Learn 2 Essential Elements of Trading
In the today's post, we will discuss how trading is structured , and I will share with you its 2 key milestones.
Trading with its nuances and complexities can be explained as the interconnections of two processes: trading rules creation and trading rules following.
1️⃣ With the trading rules, you define what you will trade and how exactly, classifying your entry and exist conditions, risk and trade management rules. Such a set of consistent trading rules compose a trading strategy.
For example, you can have a following trading plan:
you trade only gold, you analyze the market with technical analysis,
you buy from a key support and sell from a key resistance on a daily, your entry confirmation is a formation of a reversal candlestick pattern.
You set stop loss above the high/low of the pattern, and your target is the closest support/resistance level.
Here is how the trading setup would look like.
In the charts above, all the conditions for the trade are met, and the market nicely reached the take profit.
2️⃣ Trading strategy development is a very simple process. You can find hundreds of different ones on the internet and start using one immediately.
The main obstacle comes, however, with Following Trading Rules.
Following the rules is our second key milestone. It defines your ability to stay disciplined and to stick to your trading plan.
It implies the control of emotions, patience and avoidance of rationalization.
Once you open a trade, following your rules, challenges are just beginning. Imagine how happy you would feel yourself, seeing how nicely gold is moving to your target after position opening.
And how your mood would change, once the price quickly returns to your entry.
Watching how your profits evaporate and how the initially winning position turns into a losing one, emotions will constantly intervene.
In such situations, many traders break their rules, they start adjusting tp or stop loss or just close the trading, not being able to keep holding.
The ability to follow your system is a very hard skill to acquire. It requires many years of practicing. So if you believe that a good trading strategy is what you need to make money, please, realize the fact that even the best trading strategy in the world will lose without consistency and discipline.
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Tradingcoach
Learn the 4 Best Strategies to Maximize Your Profits Today
In the today's article, we will discuss 4 classic yet profitable forex and gold trading strategies.
1️⃣Pullback Trading
Pullback trading is a trend-following strategy where you open the positions after pullbacks.
If the market is trading in a bullish trend, your goal as a pullback trader is to wait for a completion of a bullish impulse and then let the market correct itself. Your entry should be the assumed completion point of a correctional movement. You expect a trend-following movement from there.
In a bearish trend, you wait for a completion of the bearish impulse, let the market retrace, and you look for short-entry after a completion of the retracement leg.
Here is the example of pullback trading.
On the left chart, we see the market that is trading in a bearish trend.
A pullback trader would short the market upon completion of the correctional moves.
On the right chart, I underlined the buy entry points of a pullback trader.
That strategy is considered to be one of the simplest and profitable and appropriate for newbie traders.
2️⃣Breakout Trading
Breakout trading implies buying or selling the breakout of a horizontal structure or a trend line.
If the price breaks a key support, it signifies a strong bearish pressure.
Such a violation will trigger a bearish continuation with a high probability.
Alternatively, a bullish breakout of a key resistance is a sign of strength of the buyers and indicates a highly probable bullish continuation.
Take a look, how the price broke a key daily resistance on a daily time frame. After a breakout, the market retested the broken structure that turned into a support. A strong bullish rally initiated from that.
With the breakout trading, the best entries are always on a retest of a broken structure.
3️⃣Range Trading
Range trading signifies trading the market that is consolidating.
Most of the time, the market consolidates within the horizontal ranges.
The boundaries of the range may provide safe points to buy and sell the market from.
The upper boundary of the range is usually a strong resistance and one may look for shorting opportunities from there,
while the lower boundary of the range is a safe place to buy the market from.
EURCAD pair is trading within a horizontal range on a daily.
The support of the range is a safe zone to buy the market from.
A bullish movement is anticipated to the resistance of the range from there.
Taking into considerations, that the financial instruments may consolidate for days, weeks and even months, range trading may provide substantial gains.
4️⃣Counter Trend Trading
Counter trend trading signifies trading against the trend.
No matter how strong is the trend, the markets always trade in zig-zags. After impulses follow the corrections, and after the corrections follow the impulses.
Counter trend traders looks for a completion of the bullish impulses in a bullish trend to short the market;
and for a completion of bearish impulses in a downtrend to buy it.
Here is the example of a counter trend trade.
EURJPY is trading in a bullish trend. However, the last 3 bearish moves initiated from a rising trend line. For a trader, shorting the trend line was a perfect entry to catch a bearish move.
Such trading strategy is considered to be one of the most complicated, because one goes against the crowd and overall sentiment.
With the experience, traders may combine these strategies.
Try them all, and find the one that suites you the most.
