How to become a good option trader in forex

How To Become A Profitable Trader With A 9 To 5 Job – 12 steps. Contents in this article. If you still have a 9 to 5 job, becoming a professional trader in your spare time can be quite a challenge. Pursuing the goal of quitting your day job to become a profitable trader often seems like an unrealistic task for most people. But there are certain steps that can help you improve your trading while working 9-5 and finding time for hobbies and your family at the same time. Here are our top 13 steps and tips that will help you improve your trading while still working in your regular 9 to 5 job: 1. Find a trading style that suits you. It’s so important to have a trading style that fits your personality AND your schedule. The two broad categories and trading styles traders have to choose from are swing-trading vs. day-trading . Usually, swing-trading is better suited for traders who have limited time and restricted access to charts throughout the day. As a swing-trader, you do your chart analyses during the weekends and beforeafter work and you manage and execute your trades when you get back from work. Swing traders also don’t need to observe the markets all day long which can free up even more time. If you are a Forex trader, you could easily fit in a few hours of day-trading in the evenings since you’ll usually always find some active currency markets at any given time – but make sure that you can remain focused after an 8 hours working day. ForexFactory offers a great tool that helps you understand which markets are active during different times and it also shows how liquidity changes during the day so that you can find the best currency pairs based on your schedule: Tip 1: Decide whether you want to be a swing trader or a day trader.

Audit your weekly schedule and your personality to see which style suits you best. Then, choose the markets and instruments accordingly. In our premium course, you get access to both a swing trading and a day trading system at the same time. 2. Don’t ride the learning curve. This is the cardinal sin of trading “system-hopping” refers to traders who frequently change their trading method every few weeks or months. Those traders usually never see any real improvements in their trading and profitable trading is impossible if you don’t fully commit to making one thing work. No system will work right from the start so be prepared to go through ups and downs. This is very normal so do not fight it and don’t try to avoid this necessary step on your way of becoming a profitable trader. Tip 2: For the next 12 months, pick one system and make a contract with yourself that you will not change your method again. No matter what. 3. Why I only trade 1 hour per day. Your weekend should be your most important day of the week. I personally do 80% of all my trading work over the weekends and then do very little throughout the week. During the week, I do not spend more then 1 hours infront of my charts.

Every Sunday, I sit down and go through all the markets that I consider trading and perform a detailed chart analysis. I adjust and re-draw my supportresistance levels, I study my indicators, review the last trading week and cross-check with my previous Sunday analysis. Then, throughout the week, I just wait for my price alerts to get triggered and I update my “if-then” scenarios based on what happens during the day. This approach takes up a few hours of time during the weekend, but it frees up so much time during the week and it is ideal if you have a day job. Tip 3: Price alerts are the ultimate time-saver and the most overlooked trading tool. Use them after you have done your weekend analysis. 4. Active improvement as a trader. We mentioned that you should avoid system-hopping at all costs, but the question that then naturally comes up is: “how do I turn my current (losing) trading method into a winning one?” Here are 2 tips and things you should focus on to improve as a trader: #1 Identify your biggest problems and take responsibility. Traders often mistakenly believe that their lack of trading success is caused by their trading method which then usually leads to system-hopping.

However, failure typically comes down to undisciplined trading, a lack of professionalism and a pure gambling mentality. Thus, the first step for you should be to identify your greatest problems and your most commonly made mistakes. Traders who always try to blame their system avoid taking responsibility and look for excuses instead of doing the work that is necessary. Tip 4: Over the next weekend, review your past 3040 trades and see what caused your losses. Then come up with a top 3 list with your most commonly made mistakes. #2 Process-oriented thinking. Most people act from a goal-oriented mindset where they automatically connect winning trades with good trades and see losses as failures. Such a way of thinking shows an amateur mindset. The professionals, on the other hand, act from a process-oriented mindset where they look at how well they have executed their trades and how disciplined they perform. Thus, for a process-oriented trader, a loss does not necessarily equal a bad trade if they have done everything they could. Tip 5: Avoid monetary goals and for the next 2 months, stop looking at your PL. This will be tough but the impact will be huge. 5. What do you really want out of life?

