If you want to be a successful trader, you must make sure you
do not deny reality in any phase of your trading. You cannot deny
losses, price direction, mistakes you make, being
undercapitalized, or a whole host of things you would rather not
think about.
Many traders think the best way to deal with unpleasant ideas,
events, or personal character flaws is to shut their eyes and
pretend they don't exist.
Let's face it, trading can be difficult, at times very
difficult and it's essential that you focus on reality. Denial
takes your focus away from the very thing you need to be
concentrating on-the action of prices-regardless of time frame.
Your mind must be clear so that you can look at the market and
see what is really there.
The way I learned to handle denial was to simply write down
and confront all possible ideas I had trouble accepting. Some
thoughts I could fix and others I just had to accept. But facing
the truth of what and who you are is the only way to deal with
denial. You have to realize that for the most part the only
things you can change are in yourself. Other things you just have
to accept. You have to accept the reality of slippage, for
example. You have to realize that indicators often give false
signals and that there is no magic moving average nor is there a
magical oscillator.
You have to realize that some winning trades are just lucky
trades and had nothing to do with your skill as a trader. By the
same token, you will also experience the bad luck of having
prices make a sudden and unexpected move against you.
Rather than wasting your time in denial, concentrate your
mental energies on improving yourself and improving your trading
skills. Work at improving your abilities to observe. Realize that
you have to survive the markets in order to benefit from the
experience of the markets.
There is really only one true problem with your trading-that
problem is you! However, the problem manifests in two ways: 1.
Market conditions have changed and you haven't. 2. You are no
longer doing what you did when you were winning. You have
drifted. You are not consistent.
The first aspect of the problem is due to poor observation.
The market has changed and you haven't changed with it. Poor
observation stems from a variety of lesser but very important
problems. You have married a market, or a trade. You may have
allowed your ego to get the best of you and you are no longer
humble. I've named just a couple here. I challenge you to think
about the many things that can distract you from seeing when
market conditions have changed. Make a list of those things and
confront them. The second aspect of the problem stems from
inconsistency. Here again, you should make a list of those things
that cause you to be inconsistent. "Perhaps I was a good trader
at one time, but the market conditions have changed and I may not
be able to keep my reputation up." This is an issue that all
traders face at some point: keeping up their reputation. When one
makes big profits trading, it's tempting to tell neighbors and
friends how well you are doing. It's great when you're making the
big profits, but keeping up appearances is often the downfall of
even the most astute trader. Again, denying your need for fame
and glory, or pretending that you can maintain an unrealistic
reputation, will use up your psychological energy and interfere
with your ability to concentrate. Huge profits tend to go to the
humble, so try not to build up your reputation. Admit that you
will have difficulty keeping up appearances and just quit doing
it. One fact that traders wrestle with continuously is the notion
that, "Trading is not a legitimate job."
Many traders struggle with the legitimacy of trading. Some
traders find that they can simply remind themselves, "Trading
provides liquidity and helps control prices." Other traders,
however, think this isn't good enough and need to find more
meaning in their daily trading activities. For example, they may
focus on how trading helps them provide for their family, or may
plan to donate some of their profits to charities they view as
personally valuable. The point is, don't deny the possible truth
to such ideas. You will be better off acknowledging and working
through them, and then just moving on. Denying they exist, on the
other hand, will use up time and energy.
Unacceptable beliefs tend to lie in the back of your mind.
They remain there, lurking, and when you are vulnerable, they can
powerfully influence your outlook. So acknowledge unacceptable
ideas, and once you admit the possible validity of such ideas,
you will neutralize their potential influence. This will free up
limited psychological resources, allowing you to focus all your
energy on trading profitably and consistently.
Joe Ross, trader, author, trading educator is one of the most
eclectic traders in the business. His 47+ years include position
trading of shares, and futures. He daytrades stock indices,
currencies, and forex. He trades futures spreads and options on
futures, and has written books about it all - 12 to be exact. Joe
is the discoverer of The Law of Charts?, and is famous for the
Ross hook? and the Traders Trick Entry?.