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Trading Exposed: The Hard-Hitting Truth Behind the 99% Who Fail
The picture above completely represents the real nature of trading:
We all came here because we all wanted easy money.
Being attracted by catchy ads, portraying the guys on lambos, wearing guccies and living fancy lives, we jump into the game with high hopes of doubling our tiny initial trading accounts.
However, the reality quickly kicks in and losing trades become the norm.
The first trading account will most likely be blown.
In just one single month, 40% of traders will be discouraged and abandon this game forever.
The rest will realize the fact that the things are not that simple as they seemed to be and decide to start learning.
The primary obstacle with trading education though is the fact that there are so much data out there , so many different materials, so many strategies and techniques to try, so the one feels completely lost .
And on that stage, one plays the roulette: in the pile of dirt, he must find the approach that works.
80% of the traders, who stay after the first month, will leave in the next 2 years. Unfortunately, the majority won't be able to find a valid strategy and will quit believing that the entire system is the scam.
After 5 years, the strongest will remain. The ones that are motivated and strong enough to face the failures.
With such an experience, the majority of the traders already realize how the things work. They usually stuck around breakeven and winning trades start covering the losing ones.
However, some minor, tiny component is still missing in their system. They should find something that prevents them from becoming consistently profitable.
Only 1% of those who came in this game will finally discover the way to make money. These individuals will build a solid strategy, an approach that will work and that will let them become independent.
That path is hard and long. And unfortunately, most of the people are not disciplined and motivated enough to keep going . Only the strongest ones will stay. I wish you to be the one with the iron discipline, titanic patience and nerves of steel.
Exploring the Crucial Components of a Powerful Trading Journal
In one of the previous posts, we discussed the significance of a trading journal. In the today's article, I will share with you the key elements of a trading journal of a professional trader.
And first, a quick reminder that a trading journal is essential for your trading success. No matter on which level you are at the moment, you should always keep track of your results.
Let's go through the list of the things that you should include in your journal.
1 - Trading Instrument
The symbol where the order is executed.
You need that in order to analyze the performance of trading a particular instrument.
2 - Date
The date of the opening of the position. Some traders also include the exact time of the execution.
3 - Risk
Percentage of the account balance at risk.
Even though some traders track the lot of sizes instead, I do believe that the percentage data is more important and may give more insights.
4 - Entry Reason
The set of conditions that were met to open the trade.
In that section, I recommend to note as much data as possible.
It will be applied in future for the identification of the weaknesses of your strategy.
5 - Risk Reward Ratio
The expected returns in relation to potential risks.
6 - Results
Gain or loss in percentage.
And again, some traders track the pip value of the gain, however,
in my view, the percentage points are more relevant for studying the statistics.
Here is the example of the trade on Gold:
Here is how exactly you should journal the following trade:
Instrumet: Gold (XAUUSD)
Date: 03.07.2023
Risk: 1%
Entry Reason: H&S Pattern Formation,
Neckline Breakout & Retest
R/R Ratio: 1.77
Results: +1.77%
Of course, depending on your trading strategy and your personal goals, some other elements can be added. However, the list that I propose is the absolute minimum that you should track.
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The Dangers of Giving Up Too Soon on a Trading Strategy
There are hundreds of different strategies to trade. Some of them are losing ones, some provide modest results and some strategies are very profitable.
Novice traders often struggle to find the right strategy that suits their personality, financial goals and risk appetite. Unfortunately, they also tend to make some common mistakes that can undermine their performance and confidence.
❌ One of the biggest mistakes that they make in their search is that they give a strategy a very short trial period. It simply means that they are trying to assess the validity of the strategy, trading that for a very short time span (usually a day to a week).
Please, realize the fact that the performance of the strategy can be measured only with extended backtesting - meaning that the strategy should be tested on multiple financial instruments and for a long period of time and applying multiple evaluation metrics.
Moreover, if the strategy proves its efficiency on backtesting, it should be traded on a demo account at least 2 months before the valid performance can be calculated.
❌ Another common mistake is that many traders drop the strategy once it starts losing. And by losing, I mean just 2–3 trades in a row.
Newbies are searching for the approach that never loses.
They may even abandon a trading strategy once they catch JUST ONE bad trade.
✅ In contrast, a smart trader realizes that one bad trade does not define the performance of the strategy. Moreover, such a trader calmly faces the losing streaks and sticks to the strategy.
Take a look at that picture.
On the top, we have the traits of a newbie trader and his equity curve.
He abandons the strategy after he faces the loss, not giving the strategy a chance to recover.
When he changes the strategy, he starts recovering a little bit and a losing period follows.
