1. Develop information avenues for market
conditions and upcoming events
There are many factors that go into driving price
action. Quite a few of these things are publicly known and broadcast far in
advance. Find yourself a website that offers a calendar of upcoming economic
events that can have an affect on currencies you trade. There is always the
threat of getting whipsawed out of a position that looks pristine with the
impact that news has on the markets.
Listening to analysts and advisers can provide
insight on circumstances you may have overlooked. On the other hand, you want
to be careful about basing your trading decisions on the information provided
by one or two other people. Each trading you decision you make needs to be the
right one for you, for your strategy, for your profitability.
2. Strive for consistency to generate repeated,
positive results
Humans are creatures of habit. Working to turn your
habit into instinct will provide a significant edge in your trading analysis.
How do you do that? A trader must
continuously practice their method, edge, and trading circumstances to make it
a natural extension of themself. One
could look at a martial artist as a metaphor for this practice. The martial artist
practices, practices, and practices more to make their manipulation an
extension of their person so they don’t have to think about them when the time
arises. Traders should do the same to incorporate their trading plan and
practices into successful execution.
Do your analysis and trading at a consistent time
(if possible). Review your plan, entry, and exit criteria before executing any
transaction. Document every transaction with screenshots of the charts to
accompany the information so you can review.
3. Education and understanding are at the heart of
every successful venture
Forex trading is a discipline where a person should
never stop learning. You never know when you may pull a single sentence of
wisdom out of a book or forex trading video that can help you improve your profitability.
On the other hand, one must be careful to not try
and fit everything they learn into their own trading strategy. Not everything
you learn will be relevant to the way you approach forex. Not everyone with an
opinion is worth listening to. Check and cross-check information before you
decide to integrate it into your own trading plan. You only want the most
relevant, best information that applies to your philosophy on forex trading.
4. Document every success and failure to gain
wisdom from them
Failing is almost as valuable as succeeding for the
person wanting long-term success in any venture, forex included. Everyone makes
mistakes. People that succeed learn from those mistakes and ensure the mistake
is not made a second time. Each trade will have reasons it may have succeeded
or failed. You should document each transaction in your trading journal along
with the reasons why it may have succeeded or failed.
It is important to dig below the surface to get to
real answers. For example, if a trade gets stopped out; why did it get stopped
out? Did you neglect to check for economic events regarding a currency in the
pair that took you out? Was there some world event? Or was it just some
unidentified circumstance that you cannot nail down?
There will be a periodic trade that you can’t pin
down the success or failure of but most of them will have clear reasons for
their movement. So many traders fail to properly document their transactions
for analysis. Don’t make that mistake!
5. Eliminate any potential intangibles in your
Trading Plan that can derail your success
A lot has been said on the necessity of Trading
Plans and strategies to find success. If you have one drawn up- great! There is
likely to be room for some refinement and honing to ensure you are eliminating
any potential future confusion. One of the purposes of the Trading Plan is to
eliminate excessive thinking, confusion, and emotion from the process. Take
some time to think about your last ten trades and how much effort you had to
put in to determining whether they were good trades.
If you had to dedicate a lot of effort to it; then
your Trading Plan may not be as clearly defined as it should be.
Here are a couple of
often neglected points:
- All criteria
for Stops and exits.
Are
you using a time based strategy? Where is your Stop Loss placed? When do you
advance it to Break Even? Do not use mental stops; clearly define them and
place them appropriately every time. Each trade should have clear definition.
Yes, every trade is unique. That’s why you should have a few predefined exit
strategies in place before you ever place one.
- Eliminate or define
any intangible entry criteria.
The
most common is the hallowed Break Out trade. Break Outs can provide a
significant amount of momentum that can put money in your account. However,
traders don’t always define what makes a clear Break Out and subsequently get
caught in the pull-back of a false Break Out. So what constitutes a Break Out? A good rule of thumb is if a
candlestick closes X number of pips past the Support/Resistance level.
6. Familiarize yourself with the more common
indicators that other traders use
So you’ve been trading for awhile, found a great
strategy that works for you, but want to improve the number of pips you take.
How you can do that without changing your own strategy too much? Take the time
to research and understand some of the more common indicators that other
traders use that you may not use in your strategy. The idea is to get into the
minds of other traders to try and predict how they are going to respond to a
given market action.
That does not mean you will adopt these signals as
part of your own trading strategy. Instead, if you are unclear on a potential
trade, they can be referenced to see if other traders will be seeing a
similarly profitable signal that they may act on. Some of the most commonly
used indicators to familiarize yourself with include:
- RSI
-
EMA (200)
-
Fibonacci Retracement
7. Develop your patience and temper your emotions
The mind game is the biggest hurdle to overcome for
any trader. Even traders of intermediate experience still make the periodic
mistake from lack of emotional discipline or patience. This is a skill that one
needs to actively work on to develop. The good news is; it’s a skill that will
serve you in several other facets of your life. Family, friends, can often use a little extra patience or
neutrality when problems arise.
A great way to work on this aspect of your mental
game is to embrace other relaxing activities to put your mind in the right
place. A number of traders like to meditate before they open their platform.
Others trade with soft, soothing music to focus on to drive anxiety away. The
best measure? Days off. The retail spot market is closed two days a week. Use
at least one of those days to push forex, the successes, and the failures out
of your mind.
Your mind is a powerful muscle but it needs rest to
maintain its strength in the long-term. Don’t be afraid to take breaks to
reduce the long-term stress and improve your ability to think with clarity. The
markets will be there in the coming week.
Monitor your emotions closely. If you feel yourself
getting out of sorts and too angry; just wait for a little while. It’s easy to
make emotional mistakes if you simply act on whatever emotions flood your mind
the moment of or shortly after. But what about in ten minutes? Will your
emotional reaction still be the best course of action in your mind? Probably
not.