- PPF Points
- 2,628
The successful Forex trader knows this, and has learned how to control these emotions. Often times the process of controlling these emotions begins with walking away to take a break.
From Experience
One thing I’ve found helpful after a trade is to close my trading platform until the day closes at 5 pm New York time. This is when I do the bulk of my analysis anyway since I trade the daily time frame. So it just makes sense to take a breather until then. You can of course adapt this to whatever time frame you trade.
It’s a really simple, yet extremely helpful way of controlling your emotions. Although it’s simple, you’ll likely find walking away after a trade to be one of the hardest changes you’ve had to make to the way you trade. But trust me when I tell you that it can have a drastic effect on your consistency and put you one step closer to becoming a successful Forex trader.
8 They Don't Focus on Wins and Losses
You can’t visit a Forex site these days without seeing an advertisement for some strategy that promises a 98% win rate. Why is that? Is it because a high win rate is needed to become a successful Forex trader? Not even close!
They do it because it sells. As human beings we love to win, there’s no denying it. If you’ve ever played sports or watched your favorite sports team on TV I’m sure you can relate. The feeling when your favorite team wins is intoxicating.
Those behind the “strategy” that produces a supposed 98% win rate know this and exploit it to make money.
Nobody is going to be enticed to spend money when they see a headline that promises a 50% win rate. But what if it’s a strategy with a proper risk to reward ratio that aims for $300 for every $100 risked? At a 50% win rate that’s a 20% gain on a $5,000 account over the course of 10 trades.
Successful Forex traders know this. They realized long ago that it’s not about winning a high percentage of the time.
It’s about maximizing the amount of money made on wins and minimizing the amount of money lost on losers.
That’s not to say that all successful Forex traders use this exact risk to reward ratio. Every trader uses what works best for them. But every successful trader knows that proper risk management is absolutely critical to building a trading account, while a high win rate is usually only good for building an ego.
9 They Didn't Give Up
Although this one is last on the list, it’s actually the most important to your success as a trader. I’ve found over the years that many people, including Forex traders lose site of this very simple fact. The only way you can fail at becoming a successful Forex trader is if you give up.
This sounds obvious, but it still amazes me how often I see this trait (if you want to call it that) left out of the list of reasons why a certain trader became successful.
Here’s a great example of one trader who never gave up and is now reaping the benefits…
I once met a Forex trader who had been trading for almost 30 years. This guy was trading the market before the internet was even publicly available. Back when you had to call in orders by telephone.
At any rate, as of 2011 the guy was trading an account size to where a profitable trade ranged between $50k and $100k. Needless to say he has been doing something right over the past 30 years.
Someone asked him what he would attribute as the #1 reason for his success. Expecting him to say proper risk management or cutting losses, he answered with four short words…
From Experience
One thing I’ve found helpful after a trade is to close my trading platform until the day closes at 5 pm New York time. This is when I do the bulk of my analysis anyway since I trade the daily time frame. So it just makes sense to take a breather until then. You can of course adapt this to whatever time frame you trade.
It’s a really simple, yet extremely helpful way of controlling your emotions. Although it’s simple, you’ll likely find walking away after a trade to be one of the hardest changes you’ve had to make to the way you trade. But trust me when I tell you that it can have a drastic effect on your consistency and put you one step closer to becoming a successful Forex trader.
8 They Don't Focus on Wins and Losses
You can’t visit a Forex site these days without seeing an advertisement for some strategy that promises a 98% win rate. Why is that? Is it because a high win rate is needed to become a successful Forex trader? Not even close!
They do it because it sells. As human beings we love to win, there’s no denying it. If you’ve ever played sports or watched your favorite sports team on TV I’m sure you can relate. The feeling when your favorite team wins is intoxicating.
Those behind the “strategy” that produces a supposed 98% win rate know this and exploit it to make money.
Nobody is going to be enticed to spend money when they see a headline that promises a 50% win rate. But what if it’s a strategy with a proper risk to reward ratio that aims for $300 for every $100 risked? At a 50% win rate that’s a 20% gain on a $5,000 account over the course of 10 trades.
Successful Forex traders know this. They realized long ago that it’s not about winning a high percentage of the time.
It’s about maximizing the amount of money made on wins and minimizing the amount of money lost on losers.
That’s not to say that all successful Forex traders use this exact risk to reward ratio. Every trader uses what works best for them. But every successful trader knows that proper risk management is absolutely critical to building a trading account, while a high win rate is usually only good for building an ego.
9 They Didn't Give Up
Although this one is last on the list, it’s actually the most important to your success as a trader. I’ve found over the years that many people, including Forex traders lose site of this very simple fact. The only way you can fail at becoming a successful Forex trader is if you give up.
This sounds obvious, but it still amazes me how often I see this trait (if you want to call it that) left out of the list of reasons why a certain trader became successful.
Here’s a great example of one trader who never gave up and is now reaping the benefits…
I once met a Forex trader who had been trading for almost 30 years. This guy was trading the market before the internet was even publicly available. Back when you had to call in orders by telephone.
At any rate, as of 2011 the guy was trading an account size to where a profitable trade ranged between $50k and $100k. Needless to say he has been doing something right over the past 30 years.
Someone asked him what he would attribute as the #1 reason for his success. Expecting him to say proper risk management or cutting losses, he answered with four short words…