TRADING FOREX Avoid That Trader's Trap
Top 10 Trading Habits
by Jody Samuels
Here are 10 habits you can incorporate into your trading. They are simple and they work.
Here's a story about two currency traders -- I'll just call them Frustrated Farah and Successful Stacey. Farah, who's a technical junkie, has fallen into the typical trader's trap. She is out of trading shape, with no business plan, no profits, and has very little discipline. She trades emotionally and hasn't developed a trading plan, either. In short, Farah lacks a model for her trading business. There's a good reason why she's frustrated.
Stacey, on the other hand, used to be a technical junkie, but has transformed herself into a successful entrepreneurial trader. She makes money consistently, trades with discipline and unemotionally, and operates with a clear trading plan. In short, Stacey is in trading shape and has the foreign exchange trader's edge. There's a good reason why she's succeeded.
How do you avoid falling into the trader trap? Let me tell you a little about my own trading history. I was a successful investment bank trader for 15 years. When I left the institutional business and started out on my own, I realized there were many traders who wanted success but couldn't attain it. Why? Those traders had the technical knowledge, they had learned about Fibonacci, support and resistance areas, chart patterns, moving averages, and other technical indicators. In fact, they had learned all of the technical aspects of trading that should have helped them succeed, but they were still looking for the trader's holy grail.
Technical knowledge of trading systems alone, I realized, does not a successful trader make. Learning entrepreneurial skills and lifelong habits does. When I looked closely at the top traders, I saw that they were all entrepreneurs, and they all had developed good habits. They treated trading like a business, and that made the difference between them and the rest of the traders.
With my skills as a forex trader, together with what I'd discovered about other successful traders, I developed a system that embraces an entrepreneurial style to become successful. My system is based on cultivating 10 habits that, if followed, save traders time and effort, help them make more money, and encourage them to achieve their full potential as forex traders.
...Continued in the October issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES
Excerpted from an article originally published in the October 2008 issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2008, Technical Analysis, Inc.
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