He drops a strategy again, and he keeps following this vicious cycle till his entire account is blown.
On the bottom of the picture, we see the equity curve of a smart trader.
Even though he faces losses occasionally, his strategy always gives him a chance to recover and with time his trading account steadily grows.
Please, realize the fact that a perfect strategy does not exist. You will lose the money occasionally anyway. What distinguishes a smart trader from a dumb one is his discipline and trust to his trading system and willingness to face losses.
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8 Trading Tips to Help You Increase Your Trading Profits
Whether you are just getting started or you’ve been on your journey for a while now, you’ve probably discovered that day trading is not easy. You’re putting your hard-earned money on the line and facing new challenges daily. That said, every challenge you conquer takes you one step closer to your ultimate goal.
Small behavioral changes can have profound impacts. Your goal is to minimize losses and maximize profits in order to increase your net profitability.
Here are some tips:
1. Avoid Overtrading
Traders are ambitious, sometimes too much so. Many traders feel the need to always be doing something. It’s important to remember that trading requires patience, and the quality of your trades is far more important than the quantity.
2. Avoid Under-trading
Do you ever find a great trade setup that you don’t take action on, only to look back later and realize your idea was spot on?
3. Take Control of Your Losses
As traders, we’re always focused on profits. After all, the main goal of trading is to turn money into more money. It’s easy to get carried away and forget about the very real potential for losses. In reality, limiting losses has the same net effect as increasing profits.
4. Simplify Your Approach
There is an incredible amount of data available to traders in this digital millennium. This data is intended to improve our decision-making abilities, however it can also be overwhelming.
5. Trade Robotically
As you begin to simplify your approach to trading, you can focus on making your strategy more robotic. The goal is to take all emotions out of trading so you can take a systematic approach to your trading.
6. Learn Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Becoming a successful trader requires introspection, self-analysis, and evolution. Simply put, you need to analyze your own behavior and look for areas of improvement.
7. Double Down on What’s Working
Learn to double down on areas of strength. Focus your efforts to trading activity that yields the highest rewards.
8. Don’t be Afraid to Go Back to Square One
If you find yourself in a rut, don’t hesitate to go back to basics.
In the trading world, a simple piece of advice can be a game changer. We’ve all heard quotes, lessons, or tips that have elevated our trading to new levels. What’s the best trading tip you’ve ever received?
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Love you, my dear followers!👩💻🌸
Top 5 Tips to Increase Your Profits in Trading 📈
In this educational article, I will share with you very useful tips how to improve your profitability in trading the financial markets.
1. Decrease the number of financial instruments in your watch list. ⬇️
Remember that each individual instrument in your watch list requires attention. The more of them you monitor on a daily basics, the harder it is to keep focus on them.
In order to not miss early confirmation signals and triggers, it is highly recommendable to reduce the size of your watch list and pay closer attention to the remaining instruments.
2. Avoid taking too many positions. ❌
For some reason, newbie traders are convinced that they should constantly trade and keep many trading positions.
Firstly, I want to remind you that the management of an active position is a quite tedious process that requires time and attention.
Therefore, more positions are opened, more time and effort is required.
Secondly, if the newbies can not spot a good setup, they assume that they are obliged to open some positions and they start forcing the setups.
Remember, that in trading, the quality of the trading setup beats the quantity. I advise taking less trades, but the better ones.
3. Let winners run if the market is going in the desired direction. 📈
Once you caught a good trade and the market is moving where you predicted, do not let your emotions close the trade preliminary.
Try to get maximum from your trade, closing that only after the desired level is reached.
4. Open a trade after multiple confirmations.✅
Analyzing a certain setup remember, that more confirmations you spot, higher is the accuracy of the trade that you take. In order to increase your win rate, it is recommendable to wait for at least 2 confirmations.
5. Don't trade on your cellphone. 📱
A good trade always requires a sophisticated analysis that is impossible to execute on the small screen of the cellphone.
A lot of elements and nuances simply will not be noticed. For that reason, trade only from a computer with a wide screen.
Relying on these tips, you will substantially increase your profits.
Take them into the consideration and good luck to you in your trading journey.
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Learn What Will Really Make You Profitable in Trading
What brings the consistent profits in trading?
Talking to hundreds of struggling traders from different parts of the globe, I realized that there are the common misconceptions concerning that subject.
In this educational article, we will discuss what really will make you profitable in trading.
🔔The first thing that 99% of struggling traders are looking for is signals.
Why damn learn if you can simply follow the trades of a pro trader and make money?!