Trading Educators, Inc.
Trading Educators was founded in 1988 by Master Trader Joe Ross.
He is the president of Trading Educators and actively supports
his customers with his experience of more than 47 years of
trading.
The Team at Trading Educators is composed of an international
blend of experienced traders, all educated and proficient in the
Joe Ross methods. Our professional staff trades regularly in the
markets.
Since its foundation Joe Ross and the Team at Trading
Educators have taught thousands of satisfied customers who use
Joe´s concepts to produce significant profits in
today´s markets.
Sri Lanka Rupee, Stocks Drop After Currency Trading Band Removed Bloomberg The central bank narrowed the currency's trading band against the dollar on Feb. 3 and Feb. 6 and today, prior to announcing its removal. The monetary authority raised benchmark interest rates for the first time since 2007 on Feb.
India Eases Currency Trading Limits for Some Banks Wall Street Journal By SUDEEP JAIN MUMBAI -- India's central bank has asked banks to approach it individually for relaxing some foreign currency trading limits and has already eased restrictions for some banks, a top official said Monday. "Some limits, based on their ...
iFOREX Adds Oil to its list of Tradable Commodities MarketWatch (press release) ROAD TOWN, Tortola, Feb 09, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Leading currency trading company, iFOREX, has recently expanded its services, giving all Forex trading accounts direct access to oil CFDs. Targeting an audience that has little or no experience with ...
This January Azerbaijan's exchange currency trading totaled $82.5 million Azerbaijan Business Center Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The Baku Interbank Stock Exchange (BBVB) has renewed statistics of its operations. BBVB reports that in January 2012 the nine participating banks concluded 28 deals in 36 trading sessions in e-trading system (BEST).
FOCUS: Technology Buoys Retail Currency Trading, Reshapes Old Models Wall Street Journal By Eva Szalay Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Retail foreign-exchange trading is emerging as one of the biggest growth areas in the currencies space, and some of the trading firms that facilitate these flows are building up a whole new ...
Morgan Stanley Currency-Trading Head Stephen Mettler Leaves Bank BusinessWeek By Michael J. Moore Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Stephen Mettler, who oversaw Morgan Stanley's interest rates and foreign-exchange trading businesses, has left the bank. Mettler, who joined the firm in 1997, retired, according to an internal memo obtained by ...
Bank of England and ECB Hold Steady, Indonesia Cuts CNBC.com [CNBC] ----------------------- MULTI CURRENCIES VS THE DOLLAR Tune In: CNBC's "Money in Motion Currency Trading" airs on Fridays at 5:30pm and repeats on Saturdays at 7pm. Learn more: The essential vocabulary for currency trading is on Key Currency ...
RELATED ARTICLESChinas New Currency
Regime
The base unit for the renminbi is the yuan, which is how
the Chinese currency is most commonly referred to. The
official ISO abbreviation for the yuan is CNY, but it is
also commonly abbreviated in the forex industry as RMB.
Business and the
Forex
The business world is a complex web of supply and demand.
Money and goods, physical or otherwise, pass through the
global market every single day.
Internet and Computer
Systems in the FOREX Business
With every passing year the interest in electronic trading
is bigger, more especially trading shares and currency
through Internet. A new profession came forward - this of
the currency dealer.
Option Arbitrage in the
Forex Market
What is arbitrage? Arbitrage is the simultaneous buying and
selling of identical financial instruments taking advantage
of price discrepancies between different brokers,
exchanges, clearing firms, etc. and thus locking in a
profit.
Day Trading - Moving
Averages vs Support and Resistance
When day trading the SP and Nasdaq futures, do you rely on
your moving averages more than your support & resistant
areas?During the first hour of trading, the support and
resistance zones on the SP and Nasdaq futures are the most
important things to watch. The moving averages have not yet
had a chance to come into play.
