TRADING AS A PROFESSION
Nowadays, many perceive trading as a path to get rich quickly and live a wealthy life, but most of the times this is not the case!
However, it is also true that trading for a living unveils significant financial opportunities – you can make your dream house or luxury car a reality.
But such achievements will only be realized through carefully designed strategies, emotional resilience and, of course, a lot of time and effort.
You should love the job to be successful, and you have to go into trading only when you know what you are going to encounter, and if you are ready to follow some rules that more experienced traders are following:
- BE ALERTED
The financial markets can change rapidly, and if you’re not online to react, you’ll be left behind very quickly, or you will miss a great opportunity to enter a very profitable trade!
This means you can expect to work 10-12 hours a day and sometimes you find yourself up at 3am should you wish to trade the markets worldwide.
Therefore, you will need stamina, a passion for what you are doing, and a willingness to or trade a profitable strategy.
Moreover, trading floor is a tense environment and life on it moves at an impressive speed – a trade can be made in as little as a few seconds.
This requires high energy and alertness, particularly for newcomers.
- STAY INFORMED OF THE LATEST MARKET NEWS
Being a successful trader requires a willingness to work long hours and at the same time be always informed of any developments on the markets.
Start your day by catching up on what’s happened overnight and read the important news that could affect your trades.
By understanding the trading environment you are into, you will provide yourself with the ability not only to analyse the markets, but also to predict the future opportunities.
You should realize that it is crucial to monitor the markets and the news carefully throughout the day.
- REVIEW YOUR TRADES
It is also important, from time-to-time and at least once a week, to take breaks and reflect on how your trades have performed.
In the trading world it is vital to capitalize on the benefits of considering what opportunities you’ve spotted and jumped on, opportunities you missed, why you missed them, where your focus was at the time, what you could do differently and, in general, what lessons each trade (successful or not) has taught you.
- BE EMOTIONALLY DETACHED
Trading is a volatile business, and losing money when markets are going against you is inevitable.
This is a difficult lesson for new traders to learn. All new traders go through the same process, where they are taught that it’s natural to lose sometimes.
They all learn how to apply and maintain trading consistency and at the same time avoid being emotionally affected.
Most often, a constant stream of success can cause a feeling of ‘superiority’, resulting in a drop in rule and strategy following, and increase in mistakes.
Moreover, it is always crucial to know when you’re not in the right mindset to enter a trade.
Just as you must protect against the impact of trades on your own emotional state, it is also important to keep a close eye on how distractions from watching the markets can impact the quality of your trades.
For example, during an important announcement, it will be vital to monitor the markets, so you can realize the changes occurring and refine your strategies on how you should (or shouldn’t) trade similar announcements in the future.
In general, if you manage to combine to some extent all the above, you will gain access to an intriguing, rewarding and fast-paced career path which you will never regret.