The truth is, however, is that in order to repeat the performance of a signal provider you have to open all your trading positions in the same exact moment he does. (And I would not even mention the fact that there will be a delay between the moment the provider opens the trade and the moment he sends you the signal)
Because the signal can be sent at a random moment, quite often it will take time for you to reach your trading terminal and open the position.
Just a 1-minute delay may dramatically change the risk to reward ration of the trade and, hence, the final result.
🤖The second thing that really attracts the struggling traders is trading robots (EA). The systems that trade automatically and aimed to generate consistent profits.
You simply start the program and wait for the money.
The main problem with EA is the fact that it requires constant monitoring. It can stop or freeze in a random moment and may require a reboot.
Moreover, due to changing market conditions, the EA should be regularly updated. Without the updates, at some moment it may blow your account.
Trading robot is the work: trading with the robots means their constant development, monitoring and improvement. And that work requires a high level of experience: both in coding and in trading.
📈The third thing that struggling traders are seeking is the "magic" indicator. The one that will accurately identify the safe points to buy and sell. You add the indicator on the chart, and you simply wait for the signal to open the trade.
The fact is that magic indicators do not exist. Indicator is the tool that can be applied as the extra confirmation. It should be applied strictly in a combination with something else, and its proper application requires a high level of expertise in trading.
🍀The fourth thing that newbie traders seek is luck. They open the trade, and then they pray the God, Powell, Fed or someone else to move the market in their favor.
And yes, occasionally, luck will be on your side. But relying on luck on a long-term basis, you are doomed to fail.
But what will make you profitable then?
What is the secret ingredient.
Remember, that secret ingredient does not exist.
In order to become a consistently profitable traders, you should rely on 4 crucial elements: trading plan, risk management, discipline and correct mindset.
🧠What is correct mindset in trading?
It simply means setting REALISTIC goals and having REALISTIC expectations from the market and from your trading.
📝A trading plan is the set of rules and conditions that you apply for the search of a trading setup and the management of the opened position.
Trading plan will be considered to be good if it is back tested on historical data and then tested on demo account for at least 3 consequent months.
✔️In order to follow the plan consistently, you need to be disciplined. You should be prepared for losing streaks, and you should be strong enough to not break once your trading account will be in a drawdown.
💰Risk management is one of the most important elements of your trading plan. It defines your risk per trade and your set of actions in case of losses. Even the best trading strategies may fail because of poor risk management.
Combining these 4 elements, you will become a consistently profitable trader. Remember, that there is no easy way, no shortcut. Trading is a hard work to be done.
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Common Fears in Trading and How to Overcome Them
As we discussed many types, psychology plans a crucial role in trading. Even the best strategy in the world, can be screwed by emotional decisions.
In this educational articles, we will discuss 5 common fears in trading and the ways to overcome them.
1️⃣Fear of the Unknown.
Lack of experience make many traders face "unusual" situations on the market: the setups, patterns, fluctuations and formation that they have never seen before. Such events cause inaction and paralyze. Not knowing how to deal with such situations, newbies make irrational decisions that most of the time incur losses.
✔️Solution:
The best way to beat the fear of the unknown is to keep learning:
reading the books, watching the charts, studying the historical data will help you to be prepared for various situations.
Also, your mindset plays an important role here: your adaptability, your willingness to accept the changing nature of the market are essential for your success in trading.
2️⃣Fear of Being Wrong.
Testing multiple strategies and trading techniques, the only way for the newbie traders to prove their efficiency is to try them, try them on real market. And of course, the majority of the stuff that you will try won't work. In trading, each mistake costs money, hence, losses will be inevitable.
The fear to make a mistake will be chasing you.
✔️Solution:
The best way to overcome the fear of being wrong is to build a confidence in your actions. After trying multiple strategies, you will certainly find the one that works. More you will trade with that, more winning trades you will catch, more confident you will become in your system.
3️⃣FOMO - Fear of Missing Out
There are thousands of instruments to trade. Many markets are opened 24 hours a day. Of course, you can not monitor them all, and even if you have a fixed watch list of the instruments that you trade, you can not monitor them 24/7.
Some opportunities will always be missed. Some trading setups will form while you are sleeping, and accurate patterns will form on the instruments that are not in your watch list.
Realizing the fact, that something will always be missed, is painful.
For that reason, newbie traders are trying to be present everywhere at anytime. But the paradox is that more options breed more confusion.
✔️Solution:
Always remember the fact that patience always pays.
Opportunities will always come, but in order to catch them, you need focus. And fewer instruments you have in your watch list, more attention you pay to them.
