A common mistake made by novice and aspiring traders is to get starry eyed about the huge profits they are going to make, this often leads to disaster because it distracts them from focussing properly on the actual process of trading.
The more pressure you put on yourself to make money trading, the more likely it is that you will make poor trading decisions and make less or lose money.
Experience in the live markets has taught me that by focussing on the actual process of trading regardless of ‘potential’ profits, one’s trading can improve significantly and as a result so does one’s profitability.
So how does one do that?
Well I suggest you make sure that you have a well-defined and written Trading Plan which contains all the necessary details about your chosen strategy or strategies and how they should be executed in the live markets.
You should also have Back Tested your chosen strategies so that you know the Statistics associated with your chosen strategy. (Profitability/Win:Loss Ratio/Best Time to Use It/Best Financial Instrument To Use It With etc).
When you implement your strategy in the live market, make sure you follow all your Trading Plan rules to the letter.
Make a note of your trades (Record Keeping/Journal/Reports) and conduct post-trade analysis and if necessary update your Trading Plan as appropriate.
Then repeat and repeat and repeat, all the while keeping focussed on ‘The Process of Trading’.
By doing so you should improve your profitability as a by-product of improving ‘The Process’ and your execution of it.
The more pressure you put on yourself to make money, the less well you are likely to trade. Far better to focus completely on the process of trading than on the expected outcomes, as they will take care of themselves if you can get the process right and down to a fine art.
Top Trading Tip: Focus on the process of trading such as implementing your chosen strategy to perfection, along with good trade planning, risk and money management and the profits should take care of themselves.
