Find a Forex Trading Mentor and Watch Your Profits Grow

Most people that trade currency on the foreign exchange market will never ask anyone for help with their trading. If you are someone that thinks you can learn everything on your own, develop and maintain a successful strategy on your own, and trade successfully on your own, you are limiting your potential drastically.

Even elite athletes have coaches

Tiger Woods is arguably the best golf player that's ever lived, yet he still has a coach.

Does that make sense?

Think about it. He is taking advice from someone with less skill and talent who he can easily beat in a round of golf. He does this because he can elevate his game even more with the help of a coach.

He is the best in the world at the sport, yet is humble enough to learn more, and continually strive to get better and perfect his game. You should do the same.

You need a forex trading mentor

I will make a wild assumption here, and assume you are not the very best in the world at forex trading. I will make another wild assumption that you WANT to be the very best at forex trading. To be the best, you will need to find a coach, a mentor, or whatever you want to call it. You need someone there to help you along in your journey to becoming the best forex trader you can be.

You need a mentor because often we are blind to our own mistakes. I have often heard people criticizing others for things that they do themselves. For example, it is usually the bad drivers that blame everybody else for not knowing how to drive. Don't be that person. Be humble, and accept the fact that you are not the best (yet) at forex trading, and learn from others.

Peak performers have coaches because they WANT to be the best at what they do. If you want to increase your winning percentage and your profits in the forex market, then you should find a coach that will help you develop the skills necessary to get there.

Whether you are just starting out in the forex market or you are a veteran trader with lots of year of trading under your belt, I can almost guarantee that you will benefit from finding a mentor.

How to Find a mentor

You don't have to pay thousands of dollars per hour to your mentor. In fact, you shouldn't. If they are a professional forex mentor, then they are probably not professional traders. Do not fall for scam artists who know next to nothing about currency trading and are merely trying to rip you off.

Approach someone that has a proven track record in forex, and invite them to lunch and let them know that you would like to improve your forex trading. Then nicely ask if they will be willing to help you out with your trading. That's it. It's that easy.

Most people will be so flattered by the request, that they will jump right in and become your mentor. They usually realize that at one point in their trading career, someone had taken the time so that they can get to where they are today. Others might be hesitant and say no. If that's the case, then move on. You certainly don't want a mentor that doesn't want to see you succeed.

Meet with your forex mentor at a minimum of once a month with your trading journal in hand to discuss what you have done wrong and how you can get better.

What if you don't know any successful forex traders? In fact, what if the only person you know that trades forex is yourself! Don't worry. There are lots of people out there that are profitable trading currency. You just haven't met them yet.

Don't be shy of your chosen profession. Even if you hold down a full time job and trading in your spare time, don't make the mistake of calling this a hobby. Treat trading like your profession. Don't be ashamed to tell everybody you know about your trading, and soon enough, you will notice that you are not alone in this field.

You will realize that lots of people trade forex either part-time or full-time, and have been making a decent living from it. After talking briefly for a bit, you will realize what whether you are talking to a successful forex trader, or a loser. Your choice of a forex mentor is critical to your success. Choosing a loser will help you become a better loser. On the other hand, choosing a winner will elevate you to the next level and you will see the results in your bank account.

Accountability

A forex mentor will force you to look at your trading habits carefully. Humans have a tendency to remember everything great that we've accomplished, and forget all the mistakes that we have ever encountered. Your coach will not let this happen.

Your forex coach will show you all your weaknesses in broad daylight. Do not argue and do not defend your decisions. Listen, learn, and adapt. It may be hard to look at own weakness, but it is the only way to grow and improve.

Summary

The best golfer in the world became who he is today by continually striving to be the best and by being humble enough to know that there is always something he can learn from his coach.

If you are not constantly trying to improve on your trading strategies, psychology, and money management, then you will never become a great forex trader. Absorb everything your coach tells you and apply everything he or she suggests. Your coach has become successful not by luck, but by learning from his mistakes and changing.

Use A Trading System And Stick To It

Not sticking to a trading system can be deadly to your trading. The key to successful trading, once you find a system that works with your style of trading, is to stick to the system. Don't deviate from the system.

We recommend sticking to a system for 6 months so that you truly know whether the system is good for you or not.

I see many new trader give up on trading systems and they go from one to the other so quickly when they really might have had a good system. They might not have realized that it was them and their emotions that was causing the system to fail.

Just because you lose on some trades doesn't mean the system is bad. It's important to realize that you could be causing the problem!

