Forex Traders: Taking Responsibility

Forex Traders: Taking Responsibility

by Harold Hsu

All good traders understand that every trading decision and action made, is his own responsibility. You'll never meet a successful trader who blames someone or something else for the consequences of his trading results.

You see, it's only when you begin to accept full responsibility for your results, that you'll rule out the convenient possibility of using excuses. After all, it's much easier to TALK about why it's not your fault when you make a losing trade. It's easier to say "hey, I didn't know there was an important economic announcement coming out tonight" rather than to go and check out the actual schedule of economic announcements for the week.

You can just blame bad luck, or even blame it on the weather. But whatever your "reasons" are, they're not going to help you trade better at all. Once you finally realize that the only way you'll make money in Forex trading is to look out for yourself, you'll never be a successful trader. I'm sorry for being so blunt, but it's the truth.

No one's going to fight your battles for you. The moment you realize that you are solely responsible for your trading results, you'll soon start looking into ways to improve it.

Let me ask you: Do you actively monitor your trades using some sort of trading journal or trading log? Do you spend time looking over failed trades and whether they could have been avoided?

If you answered "yes" to both questions, great! If you're not already a consistently profitable trader, you're going to be one soon enough.

But if you answered "no" to either question, you might want to think about how serious you are about Forex trading... there's no middle ground here: You either work hard at it and succeed, or you continue to give "reasons" for losing your trades.

Forex Traders: Taking Responsibility

Forex Traders: Taking Responsibility

by Harold Hsu

All good traders understand that every trading decision and action made, is his own responsibility. You'll never meet a successful trader who blames someone or something else for the consequences of his trading results.

You see, it's only when you begin to accept full responsibility for your results, that you'll rule out the convenient possibility of using excuses. After all, it's much easier to TALK about why it's not your fault when you make a losing trade. It's easier to say "hey, I didn't know there was an important economic announcement coming out tonight" rather than to go and check out the actual schedule of economic announcements for the week.

You can just blame bad luck, or even blame it on the weather. But whatever your "reasons" are, they're not going to help you trade better at all. Once you finally realize that the only way you'll make money in Forex trading is to look out for yourself, you'll never be a successful trader. I'm sorry for being so blunt, but it's the truth.

No one's going to fight your battles for you. The moment you realize that you are solely responsible for your trading results, you'll soon start looking into ways to improve it.

Let me ask you: Do you actively monitor your trades using some sort of trading journal or trading log? Do you spend time looking over failed trades and whether they could have been avoided?

If you answered "yes" to both questions, great! If you're not already a consistently profitable trader, you're going to be one soon enough.

But if you answered "no" to either question, you might want to think about how serious you are about Forex trading... there's no middle ground here: You either work hard at it and succeed, or you continue to give "reasons" for losing your trades.

Forex Trading Logs: 4 Important Details To Include

Forex Trading Logs: 4 Important Details To Include

by Harold Hsu

Many traders know it's a good idea to keep a trading log but what exactly does a trader keep in his log?

While different people keep records of different details, here are 4 important points that you absolutely must include in your own log

Detail #1: Entry/Exit setup (entry criteria)

The entry setup criteria is basically the market conditions which are required to trigger a buy or sell signal, according to your trading system (you DO have a trading system, right?)

This log serves as a reminder to yourself not to trade against the rules of your own system. Every time you're tempted to enter into a trade that doesn't follow your system rules, this step will hopefully remind you not to make that trade. Also, past entry setup logs help you to decide if a losing trade could have been avoided. If your log shows that you completely obeyed the rules of your system, then don't beat yourself over a loss you did the right thing.

Detail #2: Entry price & Lot Size

The lot size log serves to help you stick to your money management rules (you DO have a money management system, right?), and the entry/exit price helps you to calculate your pip gain or loss.

Detail #3: Time & Date

This log enables you to go back and analyze any specific trade you wish to examine. Without the time and date, you won't know which portion of the trading charts you should be looking at.

Detail #4: Your Feelings

This is perhaps one of the most important logs to make. You'll need to keep a record about how you feel about the trades that you took. Were you hesitant? Or were you confident? Keeping a record of your feelings helps you become aware of your psychological state when trading, and can be very helpful with identifying patterns in your trading behaviour.