4️⃣Fear of Losing Money
The biggest risk in trading is the fact that your entire trading account can be blown in a glimpse of an eye.
Moreover, trading can be learned only by trading. And losses are inevitable, no matter how good you are.
That makes newbie traders be scared of opening just one single position.
✔️Solution:
I always give my students the recommendation to trade with the amount that they can afford themselves to lose.
Consider your trading account as an investment. With each single trade, you are investing in your skills, in your knowledge. You pay the market to teach you.
5️⃣Fear of Not Taking Profit at the Right Time
Imagine you opened a trade and the market suddenly starts moving in the direction that you expected. It is coming closer and closer to your target... A few seconds after, however, the market rolls over. You see how your profits start evaporation. Probably you chose incorrect take profit level? Maybe it is the moment to close the trade manually?
You are scared that all the profits will be gone.
✔️Solution:
Take profit level selection is a very hard element of each trading strategy. The only way to not let your emotions intervene is to build the solid system that proved its efficiency and learn to be disciplined to follow that no matter what.
Always remember that no one can teach you how to deal with yourself. How to deal with your emotions.
You should go through all these fears by your own and find the way to beat these dragons.
The solutions that I shared helped me to beat my dragons, I hope that they will help you to beat yours!
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8 Trading Tips to Help You Increase Your Trading Profits
Whether you are just getting started or you’ve been on your journey for a while now, you’ve probably discovered that day trading is not easy. You’re putting your hard-earned money on the line and facing new challenges daily. That said, every challenge you conquer takes you one step closer to your ultimate goal.
Small behavioral changes can have profound impacts. Your goal is to minimize losses and maximize profits in order to increase your net profitability.
Here are some tips:
1. Avoid Overtrading
Traders are ambitious, sometimes too much so. Many traders feel the need to always be doing something. It’s important to remember that trading requires patience, and the quality of your trades is far more important than the quantity.
2. Avoid Under-trading
Do you ever find a great trade setup that you don’t take action on, only to look back later and realize your idea was spot on?
3. Take Control of Your Losses
As traders, we’re always focused on profits. After all, the main goal of trading is to turn money into more money. It’s easy to get carried away and forget about the very real potential for losses. In reality, limiting losses has the same net effect as increasing profits.
4. Simplify Your Approach
There is an incredible amount of data available to traders in this digital millennium. This data is intended to improve our decision-making abilities, however it can also be overwhelming.
5. Trade Robotically
As you begin to simplify your approach to trading, you can focus on making your strategy more robotic. The goal is to take all emotions out of trading so you can take a systematic approach to your trading.
6. Learn Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Becoming a successful trader requires introspection, self-analysis, and evolution. Simply put, you need to analyze your own behavior and look for areas of improvement.
7. Double Down on What’s Working
Learn to double down on areas of strength. Focus your efforts to trading activity that yields the highest rewards.
8. Don’t be Afraid to Go Back to Square One
If you find yourself in a rut, don’t hesitate to go back to basics.
In the trading world, a simple piece of advice can be a game changer. We’ve all heard quotes, lessons, or tips that have elevated our trading to new levels. What’s the best trading tip you’ve ever received?
What do you want to learn in the next post?
7 Reasons why Elite Traders Crush the CompetitionHello TradingView world,
I have been trading for almost 15 years and have learned some serious lessons about trading and the markets. I have also been fortunate enough to interact with many great traders over that time that have helped me tremendously, however I still struggled for a long while and wondered why I wasn’t making the progress I desperately wanted to make.
I thought just like everyone else, that if I found the perfect trading strategy, all of my problems would vanish and profits would rain down from the sky like salt bae letting salt drip down off his forearm.
Well guess what happened? I ACTUALLY DID FIND IT.
In fact, my analysis in the market was so damn good that in 2013 I was invited to speak on a worldwide webinar hosted by Daily-FX which was then owned by FXCM.
I’d have a 50 pip stop with a 500+ pip price target and I was nailing the trades left and right, so this was the reason I was invited on. I was working at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during this time and I ended up leaving that job to trade full time that same year.
Things went smoothly for a while. I partied… A LOT. Did all kinds of reckless and stupid things with my time and money and I ultimately lost it all by 2015. I pondered for a long time about what happened and once I removed my ego and stubbornness, I figured out that what makes a trader great has nothing to do with the outside and has everything to do with the inside.
This is the TRUE secret of trading success. It’s all about YOU and how YOU approach trading. There is so much more to the story but without further hesitation, based on what I have learned from other great traders and have personally learned through brutal hard lessons, this is why Elite traders crush everyone else in the market and if you begin employing these lessons in your own trading, I can guarantee that you will see a dramatic change in your results.
