As you get older you should get wiser, you also begin to realise that some key phrases you heard when you were younger can apply to any job, hobby or passion you’re involved in. These phrases can also also apply to life in general. “The secret of success is hard work, when the going gets tough the tough get going, winners never quit quitters never win, fall down seven times stand up eight, practice makes permanent, pride comes before a fall”.
These are just some phrases that may
resonate with readers, there’s many others which will no doubt have some
personal meaning. Many traders often refer to a phrase attributed to the former
elite golfer, Gary Player; “the harder I practice the luckier I get”. In
our trading profession this phrase takes on special meaning. We know that we
can’t predict price on any given day and there is undoubtedly an element of
luck involved in trading. We also know that working hard at our profession
creates results.
Similar to any other profession or
hobby you have to fully commit in order to ensure success, there are no half
measures when attempting to obtain success in trading. You might suddenly wake
up one day and experience a light bulb, eureka moment in relation to your
trading, but that won’t occur until you’ve become a relative expert in your
field. Retail trading isn’t a physically taxing process, but it is extremely
time-consuming and mentally challenging. Experienced retail traders will
testify that trading is always at the forefront of their mind during their
waking hours. You cannot switch-off, you always have to be on message and ready
to act, you have to quickly learn how to pace yourself. Even if you employ a
fully automated trading method and strategy, you have to remain constantly
attuned to the markets and ready to act to change in sentiment.
This level of commitment should be
realised immediately and you have to adjust your lifestyle accordingly. Even if
you’re working full-time for an employer, while trading on a part-time basis
perhaps as a swing-trader, you’ll have to radically alter your life in order to
adapt to trading. You may have to change your hobbies in order to put trading
first. Your evenings and weekends might be spent chart-watching, analysing the
day’s calendar events and studying your calendar to establish what impact
upcoming events might have on your trading outcomes. You may find hours have
passed in an evening as you flick through various time frames, analyse
price-action movement while trying to join up the dots of data releases, to
understand why price moved at a certain point during the day’s sessions.
Many experienced and successful forex
traders will testify that once you’ve discover retail trading and fully commit
yourself to it, your life will change. You have to develop a dedication towards
trading bordering on a healthy obsession to experience success. As stated many
times, there are no shortcuts to success in this business. While every individual’s
learning curve takes on an different appearance, you can’t possibly develop a
trading edge unless you understand every aspect of what is a highly complex
industry and process.
You might enjoy a brief period of
introductory success after first discovering trading, but that won’t last if
your extremely loose method is based on hunches, knee-jerk decision making and
instinct. In order to develop a trading strategy and edge that generates
long-term profit, you will have to experiment with many indicators, a multitude
of strategies on many time-frames.
Success doesn’t come easy whatever
professions, hobbies or interests you’re engaged in. Success has to be earned.
However, many brokers and authorities will point to data that the traders who
fully commit to trading both financially and in terms of time and those who
make preparations to stay the long course at the outset, are those who
ultimately succeed.
