February 2012 ~ Forex Trading Made Easy

What does it take to become a successful Forex trader? As a beginning Forex trader, you might think that the answer involves some combination of intellect and a great system — and maybe even luck. While all of these things play a role in Forex success, what you really want to do is rely on luck as little as possible. You can do that by cultivating personality traits which breed success — traits like consistency, patience, and self-discipline. There are some things which are more important than making money in Forex — and those are a few of them. You don’t just want to profit — you want to profit consistently.

Consistency. Which is better — a trade which wins and pays you nicely, but which violates all of your trade rules, or a trade which loses but conforms to your (tested and proven) trade rules? Any trade where you violate your trading method and your discipline is a trade you’ve lost — even if it makes you money, it costs you something else. Money won through luck can be lost through luck just as quickly, and if you trade arbitrarily you will blow your account in no time. There’s no such thing as a perfect system, but if yours brings in good, consistent profits, a lost trade isn’t the end of the world. Do whatever you can to never lose a Forex trade, and always be alert to whether changes in the market call for adjustments in your tactics, but never trade randomly, and don’t expect perfection — it’s unrealistic.
Self-discipline. This is what it takes to maintain your consistency as a Forex trader. If you can’t develop self-discipline, even the best system in the world won’t make you a profitable trader. No matter how smart you are, no matter how much you know about finance, you won’t be able to trade for a living or achieve any other trading goal. Without self-discipline and consistency, you’re only a gambler, and not a real FX trader.
Patience. You aren’t going to become a great Forex trader overnight. You’re not going to win all your trades that way either (unless of course you trade very short time frames!). You’re going to have to learn to be patient while your trades are in progress — trading in real time is much different than backtesting, especially psychologically. You’ll also need to get used to the idea that it’s going to take some time to get to where you can trade consistently and profitably. Many Forex traders take years to get to that place — so don’t let yourself get discouraged if you’ve had some starts and stops along the way.

Making mnney is obviously one of your main goals trading Forex, but it shouldn’t be your only one, since you’re not going to achieve it unless you can also achieve some other goals, like cultivating self-discipline, patience, and consistent returns. All of these are prerequisites to making money in the currency market or any other market.