每天交易“圣经“必备

我是一个稳定获利的交易员， 因为:-
I'm a Cosistent Profitable Trader

我完全明白眼看市场，立刻冲动的情绪 交易，必定亏钱

我诚诺每一个交易都是Timing,Musical line EMA21，Herculas, 5min TP, 完全跟系统及客观地分析每一个交易机会

我诚诺只在完全填写表格才做交易

我诚诺每个交易耐心等到TP 161.8% / 261.8% 4 个小时

我诚诺不看 Balance 有多少，只盯在161。8%

我诚诺下了订单，就必须遵守与规定，棋手不回，不管市场发生什麽事，相信自己的系统

我完全接受自己所定下5%的最大埙失，否则我便不进行交易

我毫不犹豫地执行每一笔有效的交易讯号

我只在市场出现获利机会时才做交易

我诚诺不听他人的意见在交易时，我完全对系统说话

我完全接受77% 的成功系统

我明白我必须遵守以上原则才稳定获利，故此我将永不违反以上原则

Results of Studying The Market

We would all be happy to make some quick cash, but we are even happier when we find that we know how to keep it. The way most successful traders have gained their money is through many hours of experience over long periods of time. They also are students of the markets they trade in.

One thing that I find fascinating about the forex market is that there is always something new to learn. As I gain experience and mature I see things differently than when I first started trading. I have those days when a light comes on and I think-why didn't I see that before? The better my study program and habits, the more I seem to earn and trading becomes easier and more enjoyable.

Early in my career as a trader I heard that trading the forex market was learnable. I am glad I believed that statement and stuck with the studying. In my studying I was trying to get better at reading the technical indicators and using some fundamental information together to get better results. Also I found that part of my study program was learning how to manage my trades, not just getting in and out of the market. Then there is the element of your emotions. I found that I needed to study how to deal with the ups and downs of the market, and the wins and losses. It is just as important to learn how to handle the wins, as it is the losses.
I would have a big win and thought I was a great trader then I had a loss and thought my world had come to an end. So I have learned that I need to plan for the losses not just the wins. Trade your plan for consistent growth and you will get a big one once in a while.

By continuing to study you will find that you will have more quick big money.

Courage Under Stressful Conditions When the Outcome is Uncertain

All the foreign exchange trading knowledge in the world is not going to help, unless you have the nerve to buy and sell currencies and put your money at risk. As with the lottery “You gotta be in it to win it”. Trust me when I say that the simple task of hitting the buy or sell key is extremely difficult to do when your own real money is put at risk.

You will feel anxiety, even fear. Here lies the moment of truth. Do you have the courage to be afraid and act anyway? When a fireman runs into a burning building I assume he is afraid but he does it anyway and achieves the desired result. Unless you can overcome or accept your fear and do it anyway, you will not be a successful trader.

However, once you learn to control your fear, it gets easier and easier and in time there is no fear. The opposite reaction can become an issue – you’re overconfident and not focused enough on the risk you’re taking.

Start by analyzing yourself. Are you the type of person that can control their emotions and flawlessly execute trades, oftentimes under extremely stressful conditions? Are you the type of person who’s overconfident and prone to take more risk than they should? Before your first real trade you need to look inside yourself and get the answers. We can correct any deficiencies before they result in paralysis (not pulling the trigger) or a huge loss (overconfidence). A huge loss can prematurely end your trading career, or prolong your success until you can raise additional capital.

Both the inability to initiate a trade, or close a losing trade can create serious psychological issues for a trader going forward. By calling attention to these potential stumbling blocks beforehand, you can properly prepare prior to your first real trade and develop good trading habits from day one.

The difficulty doesn’t end with “pulling the trigger”. In fact what comes next is equally or perhaps more difficult. Once you are in the trade the next hurdle is staying in the trade. When trading foreign exchange you exit the trade as soon as possible after entry when it is not working. Most people who have been successful in non-trading ventures find this concept difficult to implement.

For example, real estate tycoons make their fortune riding out the bad times and selling during the boom periods. The problem with trying to adapt a ’hold on until it comes back’ strategy in foreign exchange is that most of the time the currencies are in long-term persistent, directional trends and your equity will be wiped out before the currency comes back.

The other side of the coin is staying in a trade that is working. The most common pitfall is closing out a winning position without a valid reason. Once again, fear is the culprit. Your subconscious demons will be scaring you non-stop with questions like “what if news comes out and you wind up with a loss”. The reality is if news comes out in a currency that is going up, the news has a higher probability of being positive than negative (more on why that is so in a later article).

