2 Things All Great Traders Have

One

Emotional Discipline: This is the precise reason why not everyone can trade. Understanding the fundamentals of the market is not beyond you and learning a technical system that provides an edge in the market is certainly not hugely challenging. However learning the skill of emotional discipline is the greatest profit making skill great traders have. To develop the emotional discipline that all great traders have takes time and it takes a lot of patience but it can be done. There are 3 things that can help you develop the emotional discipline required.

»   Most budding forex traders in my experience trade too much resulting in a “duck hunter” approach rather than a “sniper” approach. The result is they trade emotionally instead of logically following a specific trading plan. Over many years I have seen forex traders substantially improve their trading results by simply trading less.
»   One thing you need as a trader is time, time to learn the skill of trading and being able to stay in the game without blowing your trading account. Nobody makes it in this business without experiencing trading losses however you need to fail gracefully and this means losing small and winning bigger.
»   Rather than looking at your forex trades in a win-loss fashion consider looking at your trade results in blocks of 10 trades. Trading is a numbers game and if you have a specific currency trading plan that has an edge then you have a historical probability of success, you just need to see it through and play the system properly. The system or your results cannot be measured over one, two or even three forex trades. Great trades understand the numbers game over time and it allows them to develop the emotional discipline.

Two

Focus: Think about someone that you know to be successful and wealthy. There is a strong possibility that person achieved their success and wealth from being a specialist in one field. Steve Jobs was successful at building computers, Richard Branson made his first fortune selling records, Rupert Murdoch made his fortune selling Newspapers, George Soros made his fortune trading currencies and Warren Buffett made his fortune buying companies on the stock market. They applied incredible focus to the business they were in and initially did not diversify. It was this single-minded focus on one thing that drove them to the success and yes many of them have diversified since. But they focused on one thing to start with. So I believe you will improve your probability of trading success by focusing on one market and becoming a specialist in that market. It will allow you to focus intently on what is driving that market, it will allow you to focus on becoming the detective that you need to be and it will allow you to likely find value in a market before everyone else has figured out what you are considering buying is a good idea. Consider focusing on one market and become your own master of that market and you will likely improve the chances of your success.

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Andrew Barnett |  Director / Senior Currency Analyst Andrew Barnett is a regular Sky News Money Channel Guest and one Australia’s most awarded and respected financial experts, and is regularly contacted by the Australian Media for the latest on what is happening with the Australian Dollar. Connect with Andrew:     Email