#1 - ELITE TRADERS ARE LEAGUES ABOVE YOU IN PATIENCE
Everyone gets into trading for one thing and one thing only; to make money and to make as much of it as possible. One thing that the majority of traders do is that they also want to do it in the FASTEST way possible. This is where they screw up but is it any surprise that this is the case? I mean look all around you in terms of social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) it’s all over the place with people touting “Watch me turn $1,000 into $10,000 in just a few days!” … This gets views, it gets attention and it encourages other traders to continuously take on massive risks in order to achieve this.
Is it possible to do? YES, because many traders (Including myself) have done it but what does it also do? It creates detrimental habits that keep you in this mindset of turning a small account into a large account quickly and then that one day comes when you take on massive risk on a trade that looks “good” but ends up going violently against you for a huge loss or COMPLETE destruction of your account.
Another factor is that the majority of traders want to be in the market ALL of the time. They can’t resist staying out and staying flat during times of uncertainty or when the charts aren’t clear enough to validate putting their capital at risk. Elite traders can wait hours, days and even WEEKS before putting on another trade because they understand, their trading opportunity is not yet clear and they rather wait as long as possible in order to enter the market at the most optimal time and conditions.
Think about it; do you want to be in the market on a consistent basis? Are you able to wait a few days or a few weeks before putting on a new trade? It’s a very difficult thing for many traders to do while Elite traders have mastered the game of patience to their advantage. It’s not a matter of how long is the next trade going to take to develop? Rather, I’ll take the next trade when the optimal conditions are met regardless of how long it takes.
#2 - ELITE TRADERS KNOW THEIR OWN WEAKNESSES
Everyone has weaknesses whether we like to admit it or not. Some traders are severely impatient, some have a problem with risk management, some have a problem with making impulsive trades and become reckless, some have a problem with over analyzing their charts or trying to look at multiple markets at the same time, etc. Most traders either try to suppress them or choose to ignore them completely and this causes many to struggle and stay frustrated.
Have you ever thought to yourself, “Shit, why did I do that!?” or “Why did I get out when I should have stayed in” or “Why did I chase it! I knew I should have stayed out” … There is a weakness there that you have not learned to master or work on improving it. Even if you finally acknowledge it and try to write it down or post it on your wall by your trading desk… You STILL end up making that mistake and frustration takes over.
Elite traders through trial and error have learned to master their INTERNAL trading character. They know what triggers them and have found a way to stop it in its tracks so that mistakes are kept under control. They also understand that when these weaknesses start to creep up on them, they can identify WHY it’s happening and talk themselves out of it.
For example, if the market is rising and it looks like it’s going to get away from them, they understand that by chasing after it, the market could turn around and leave them with an unnecessary loss or trap them in a position that they should have not gotten into in the first place. Their attitude is “The market did not give me the optimal trading opportunity that I wanted therefore I will wait. Let the market do whatever it’s going to do, I don’t care. I only care about my optimal trading opportunities” This tie’s in with reason #1 (Patience). They will not let ANYTHING force them into trades they shouldn’t be in.
#3 - ELITE TRADERS FOCUS ON ONE MARKET/PAIR/SECTOR
This is not only true of trading but life in general, focusing on one thing and mastering that one thing to become great at it. There are a multitude of instruments and markets to trade and it gives us traders the freedom to choose where we’d like to put our capital to work but as many of us know, too much choice can actually be a bad thing. When it comes to the Forex market, we have many pairs we can work with and that can actually be a problem.
Everyone has a watch-list of pairs that they want to trade but is that causing you more trading struggles for you or keeping you confused? Whether the answer is yes or no, why are you doing that? And the answer is most likely because you believe it presents more trading opportunities but that is not always the right way to go about things. Each pair moves and reacts differently during certain market conditions and what works well on the EUR/USD may not work on the GBP/JPY. While the EUR/USD moves at a more stable pace and a big day would be considered a 1% move, the GBP/JPY can become wildly explosive and relentless when it comes to market volatility.
Elite traders know this and they stick to ONE thing and become a master at it. I personally stick to the EUR/USD and that is MORE than enough to make profitable trades on. Elite traders do not divert to other markets or other pairs to try and make more profits but they lock down and focus on that one pair and crush it. It’s not common for the majority of traders to do this because they feel that they will be missing out on other trading opportunities but are they really? Or are they just finding multiple ways to take losses?
In order to trade this way, it would require the ability to stay incredibly patient but it would allow for you to stay away from multiple charts and remain disciplined while not putting your capital at risk and avoiding impulse/emotional trades.