There is an interesting survey I came across and it shows how people structure their day. The average employed American spends 7:45 hours at work on a regular work day. At the same time, the average American watches 2 hours and 9 minutes TV each day and only invest 25 minutes per day in education. Also, the average sleep time is at 8 hours and 48 minutes which exceeds the recommended 8 hours per day by almost 1 hour. When you are working towards becoming a profitable trader, you have to be clear about your priorities and make sure that your actions align with your goals. Are you willing to wake up one hour ahead of schedule every day, stop binge-watching random TV series, skip a night out with friends every now and then and re-invest that time back into your trading? Granted, those are tough calls to make and you might say that “you still need to live a little”, but putting in the work now to reap the benefits in a few years will take your life to new heights. Tip 6: Audit your week and identify time wasters. Then, just eliminate 1 such time-waster and use it to work on your trading. “The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term, is the indispensable prerequisite for success.” 6. Don’t focus on the when and the how much.

I often get the question of how much you can make and how big your trading account needs to be to live off your trading profits. When I then counter with the question how much those people are currently making as traders, it becomes obvious very fast that they are focusing on the wrong things at the right time and they are not even profitable yet. Especially at the beginning of your trading journey you should not worry about how big your annual return can be and how much capital you need to save before making the transition to trading full-time. Focusing on those things will get you off track and keep you from making progress – it can also demotivate you when you see how much work is ahead of you. Instead, focus on your problems and struggles that you have RIGHT NOW. Tip 7: Focus on the immediate task ahead and work on your current problems. Small improvements over time add up. 7. Spending vs. Income. This is another very overlooked aspect when it comes to full time trading. Most people only focus on making more money, whereas there are two sides to the equation of being able to live off your trading: The regular view – focusing on making more money: Income > Spending = Enough. The opposite view – controlling your expenditures: Spending < Income = Enough! I sometimes get critiqued for this point, but mainly because traders have a completely wrong perception of full time trading and they believe that all full time traders live on yachts, drive the latest sports cars and go Rolex shopping each weekend. Tip 8: Controlling expenditures can often help people make a transition sooner. And then, you can still up your lifestyle later on! 8. The dangers of demo trading. There is a place for demo trading, but most people stay on demo too long.

What I have seen in my own trading and from the traders that I helped in our premium course is that demo trading often lets people adopt negative behavioral patterns that are then very hard to unlearn. When your actions don’t have any real consequences, you are more likely to repeat mistakes and engage in bad trading behavior. I typically suggest staying on demo for the first 6 – 12 months until you have a good understanding of the nuts and bolts and then take your trading to the next level. Tip 9: The pecking order is: Demo > small live account > decent live account > an account where your winners are impactful. And make sure that you learn your lessons from the first trading account(s) you lose! 9. 4 tips for growing a trading account. If you are like most traders, you probably don’t have the capital to start with a trading account that allows you to generate a decent income right away and that’s totally fine. But you have to make sure that you follow the right path. Here are our top 4 tips that will help you grow your account and enjoy the process: #1 Patience and expectations. Let’s start with the most important point. Having unrealistic expectations very quickly lead to frustration when those expectations aren’t met. Always keep in mind that what you are doing is creating a new life and a new career for you.

You have to get away from the get rich quick mentality and accept that this is a long-term play. Traders want “to trade for a living” but then act like they need to retire next month. Stay patient, learn the basics, manage risk & enjoy. Tip 10: Adopt realistic expectations and avoid monetary goals. #2 Recognize your true edge as a part-time trader. This is often your greatest advantage over full-time traders. When trading is not your only source of income, you can eliminate a lot of the pressure that often causes traders to make mistakes. Also, when you are not glued to your screen all day long, you are less likely to make bad trading decisions just because you are bored or haven’t taken a trade in a while. Maybe you don’t even have to become a profitable trader and just trade a few hours every day and grow your savings or up your lifestyle? Tip 11: Understand your motives and become self-aware about how you perform best while achieving your life goals. The cold, harsh truth is that, in the end, no one cares if you make it as a trader. That’s why it so important to be honest with yourself and with your current situation.