A Look at Forex Market
Makers
The investor in the currency market takes for granted that
a pair of currencies can be bought or sold at a moment's
notice. Once an order is placed with a broker, the trade is
executed within seconds.
Day Trading Course or
Day Trading Technique Seminar: Learn Day Trading
Education
Profitable day traders recognize that momentum trading is
among the fastest & most effective ways to harvest BIG
piles of cash in the stock market.The problem is that if
you don't know what stocks to look for and how to approach
them while limiting your risk, you won't even get close to
making some profits.
ISO 4217 in Forex
Trading
ISO 4217 is an international standard describing three
letter codes to define the names of currencies established
by the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO).The first two letters of the code are the two letters
of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes (which are similar to
those used for national top-level domains on the internet)
and the third is usually the initial of the currency
itself.
How To Choose Wisely A
FOREX Broker
Most traders use a FOREX broker to handle their
transactions. What exactly are brokers? Strictly speaking,
brokers are individuals or companies that buy and sell
orders according the investor's decisions.
Forex Scams: How to Spot
Them A Mile Away
In recent years, investors have witnessed increased number
of investment opportunities and offerings. While the
complexity and success of these investment products vary,
technological innovation has made the Forex market one of
the fastest growth areas.
Online Forex
Trading
Foreign exchange currency trading is also known as Forex
trading, or FX, and has no single physical marketplace like
the New York Stock Exchange does on Wall Street in New York
or the Tokyo Stock Exchange does in Japan. The New York
Stock Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange online traders
are limited to making purchases during the actual trading
hours governed by New York Stock Exchange hours or the
Japanese Stock Exchange's Tokyo hours.
New Opportunities with
Forex Trading
The simplest definition of currency trading is the practice
of exchanging one country's currency for another country's
currency. Basically, currency trading involves four main
variables: currencies, exchange rate, time, and interest
rate.
Choosing A Forex
Broker
With currency trading becoming ever more popular, the
number of brokers is growing at a rapid rate. What should
one look at when deciding which broker to open an account
with? These are the important points to consider.
Assessing the
Opportunities Presented by the New Iraqi
Currency
Could it be possible that you are staring right into the
most spectacular financial opportunity of the century?
Operation: Iraqi Freedom will undoubtedly be a war marked
in history for loss and tragedy, American victory, and the
rise of a nation with a new democratic government. But
could it also be a war historically remembered for the
financial opportunity it created for the sharp investors
who keenly recognized an ephemeral chance at the right
time?The War on Iraq ended with a nation placed on the
footstool of many new operations.
Psychology Of
Trading
The psychological aspect of trading is usually
underestimated by those new to trading. The psychological
problem for most traders is the fear of losing - ironically
it is this fear that causes most traders to lose money in
the long run.
Money Management - The
Holy Grail Of Trading
Money management determines how much to risk on each
individual trade. This is a vital element of any trading
system - risk too much and the chances of going bust are
too high, risk too little and the reward for trading is too
low.
Trading Profitably on
the Foreign Exchange Market
You may be asking yourself "how does one begin to trade
profitably as a currency trader?". First, it is important to
closely monitor foreign equity markets to attempt to
predict or model how their respective currencies will
perform against other currencies, ideally, currencies that
are not very closely related, nor proportional, to the
former currency.
The Margin Advantages of
Trading FOREX.
There is one aspect that is considered as one of the best
advantages of FOREX Trading. This is related to the amount
of money you need to place a trade, this is known as
"margin", and in short, this is all that can be lost in a
the case you had a bad trade.
Forex Broker
A broker is any person or firm that charges a fee in
exchange for executing trades for a trader. A Forex broker
does not charge a commission for placing a buy or a sell
order the way a real estate broker would charge a
percentage fee of the total price of a sale.
A Fools Game
I received an email this week with a question (below) which
caused me to think about the wisdom of pursuing trading as
a career. Regardless of your trading time span, the skills
and concerns of active short-term trading are relevant to
all market particpipants.
MORE RESOURCES updated Thu. February / 09 / 2012