So your fear is just a baseless annoyance. Don’t try and fight the fear. Accept it. Have a laugh about it and then move on to the task at hand, which is determining an exit strategy based on actual price movement. As Garth says in Waynesworld “Live in the now man”. Worrying about what could be is irrational. Studying your chart and determining an objective exit point is reality based and rational.

Another common pitfall is closing a winning position because you are bored with it; its not moving. In Football, after a star running back breaks free for a 50-yard gain, he comes out of the game temporarily for a breather. When he reenters the game he is a serious threat to gain more yards – this is indisputable. So when your position takes a breather after a winning move, the next likely event is further gains – so why close it?

If you can be courageous under fire and strategically patient, foreign exchange trading may be for you. If you’re a natural gunslinger and reckless you will need to tone your act down a notch or two and we can help you make the necessary adjustments. If putting your money at risk makes you a nervous wreck its because you lack the knowledge base to be confident in your decision making.

Patience to Gain Knowledge through Study and Focus

Many new traders believe all you need to profitably trade foreign currencies are charts, technical indicators and a small bankroll. Most of them blow up (lose all their money) within a few weeks or months; some are initially successful and it takes as long as a year before they blow up. A tiny minority with good money management skills, patience, and a market niche go on to be successful traders. Armed with charts, technical indicators, and a small bankroll, the chance of succeeding is probably 500 to 1.

To increase your chances of success to near certainty requires knowledge; acquiring knowledge takes hard work, study, dedication and focus. Compile your knowledge base without taking any shortcuts, thereby assuring a solid foundation to build upon.

You’ve got a great trading system. So why are you losing?

You’ve done your homework. Countless hours of seeking out the right guru (or piecing together your own system). Weeks of monitoring your guru’s daily trade picks (or paper-trading and back-testing your homemade system). You’ve done it by the book. No seat of the pants trading for you!

OK, now you’re confident. It’s time to put your money where your homework is. You’ve had your coffee and your first trade signal is before you. Confidence high. Trade made. First loss. Not a problem. You understood before you started that successful traders both win and lose and “losing is part of the overall winning”.

You’ve also heard more then once that “successful traders don’t win on every trade.” Moving on, still confident. Next trade made. Another loss, but this one hurt your pride a little because you got stopped out early in the trade, and then the market rebounded and would have hit your profit target if you weren’t topped out.

You double check. Yep, you placed the stop where your trading system told you to place it. You kind of had a feeling that the early weakness in the market was just profit-taking from the previous day’s trading, but you’re trading a system and you must stick to it. Wounded, but resilient.

After a good night’s sleep and a few mouse clicks, your new daily trades are in front of you. Hey, this one looks good! It’s a little bit more risk than yesterday’s trades had, but look at that profit potential! With a smiling face, the trade is executed.

With a nice start to the trade, you’re feeling good and you’ve moved your stop to breakeven, just like your system said. Surprise piece of news - market reverses - blows through your stop - an “unexpected” loss. Is something wrong with the system? Has the overall market “personality” changed, affecting your system to the Core, rendering all your back-testing irrelevant? Your confidence turns to doubt.

You decide to “watch” the next trade… I mean, isn’t it wise to make sure the system gets back on track before you “throw good money after bad?” Isn’t that what a conservative trader does? Trade watched. It wins!

In your head, you beat yourself up a little because you know that when you started your “live” trading, you made an agreement with yourself to take the first 10 trades “no matter what”… and here you wimped-out and missed a big winner that would have gotten you even.

What’s happening?!!

What’s happening is that you are out of control. Your emotions are ruling your trading. The above scenario plays out in every trader from time to time.. newbee and veteran alike.

The winning trader senses what is happening and nips it in the bud. The winning trader spend time EVERY DAY, working on “the discipline of trading”. Reads a chapter in his favorite psychological trading book, scans the “ten commandments of trading” that hangs on the wall over his/her desk, listens to his/her mental training software for futures traders… Something… Every Day… before trading begins.

There are many more losing traders than winning traders… and it’s seldom about the trading system. In my career, I’ve come across at least 50 systems that I consider A+, yet I know for a fact that MOST traders that have traded on these systems have lost. Why? They were not in control of their emotions.

Are you?

Why 10% Of Traders Go Bankrupt ?

I was thinking about an article I read some time ago that 90% of traders who ever trade lose their account and that 10% actually go bankrupt. If the first number doesn’t scare you then the second definitely should.

Why is it then that there is such a large number of traders failing? It is not because they are stupid; in fact most traders have an above average IQ and are above average in most categories such as education and income. So why do they fail?

