The title of this article could easily be, “this is where the rubber meets the road.” A computer cannot make you a good trader and having a great trading account will not make you a profitable trader. You will need to become a profitable trader and that is no small feat. It takes dedication, perseverance, and just plain hard work to achieve your business goals. Are you up to the task? Can you handle failure and pick yourself back up, dust yourself off and start over? Resilience is the hallmark of a great trader.
Resilience is a great place to start when talking about learning to trade. Trading is not a “get rich scheme” by any stretch of the imagination. I would rephrase that inappropriate business term as “get a little poorer and then make a good living.” Every year I go into a period of frustration and seriously consider leaving the trading business, and if you don’t think about leaving trading 20 times in the first year, I would think there is something wrong with you. You have to stay focused on the biggest goal on the road; You can be a successful and highly profitable trader if you learn to do the little things that are practiced daily in successful trading. Resilience is the key to the whole sha-bang. You are going to have to recover after repeated unsuccessful days while being the simulator.
You will not become a successful trader if you sit in a trading room or read a few trading books. You need to find a friend who is a competent trader or hire a mentor to steer your efforts in the right direction. You have to learn to practice to improve your skill level. That means spending most nights practicing on Market Replay for 30-60 minutes. It also means that you will spend time each day trading live or in a simulation during the cash market session. Are you willing to work that hard?
But that is not all…
I have found that maintaining a “student” mindset in my trading approach is the key to continued success. There should not be a period in your life when you are satisfied with your trading; You must continue to strive to improve. This means reading all kinds of blogs, reading texts on trading techniques, and engaging in the process of constantly improving your judgment, trying new techniques to control your emotions, and determining the success of certain setups. In short, the day you stop learning is the day you start to regress in your skill level and become less technical. Stopping the pursuit of business knowledge should be the day you retire from business.
You have a big job ahead of you and only steely determination will transport you to the promised land of trading profitably. As always, best of luck in his operations. Trade smart and stay focused on the big goal.