Analyze your approach to trading realistically, your level of professionalism and whether you are serious enough about it. The failure rate in trading is somewhere around 99%, but it’s not necessarily that high because trading is so damn hard, but because most don’t give it their full attention and just see it as a quick way out. Tip 12: Are you serious enough about trading? Be honest with yourself and evaluate your current approach to trading. If you are ready to make the next step in your trading and take things seriously, take a look here: Our Premium Forex Course. Below is a message from David who is one of our pro members. After joining our course, he is optimistic again about reaching his goals and becoming a full-time trader. Testimonials appearing on this site are individual experiences, reflecting real life experiences of those that have used our products andor services in some way or another. However, they are individual results and results may vary. We do not claim that they are typical results that consumers will generally achieve. The testimonials are not necessarily representative of all of those who will use our products andor services. The testimonials presented on Tradeciety are applicable to the individuals writing them, and may not be indicative of future performance or success of any other individuals. Tradeciety cannot and does not guarantee results.

Forex Trading Academy. Forex price action course Private forum Weekly setups. Another great article – Thank you – Doug. “You’ll see that those problems are usually always of personal nature and not a flaw in your method. Traders who always try to blame their system avoid taking responsibility and look for excuses instead of doing the work that is necessary.” A very good read. Many thanks. Leave a Reply Cancel reply. Our Tradeciety Forex Academy. Our Trading Journal.

8 Price Action Secrets Every Trader Should Know About. 5 Ways To Identify The Direction Of The Trend. How To Use Moving Averages – Moving Average Trading 101. Candlesticks – Forget Candlestick Patterns – This is All You Need To Know. MACD – How To Use The MACD Correctly. Bollinger Bands ® Explained – The Best Trading Indicator. How To Use The Reward Risk Ratio Like A Professional. How To Become A Profitable Trader With A 9 To 5 Job – 12 steps. 6 Secret Tips For Supply And Demand Forex Trading. The Perfect Trading Routine – Our Complete Step By Step Guide Updated Tradeciety used images and image licenses downloaded and obtained through Fotolia, Flaticon, Freepik and Unplash. Trading charts have been obtained using Tradingview, Stockcharts and FXCM. Icon design by Icons8.

Price Action Ebook + Forex Trading Course. Get your free Price Action ebook NOW. Enter your email and get instant access. The new Firefox. Download Firefox — English (US) Your system may not meet the requirements for Firefox, but you can try one of these versions: Download Firefox — English (US) Your system doesn't meet the requirements to run Firefox. Your system doesn't meet the requirements to run Firefox. Please follow these instructions to install Firefox. Please follow these instructions to install Firefox. The best Firefox ever. Uses 30% less memory than Chrome.

Truly Private Browsing with Tracking Protection. all things Firefox. If you haven’t previously confirmed a subscription to a Mozilla-related newsletter you may have to do so. Please check your inbox or your spam filter for an email from us. Advanced Install Options & Other Platforms. Download Firefox for Windows. Download Firefox for macOS. Download Firefox for Linux. Download Firefox — English (US) Your system may not meet the requirements for Firefox, but you can try one of these versions: Download Firefox — English (US) Your system doesn't meet the requirements to run Firefox. Your system doesn't meet the requirements to run Firefox. Please follow these instructions to install Firefox. 10 Traits Of A Successful Options Trader. Options are one of the most versatile instruments in the financial markets. They are flexible in that they allow you to leverage your position to boost returns, manage risk by using them for hedging, or to make profit from upside, downside and sideways movement in the market. Despite its many benefits, options trading carries substantial risk of loss, and it is very speculative in nature. It's not for everyone and not everyone can become a successful options trader.

