In Partnership with DailyForex:
Anyone can sit at their laptop and trade. Obviously, it helps to have some idea of what you are doing first, but broadly speaking, there are no exams to pass or qualifications to obtain. Many people dabble in trading as an adjunct to a full time occupation, something they will do in the evening after “real work.”
Now, there are many who will be quite happy to stay as part-time traders, and there’s nothing wrong with so-doing. However, the time comes for many when they have to ask themselves whether the moment has arrived when they feel ready, willing, and able to make something that they play or indulge in for a few hours a day (or night) into a full time occupation that will become a career.
Consequently, let’s review some of the steps we need to take and some of the attitudes we need to adopt in order to turn trading into a career. We will be stressing the personal a great deal because all the evidence shows that successful traders get it right in their minds and everything flows from that. Successful traders do not expect to win on every trade or even on most and true success is built upon being successful over a number of trades. This means becoming far more dispassionate about the income derived from each individual trade. These people are in it for the long term and are not going to take it too much to heart when some go wrong — as they are bound to do.
Secondly, the trader who is making his or her trading into a career will understand that a career means serving time as “an apprentice.” It can take years to learn your trade and to be consistently profitable. You will also need to have built up a reasonably large financial reserve, otherwise, any hope of a successful career will be on the rocks after one run of bad results.
To make a career, you have to develop the best possible trading habits and learn to understand them and then stick to them. Your overriding concern as you move from part-time rookie to career person is not, “How much money am I making,” but far more, “Am I using the correct procedure?” Thus, the key thing a new full-time trader must have is an all-in trading plan which will encompass every aspect of his or her trading. It doesn’t guarantee success, but there is an old adage that is very relevant here, “Those that fail to plan, plan to fail.”
Regular habits, including trading hours, will certainly help as will a tight daily schedule that must include starting the day with a clear set of objectives and concluding it with a thorough analysis of what exactly transpired during the day – what went well, what went badly. The only way to profit is to learn from both your successes and failures.
Have the confidence to stick with your plans and understand that there is no magic formula other than knowledge, grit, and discipline.
