Are you a born trader? I’m not.
Recently I came to the realization that I have two distinct personalities. There is ‘Nick’ and there is ‘Trader Nick’. I had to create this second personality to do my trading.
You see I am a terrible trader because I am:
- Impatient
- A risk taker
- I do not plan ahead.
Ok that’s enough of my anti-trading qualities. The bottom line is, I am not a natural born trader. The three qualities, mentioned above, should have utterly destroyed any chance of me becoming a successful trader, but they didn’t.
I was able to create a trading alter-ego. A guy that:
- Is infinitely patient
- Does not take unnecessary risks.
- Plans ahead
This alter ego awakens every time I open my trading platform.
So why do newbie traders find it so hard to defy the odds and become successful traders?
Because it’s hard. Because it requires us to significantly alter our perspectives and step outside our comfort zones.
It’s almost like becoming another person.
How to Create a Forex Trading Alter-Ego?
Well, that is far beyond my realm of expertise.
What I can do for you though is explain, in detail, the traits that make up my alter ego. Maybe you can adopt some of those traits for yourself.
These traits are not all essential but I have found that they help.
Dissecting My Alter-Ego
So let’s inspect the mind of my alter-ego and see what we can find.
First Important trait:
Letting that which does not matter truly slide.
This trait is first because it is far and away the most important trait, when it comes to my trading. The ability to let unimportant things slide is an invaluable asset to any trader.
Many newbie’s tend to dwell on unimportant details. These details can range from a simple losing trade to a winning trade that was closed out too early. If I have a losing trade, or I close out early, I let it slide. There is no reason to dwell on the negative.
So learn to let it slide. You need to concentrate on the positives.
Second Important trait:
Embracing mistakes and learning from them.
Easy one…… and don’t be afraid of screwing up.
Before I became consistently profitable, I blew two trading accounts. My first trading account was $1,000. I managed to double the account in one week and then lost it all. I did pretty much the same thing with my second account.
So I messed up a few times, but instead of crying like a baby, and giving up, I kept at it. Mistakes are essential to our learning. Do not be afraid of making mistakes but ensure when you make mistakes, you learn from them. There is nothing dumber than consistently making the same mistake.
Living in fear of screwing up restricts your trading freedom. So let go and relax a little, you are going to make mistakes as they are inevitable. Accept them, learn from them, and get over them.
Third Important trait:
No Fear
No you don’t have to be a mindless, emotionless robot. However, if your heart starts pounding, beads of sweat appear on your forehead and your hands start to tremor whenever you enter a trade you have a problem.
I used to get really nervous whenever I opened a position and because of that I used to close out early. It sucked having a target of 100 pips and only making 20 pips because I panicked, at the sight of a slight retrace. My solution was to trade less money.
It’s not rocket science. The more money you have on the line the more worried you become of losing it. Over time, I started to increase my stake, in stages, as I built up a resistance to that trading nervousness.
Now I am a fearless trader. Muahahaha!
Fourth Important trait:
Independence
If you are not independent you will have a very tough road ahead of you. I am sure a lot of you know exactly what I’m talking about when I say traders are constantly put down by family and friends. Perhaps you’ve heard them say these kind of things before:
“It’s a scam”
“It’s too hard you’ll never make it”
“Get a real job”
“You have a perfectly good and secure job, why do you want to leave it and take a huge gamble?”
The second you let that crap get to you, you’re done. The ability to be independent and block out all the negativity you will receive is essential. The truth is, if you are coming into this market you are an adventurer and you should be proud of that fact. Most of the people putting you down will never do an exciting thing in their lives.
Learning to ignore that rubbish, by being independent, is a massive weight off any traders’ shoulders.
Fifth Important trait:
Patience
Sometimes, I look at the market and I think, “This is untradeable”. Sometimes this happens every day for a week. The market can be completely untradeable at times, so I won’t trade for that whole week.
Every day that week, I will get an email from somebody saying “I lost money”. Well of course they lost money. They are trying to trade an untradeable market. Most newbie’s do not have the patience to sit out the bad periods. They just don’t seem to be able to sit and watch the charts, for a week, without taking a trade.
Patience is essential to a trader. There will always be periods in which you shouldn’t trade. Having the patience to wait it out is invaluable.
Being patient is also useful during a trade. Waiting for your target to be hit, instead of closing out early, takes a great deal of patience.
A patient trader is a successful trader.
P.S. I am not a patient person, but when it comes to trading I can sit on the sidelines, for weeks waiting for a trade. I learned to apply patience to my trading. If I can do it, so can you.
:vidcourse: