Succeeding at trading in the markets combines learning everything you can about the markets and trading tools and getting to know yourself as a trader.
Learning about the markets and technical analysis tools is the first thing that most traders dive into, they often are unaware of how important the roles of human nature and psychology play in defining markets and market success.
Becoming a profitable trader is more of a journey than a destination.
Concentrate on learning the craft of technical analysis and try to become a better trader each day enjoying the progress you make.
Focus on improving your trading skills rather than on the amount of profit or losses in your trading.
Feel good about a trade when you have followed your trading plan and congratulate yourself, regardless of the profit or loss on the trade.
Treat your trading like a business and maintain an even keel and professional outlook.
Don't get to overly excited about winning trades or depressed about losing trades.
When entering a trade there is no certainty.
You are looking for a preponderance of evidence or a high probability that a trade will react a certain way according to your indications of trend and reversals and your trading plan.
When you are following your plan, it is more painful to stand aside and miss a good trade your plan told you to take than it is to lose on a trade that you entered and exited properly according to your plan.
Negative trading experiences can have long lasting psychological impacts.
If you do not let the experience defeat you psychological, the negative experience will not have such a long lasting impact.
While a formal education may give you an edge in thinking about the economy and markets in general, it does not assure you will become a successful trader.
To succeed, you must learn to perceive opportunity where others do not and you must seek out imformation from other sources to continually expand your knowledge.
Keep your ego in check.
Winning can give you a euphoria similar to what a gambler experiences.
Trading should not be gambling, although it can be if you let it.
Gamblers will lose as many times as is necessary to experience the thrill of winning once.
Don't let that be you.
Take responsibility for all your trades.
Don't blame your broker or newsletter for trading losses.
Use these as opportunities to troubleshoot what problem occurred during the trade and develop a solution to your trading plan.
Successful traders quantify, analyze and understand the risks of a trade.
Risk tolerance is unique to all traders.
Define a methodology that reflects your preferred timeframe and risk tolerance.
The market is a daily struggle between the bulls and bears and represents a sum of the mindset of all the trading participants.
Prices rise and fall based on the psychology of all its participants.
The high, low and closing prices reveal what traders are thinking and it's important to consider these factors to help determine what is happening in the related market.
If the closing price finishes well off the days high, market participants may be telling us that sellers outnumber buyers.
Listen to what the market is telling you.
Never buy just because the price is low or sell because the price is high.
Don't average losing trades and remain patient with the market.
Preparation, research and learning take longer than actually executing and watching the trade.
A trader must separate the emotions of hope, greed and fear to be successful.
Patience is a virtue in trading.
The market has a lot of patience and outlasts most traders.