This is not common but then again… this is why Elite traders do it and the majority does not.
#4 - ELITE TRADERS PREFER A LONGER TERM OUTLOOK
Just look at the screenshots of charts scattered on trading forums, social media or any other discussion outlet, more times than not everyone’s looking at the 1 Minute all through the 4 Hour time frames. You’ll find a few daily charts here and there and even less Weekly+ charts. Most traders want to be in the market every day and this is why Day trading is so enticing, it gives them a reason to log in, open up their charts and look for trading opportunities to make money. That’s a Mistake.
You’re probably noticing that the previous 3 reasons tie into this reason and that’s because this is just another manifestation of lack of patience or inability to focus on one thing. Short term charts give the impression that there will be more moves to get in and out and not staying in a position overnight. Yes, I get that some traders out there prefer to just get into the market and then be done with it at the end of the day but more times than not, you’ll end up making impulsive trades that creates a string of losses if you don’t have your emotions in check.
Elite traders like to look at the “whole picture” and prefer looking at the daily charts and up. Since longer time frames take time to develop, this is perfectly fine for them as it gives them more time to prepare for the upcoming trade and analyze the levels, they want to take a position and take profit. Once they enter a position, they set their stop and let the market work for them.
They don’t need to check their positions multiple times per day since they know the market will take its time doing what it’s going to do and therefore have time for other activities in their lives or businesses.
#5 - ELITE TRADERS VIEW TRADING FROM A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE
“How much can I make per day”, “How much can I make per week” or “How much can I make per month” … This is what you’ll usually hear from the majority of traders but how many times have you heard “We’ll see how performance looks at the end of the Quarter”? I’m willing to bet, not many. There is a lot of hype about how much can be made in one day or week but trading is not about just one day, one week or one month, it’s about the long game and how results look over time.
Some Elite traders even go as far as looking at profit-loss on a yearly basis but because market conditions change throughout the year, reviewing how performance looks like at the end of the quarter is preferable. There is no rush to try to make a gain at the end of the day, week or month. Spacing out P/L review allows opportunities to both develop and play out especially if the market is trending.
Elite traders don’t mess around in the market either, this is not a game or hobby for them while many amateurs in the market don’t take it as seriously as you would think. They know that the market is a battlefield and the other side of the trade won’t hesitate for a Nano-second to take their money. They understand that trading should be treated with the same care as running a business and properly deploying their capital out into the market is essential in bringing back even more capital for future trading opportunities that yield larger profits.
Although trading is now offered to the masses and anyone can pretty much open a brokerage account and begin to trade, there are millions of traders that are misinformed and approach the market incorrectly and unprofessionally. “But, I’m not looking to trade professionally, I just want to trade casually” sure, that is completely fine however guess who’s going to eat you alive in the markets? That’s right, the Elite traders who do take things seriously and professionally.
#6 - ELITE TRADERS PROTECT THEIR CAPITAL AT ALL TIMES
In the boxing world, what is one of the warnings referees issue to the fighter’s right before the fight begins? “Keep your hands up and Protect yourself at all times!” and for good reason, right? So that they do not put their hands down and get a crushing hard punch to the head that knocks them out cold. It doesn’t matter how well you trained or for how long you’ve trained because one lazy mistake can cost you the fight, in some cases brutally.
If you’ve been in the trading scene for any length of time, you have read or heard it countless times “manage your risk, manage your risk, manage your risk!” but how many traders ACTUALLY do it? You’d be surprised at how many do not do it at all because it’s painful to do. Painful? How so?... Well, it requires one to make small gains over time instead of putting the pedal to the metal and use high leverage on one single trade. That’s very difficult for the majority of traders to do because that means no “Account Flips” or trying to hit a homerun trade every single time and let’s face it, everyone is trying to get “rich” quickly.
Elite traders know that just one mistake of not practicing sound money management by either not using a stop loss or using too much leverage can be extremely dangerous to their account and they know that it’s just not worth it. On another note, they understand that following risk control is instilling good and strong habits for their subconscious mind and it will carry along for the rest of their careers if they just stick to that simple principle.
If there’s one major reason the majority of traders fail while a small percentage of traders make money consistently, it’s a lack of risk management and account/capital protection.
Before you step into the unforgiving arena (Forex) be sure to protect your account at ALL times! Keep your "Guard" up and play defense!