Lack of trading education!

By education I don’t just mean learning how RSI works or drawing lines on a chart. I mean thoroughly educating yourself in all aspects of your chosen profession. Educating yourself on the correct psychological approach to the market! Educating yourself in the correct risk management techniques relative to your account size. Educating yourself in the correct entry and exit methods for the trading style that suits you.

This, my friend, is where I hope to be of some help. I don’t have all the answers nor do I profess to be some kind of guru but I will do my best to point you in the right direction.

Common Misconceptions Of New Traders

They think they can trade consistently with an 80% accuracy.
They think they can turn $1000 into $100,000 in six months.
They think they can predict turning points in their given markets to within minutes.
They think they can buy a system that is 100% accurate.
They think they will quit their jobs and make a living full time after a few months of trading.

What’s the reason that so many new traders believe that trading is an easy way to make big profits? Propaganda!

We are continually bombarded in magazines, emails and the general media with claims of making astronomical amounts, just by applying the vendor’s latest method or system.

Don’t get me wrong, there is good stuff out there but the vast majority is not worth the price you pay. At www.obamaforextradingsignal.com they also recommend products but they have at least read the ebooks or courses and think they have some value to their subscribers.

Fundamentals Of Trading
Trading is not an exact science. You can’t do X and get Y every time. It is as much an art as it is anything else. There is no magic formula. Trading is all about probability. It is the art of correctly applying a set of carefully thought out rules and allocating the probability of that event to result in success.

Each trade is an independent event. The market does not remember if you lost or made dollars the last time you traded.

The way you approach the market psychologically has as much to do with your success as any trading plan.

Risk management is crucial if you want to have any hope of becoming a successful trader.

Matching a method of trading with your personality is the only way you will ever feel comfortable in the markets.

An adequately funded account is necessary - not only to be able to take the trades you want, but also so you don’t feel every trade is a live or die situation.

The journey to the road of successful trading will make you confront your deepest fears. Your armor on this journey will be confidence, knowledge and belief in yourself that you can achieve your dreams.

Never, equate your success or failure in the markets with who you are as a person!

The Flaw In Our Emotions

As humans we have a natural tendency to try and influence our surroundings and events we take part in. This is one reason we, as a species, have succeeded but it is also one of the fundamental flaws we all have when trying to achieve success as a traders.

As traders we have to realize we have no control over the market and if we accept that then we have to accept that we can not influence the direction of the market.

The problem of course is we have a tendency to try and succeed and when inevitable losses come, it is easy to let those losses effect us emotionally. Becoming euphoric when you hit a winning streak is almost as detrimental as becoming depressed when you have a string of losses.

We as traders have to try and achieve the state of impartiality. We have to accept that we will have losses as readily as we will have wins. Reaching the stage where you can comfortably accept loss in the knowledge that your method of trading will produce profits in the longer term is the state we have to aspire to.

Risk Management

Whenever I think of risk management I always think of an article I read on 925 CTA programs between 1974-1995. It essentially confirmed what I have long held to be true. To summarize the report, of all the CTA’s who managed funds, the most consistently profitable were the ones with the best risk management systems.

To trade successfully you have to take a long look at yourself. Ask and answer the following questions.

How much equity do I need to start? How much should I risk on any one trade? Am I undercapitalized?

During the course of these lessons I will do my best to help answer these and other questions.

Entry And Exit

As a trader you will probably fall into two main categories, traders who like to trade the breakout and traders who like to join the trend once established. We could also add congestion traders, reversal type traders and mechanical signal traders but for the vast majority of traders you are going to fall into one of the two categories.

If you are a trend trader, you like to define a trend and then find a way in. This may be with the aid of fibonacci retracement levels, moving averages, Gann or one of the other many indicators available today. Your goal is to enter the trend as early as possible with the least amount of risk.

Breakout traders like to enter the market on the breakout of a previously identified range. This may be support/resistance areas, rectangles, triangles or one of the many other chart patterns. The secret to this type of trading is to determine a valid break.

In future lessons we shall begin to look at the more technical side of trading and how you can apply technical analysis to the markets to increase your probability of success.

Conclusion

During this lesson I have tried to give you a glimpse into the world of trading. I have also taken a slightly negative stance, as I don’t want you to get unrealistic expectations of what to expect.

On the more positive side, trading is a fascinating world, which will allow you to really exercise your brain. There is no other arena where you get to play with some of the best minds in the world on a level playing field.

Once mastered, if you can ever use that term then the possibilities are endless. Hopefully I can help you achieve your goals .