow you to back-test, or patient enough to manually back-test in an organized manner by recording your trades for honest evaluation, or you can’t or won’t commit yourself to demo testing for a suitable amount of time. The great percentage of retail account holders fail because they don’t know they need to do all these things. But a large percentage fail even after knowing this because they won’t or can’t risk their resources and time to achieve the reward. A professional already has the will to succeed before she chooses the specific goal or method. It is unlikely anyone can teach you to have that desire. That will depend on your own belief system.
Jay
Jnorris@brewerinvestmentgroup.com
800-971-2154
Jay Norris is the author of Mastering the Currency Market, McGraw-Hill, 2009 and a Trading Instructor at Trading-U.com and a Senior Market Strategist with BrewerFX in Chicago. To see details of Trading-U’s available course work go to Trading Course To schedule a complimentary, interactive tutorial with Jay on determining market direction and hear more about “Live Market Exercise” go to One on One Tutorial
DISCLAIMER: Forex (off-exchange foreign currency futures and options or FX) trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. Risks include the potential that changing political/economic conditions may substantially affect the price/liquidity of a currency. Investors may lose all or more than their original investments. Any charts shown here represent market conditions at a particular point in time. Such conditions may not be replicated in the future. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
I agree to some extent. However, live testing for months is of most importance. There is nothing like live trading.
Hi DW,
Absolutely. The student/individual needs to feel the pain of losing real money when they make a mistake — ideally it is in micro contracts — but a lose none the same. Some people are also not cut out to be risk-takers at all based on thier internal beliefs, or can not afford to take risks and this will be discovered early in the processs.
Yes real effort is needed to be a successful trader. Got to have a belief system in the forefront of our heads.
Excellent contribution Jay
Backtesting….meh…..can’t hurt but you are testing the past and get zero emotional experience soooooooo. Demo is better but still not the same as trading with real money. My advice is trade .01 lots otherwise known as fractional micro. You can trade as little as 100units which is only a penny a pip. For the price of a starbucks coffee you can trade for weeks.