#7 - ELITE TRADERS AVOID DISTRACTIONS AND NOISE
This is a pretty interesting and controversial one. It can be difficult to ignore the distractions and noise because us traders want to be part of a group or community so that we can share ideas and forecasts along with everyone else but sometimes, you’ve got to be careful with this. You may have an idea or outlook that goes against what others think is going to happen and it could get you off track. You may have experienced this a few times where you believe the market is going to go in one direction and others share the complete opposite view which then causes you to doubt your analysis. You end up cutting the position too early for fear of being wrong and ultimately the market goes in the direction you thought it would and you’re left frustrated.
Distractions can also come in the form of upcoming economic data such as the Federal Reserve coming out with Interest Rates or its chairman Jerome Powell talking about certain economic projections. Volatility spikes up and it sucks you into the hype but if you have a sound trading strategy and rules, you may have noticed that even during high volatility, the market still respects order on the charts. It just moves as a faster pace.
I have personally experienced this through my years of trading, in fact a recent memory comes to mind in 2020. I was invited by an online friend to a private Meta trading group and I wanted to offer some help and insight into what I knew, so I shared a screenshot of my outlook of the EUR/USD going forward.
It was a powerful chart pattern I had seen countless times on the weekly chart and the EUR/USD was trading around 1.0850. Once I shared my screenshot calling for the Euro to make a strong 1000+ pip move and trend towards 1.2000 to 1.2200, some other group member immediately called my analysis a joke and that chart patterns were garbage and useless.
I was going to retaliate back but I thought to myself, this is childish, unprofessional and really unproductive, so I immediately left that group. My friend apologized and said the other guy had a chip on his shoulder because he was former banker for a massive global investment bank (I won’t say which one but I can guarantee you, everyone knows it). I appreciated the apology and left it at that. I the end, all that mattered to me was that as the months went by, the EUR/USD did in fact trend towards the exact projected price levels. That was a lesson for me to avoid detrimental opinions from others.
Elite traders know about this type of noise and are sure to remove any of that from their trading. This is why many stay “undercover” and you don’t really hear about them. They stay under the radar and just do what they do and do it well.
The overall lesson here is that a community should be about helping others and uplifting them, even when they’re wrong. No matter how great a trader is, he/she still deals with losses and nobody is ever correct 100% of the time. Trading is already difficult, so by encouraging and helping others become better at trading the markets, everyone improves as a whole.
Conclusion
There you have it, just some of the basics of what Elite traders do and what has transformed my own trading results tremendously. We all know that there are a variety of ways to approach the market but if there is one takeaway from all of this is that, Top Level traders have learned to master themselves and how they mentally approach trading. It’s actually quite simple and straight forward however it can be hard to implement in real time but that doesn’t mean that it cannot be done and transform your own trading. I wish you the best in your trading journey. I personally know it can be VERY tough but it's well worth it. Keep at it and never give up.
10 Trading Commandments of a Successful Trader 📜
Hey traders,
In this post, we will discuss 10 divine rules that every trader must obey:
1️⃣ - Accept that risk and losses are a necessary part of trading.
Even though most of the traders are looking for a holy grail, for a system that produces 100% win rate, in fact, losses are inevitable, they are part of the game.
No matter how good you are as a trader, occasionally, the market will outsmart you.
2️⃣ - Have a proven trading system.
Trade only with a trading strategy that you backtested, that proved its accuracy and efficiency.
3️⃣ - Concentrate on the risk, not the reward.
Cut losses, and control your risk. Remember about risk management and never neglect that.
4️⃣ - Never trade without stop loss.
Some traders say that they can easily control losses without stop loss. Don't listen to them. Always set a stop loss once you are in a trade.
5️⃣ - Have an attainable target.
Setting a stop loss remember to know where to close your trade in profit. Follow strict rules and do not let your greed take you under control.
6️⃣ - Take your emotions under control.
No matter whether you are losing, winning, or do not see any trading setups to trade, your emotions will always try to distract you.
Be cold-hearted.
7️⃣ - Always stick to your trading plan.
Never break your rules, follow your system, and do not deviate.
Your trading plan is your only map.
8️⃣ - Limit your losses, never limit your profits.
While your gains can be scalable, your risks and losses must be fixed.
9️⃣ - Treat your trading as a business.
Trading should be treated with the same discipline as a business.
Every business has a solid business plan which entails how the day-to-day running of the business is done, and this also guides the decision-making process.
🔟 - Always journal your trades.
Always keep a trading journal. Record your winners and losers, entry reasons, mistakes, failures etc. Revise and learn from your mistakes.
Of course, that list can be extended and more commandments and rules can be added. However, these 10 in my view are the most important. Print this list and let it guide you in your trading journey.
What would you add to that list?
❤️If you have any questions, please, ask me in the comment section.
Please, support my work with like, thank you!❤️