Positive Mental Attitude
There was a man who took journey in the wilderness with his family to find a new place to live in peace and freedom. They had to hunt and gather for food. To survive on this trek they were on. One day while hunting his bow broke. This posed a serious problem. No bow, no food! Instead of wasting his time and energy complaining about the situation he took action. He thought his situation through carefully, pondering and praying for guidance. He took an inventory of the resources he had around him. And fashioned a bow and arrows out of wood from saplings along a nearby stream, he was soon back on the hunt for food. He was successful and able to provide meat for his family.
This story can shed light on every aspect of life. But as traders we can learn a great deal from this. We need to keep our wits about ourselves and stay up beat. If we let our fear and or negative emotions get in the way. We will not be able to see the trades that our right in front of us. By staying positive and tapping into our higher power. We will be more apt to find success in trading in life.
Why Do You Do What You Do?
“There are two things that I want you to make up your minds to: first, that you are going to have a good time as long as you live - I have no use for the sour-faced man - and next, that you are going to do something worthwhile, that you are going to work hard and do the things you set out to do.”
- Theodore Roosevelt a talk to school children in Oyster Bay, Christmas time 1898
Over Coming Discouragement
I have found myself in this boat more than once in my life! I guess I could say I am no stranger, to pit falls and short comings in my plan to push for success in my life. (Note: I am not only referring to trading but to life.) Let’s face it folks discouragement happens, bumps in the road happen, circumstances change and life can throw you a curve ball from time to time. And in today’s economic throws we can use a little pep talk so here is my pep talk to anyone who needs one.Here is what I have devised to help myself overcome the ill effects of discouragement.
1. I recognize what it is that is causing my discomfort. I first determine if it is an external or internal issue.
2. Second I ask myself “Can I change it?” If I can I devise a plan to change the problem. If I can’t then I devise a plan to adapt to the problem. (Note: I did not say I compromise.) I believe the adapting is a proactive response and compromising is a reactive response.
Setting Sail Without A Plan Is A Sunken Ship!
Every mariner knows that he must plan his voyage in advance in every detail. He must determine what currents will take him to his destination. What current conditions will be present or possible during the voyage. What supplies he will stock his ship with. Who his crew will be and what skills sets they bring to the voyage. He will treat this plan as law and will not deviate from it unless he has consulted with the plan first.
Trading with a plan is no different. “Know before you go.” Having a plan is crucial to success in anything especially in trading.
Know how you will trade, when you will trade, where you will trade, and why you will trade. I know it may sound really simple what it is the foundation to a good trading plan.
Staying On the Fresh Trail
I heard a very interesting story this weekend from a very good friend of mine while sitting around a late autumn campfire. He told of a time when he was younger and was on a mountain lion hunt in southern Utah. The group had chased two large cats down into a canyon. From his vantage point he watched the hound dogs try and pick up the scent of one of the cats. After approximately thirty minutes of watching the hounds search in a nearly single file line and in the shape of a figure eight. He came to the conclusion that the lion was not there.
Well five more minutes went by and he observed that one of the dogs the leader of the pack broke rank and started searching outside the path they had been on. And within moments he singled with a howl that he was on the scent trail again and sped off away from the rest of the pack. It wasn’t for quite some time later that the other dogs one by one brake the figure eight and headed off in the direction of the leader.
Why You May Fail Going From Demo to Real
I read this article and totally agree. I thought it provide some unique insight that would be beneficial. It was written by Trader V I found it on ForexFactory.com. I do not know his real name. The post is in his words.
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I posted this in another thread and many thought it was valuable information and I believe the correct place for it is here in the beginner’s area where it will be read by those who will hopefully benefit from the words within.
I mentioned that it is possible to trade with a $500.00 account and be profitable and in fact build upon that.
So I want to touch on a couple of points one is my feelings on demo Vs real accounts and the other is how a small real account should really be looked at.
There is debate about the use of demo accounts to learn how to trade. Some say you should never trade a real account until you become profitable with a demo. Others will say demos are worthless just open a real account and be done with it.
Well I am a middle of the road kind of guy here.
Trading With or Without Indicators
Everyone has a preference of how to trade and what works for them. I find it interesting when others say this is the best way or that is by far the only way to trade. I know traders that use only price action to trade with. We all know traders that only use indicators. My opinion is that each method has its merits and strengths. Each method has it weaknesses and faults.
The weakness of each method is mostly from the person that is trying to use it. They do not have the skills and experience to use it well so they think it is faulty. Both methods are valuable when you learn and know what to look for in the signals. Some of the strengths of both are that traders can make money with each of them once they learn how to use them.
With indicators you should only take signals in the direction of the trend. This is the fault of most new traders they attempt to “capitalize” on every swing of the price. This same advice holds true with the use of price movement.
Divergences provide a good indication for potential market direction changes. Price action gives signals of market direction change as well. They are both used and can help with the indication of the strength of a movement. Divergences and price action both are useful for filtering out what would be a knee jerk type of price action. Use them together and you really have an advantage.
How Important Is Trading Experience? Or How Do I Get Trading Experience?
We will all miss some trading opportunities - due to holidays, sicknesses, errands, personal matters, work, etc - We rarely go over the charts and pick “what-would-have-been” trades. Although we do, thought, go over the trades we did make and see what we did right and what we did wrong. This is what a Trading Journal is for.
The closest thing we do to back testing is when we do simulated trading. This is a necessary part of learning how to trade. A trader does get used to seeing what the indicators are doing and the best time to enter a trade as well as when to exit a trade. It is a waste of time to do hindsight trading because we were not there when things took place.
If you have been watching live markets for long enough, you’ll surely understand how different steady charts are as opposed to live charts. Once you have traded long enough you can see the same moves when you are simulated trading as well as the demo and live trading. We still do simulated trading if we have been away from the market for a few days. This gets us back in tune in just a few minutes, like 15-20 minutes.
Traders Don’t Change Because…Traders Can Change If…
I came across a couple of quotes I want to share with you:
“Wall Street never changes, the pockets change, the suckers change, the stocks change, but Wall Street never changes, because human nature never changes” Jesse Livermore
“In order to make a success, the trader must act in a way to overcome the weak points that have caused the ruin of others” W.D. Gann
The reason indicators work in any financial markets is because human nature never changes. We remain greedy, emotional, and want things right now. If we can trade by using a system and following rules then we are doing the things other successful traders do. If we chase trades get caught up in one trade that is causing us problems and want more than the market is willing to give then we will do what most of the unsuccessful traders do and that is flounder.
Another way of looking at the quote by W.D. Gann is: If you keep doing the same thing you have always done then you will keep getting the same results you have always gotten. A trader needs to identify their strength and weakness then work on correcting their weaknesses and improve their strengths.
Time And Dedication
There are many things you need, to be able to trade the forex market but there are two things that are a must before you will have lasting success. These are TIME and DEDICATION.
You will start to develop good trading skills once you put in the proper amount of time and decide you will never give up until you learn to trade the forex market. Once you have mastered the forex market it beats any other job in the world as far as pay and freedom goes. You do not need to trade long hours to make money in the forex market. Once you have determined your advantage in the market which is your trading strategy to be specific, you just need to trade a few minutes a day in the larger time frames, 1 day and 4 hour time frames. Now with the power of compounding you can grow your account.
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