It's always funny how people react to my posts. The dogs are going to bark anyway, but for serious people in this forum I'll repeat it again - I'm a trader who is trading the professional side of the forex market. I'm here only to share the wisdom and experience that I have acquired during my trading and it's free of charge. I haven't promoted anything in here and it's really hilarious how people waste their time digging up my personal projects out there in the web and calling me "busted", as those projects have a life on their own and they have nothing to do with this forum.
Of course I will never reveal detailed information about my trading method because it works and it would be stupid for me to do it. If you ever traded the professional side of the forex market you will understand why. However, by reading my articles and watching my videos and by connecting all the bits and pieces together you can already get a good idea about how to become a good trader and craft your own way into trading.
This journal is not "short lived" as somebody said because it has only started and if I decide to stop it at some point I'll make an announcement about it. However, I won't post here every day because most of my focus is on trading. Now let's get back to what's important.
Here are some the things that are needed to become super successful in trading the financial markets:
1. Professional knowledge about how the market works. Not just markets in general but the specific market that you trade. Most traders do not have this knowledge and their trading is based on incorrect beliefs about how the market works. But the worst thing is that most of them are 100% confident that they know what they're doing. Chances of long term success trading under such conditions are close to impossible.
2. Continuous improvement. Even Jesse Livermore himself, one of the most famous traders of the past century, once said: "I'm a student of the market who occasionally makes money". There's nothing worse than falling asleep after reaching your first success milestone (consistent profitability and 1st level financial independence). Only our beliefs dictate our boundaries and how much we can actually achieve. Therefore, a trader has to be always learning and improving their performance, otherwise the inner void will kill them. A trader has to always ask: "how can I earn more by risking less"? Because the one who feels successful, stops improving and that's the beginning of falling into the abyss.
3. Love for work. If you trade the market only for the sake of money - you won't last long. Trading is not about making money, no matter how weird it may sound. You have to like the process and go so deep until you'll feel that every day you're touching the Universal laws and receiving Divine wisdom. This will empower you and will give you strength to continue the process. When I became a full time trader, it was very hard for me to keep my attention for a few continuous hours, because as long as you're seeing only the surface, trading is incredibly boring. But nowadays I trade the market with enthusiasm from 8am to 6pm and on Saturdays I dedicate a few hours for learning. If I come up with ideas on how to improve my trading tools - I would start working at 6-7am so that I'd be able to code and test those tools before the trading session. I can't wait until Monday comes and the market will open again because it will bring yet another fantastic opportunity to learn, improve and make money!
4. Patience. You will need more patience than you initially thought. The market is not stupid and it brings only a handful of good opportunities to trade throughout entire day. It's like looking for particles of amber in the sand - during the day I might evaluate as many as 500-1000 potential opportunities to trade, but only a few of them will match my criteria (sometimes none). I trade only when I receive top notch opportunities, because average opportunities lead to average results. In a competitive market average results mean losses.
5. Connection to yourself. Emotions and inner voice are important feedback mechanisms that signal to the trader if they are doing something wrong. For example, if you feel stress while trading, it could mean that you're risking too much or that you broke your rules and opened a stupid position. Greed and euphoria are bad companions as well, leading you to the abyss. The normal condition of a trader is emotionless - i.e. when you've transcended your emotions and lower animal mind impulses, you're in unity with Yourself, you're Here and Now, you're free of any unneeded thoughts - then you're seeing an undistorted view of actuality, you can interpret information in the way it actually is and you're acting correctly. You're acting with inspiration and thankfulness - these conditions are above emotions.
Of course, the list of 5 points above is not all that is needed to become a successful trader in the market, however, these points are very important. It's interesting that they're valid not only in trading but in also in other professional areas. Because deep down they're about self mastery. I wish you an interesting and fulfilling road while striving for self mastery in your professional area.