Like any other business, becoming a successful options trader requires a certain skillset, personality type and attitude. This article will help you understand the 10 must-have characteristics that you need to become successful at options trading. (From picking the right type of stock to setting stop-losses, learn how to trade wisely) If you're interested in going beyond just 10 must-have characteristics and skills, and learning tried and true options strategies used by professional, check out Investopedia Academy's Options Trading Course. With on demand video trainings and classes, you'll have access to the knowledge to put the odds in your favor with options. Numeracy - Keep Sharpening Your Quantitative Skills. Options are high-risk instruments, and it is important for traders to recognize how much risk they have at any point in time. What is the maximum downside of the trade? What is the implicit or explicit position with respect to volatility? How much of my capital is allocated to the trade? These are some of the questions that traders will always have to keep in their minds. Traders also need to take appropriate measures to control the risk. In particular, if you are a short-term options trader, you will regularly come across loss-making trades.

For example, if you hold a position overnight, your bet may go bad because of adverse news. At any time, you need to be able to minimize the risk of your positions. Some traders do so by limiting their trade size and diversifying into many different trades so that not all their eggs are in the same basket. An options trader also has to be an excellent money manager. They need to use their capital wisely. For example, it wouldn't be wise to block 90% of your capital in a single trade. Whatever the method you adopt, risk management and money management cannot be ignored. (Risk is inseparable from return. For more, see Measuring And Managing Investment Risk. ) 2. Be good with numbers: While trading in options, you are always dealing with numbers. What's the implied volatility? Is the option in the money, or out of the money?

What's the breakeven of the trade? Options traders are always answering these questions. They also refer to option Greeks, such as the delta, gamma, vega and theta of their options trades. For example, a trader would want to know if his trade is short gamma. It is important for the traders to be able to easily calculate and interpret numbers. You don't need to be a rocket scientist, but you should train as an aspiring "quant jock." (Understanding price influences on options positions requires learning delta, theta, vega and gamma. For more, see Getting To Know The "Greeks." ) Behavioral – Develop the Right Attitude. To become successful, the options traders must practice discipline. Doing extensive research, identifying opportunities, setting up the right trade, forming and sticking to a method, setting up goals, and forming an exit method are all part of the discipline.

A simple example of deviating from the discipline is to go with the advice of the herd. Never trust an opinion without doing your own research. You can't skip your homework and blame the herd for your losses. Instead, you must devise an independent trading method that works for your situation. Patience is one quality that all options traders have. Patient investors are willing to wait for the market to provide the right opportunity, rather than trying to make a big win on every market movement. You will often see traders sitting idle and just watching the market, waiting for the perfect timing to enter or exit a trade. The same is not the case with amateur traders. They are impatient, unable to control their emotions, and they will be quick to enter and exit trades. 5. Match your trading style with your personality: Each trader has a different personality therefore, each trader should adopt a trading style that suits his or her traits.

Some traders may be good at day trading, where they buy and sell options several times during the day in order to make small profits. Others may be more comfortable with position trading, where they form trading strategies to take advantage of unique opportunities, such as time decay and volatility. And others may be more comfortable with swing trading, where traders make bets on price movement over periods lasting five to 30 days. (For related reading, see The Importance Of Time Value In Options Trading. ) Learning – Become an Active Learner. 6. Read and understand news: It is crucial for traders to be able to interpret the news, separate hype from reality, and make appropriate decisions based on this knowledge. You will find many traders who will be eager to put their capital in an option with promising news, and the next day they will move on to the next big news. This distracts them from identifying bigger trends in the market. Most successful traders will be honest with themselves and make sound personal decisions, rather than just going by the top stories in the news. 7. Learn from losses: The Chicago Board of Trade recently reported that 90% of options traders make losses. What separates successful traders from average ones is that successful traders are able to learn from their losses and implement what they learn in their trading strategies. (For related reading, see Options Trading Strategies: Understanding Position Delta. ) 8. Be an active learner: The financial markets are constantly changing and evolving you need to have a clear understanding of what's happening and how it all works. By becoming an active learner, you will not only become good at your current trading strategies, but you will also be able to identify newer opportunities that others might not see or that they may pass over.

Administrative – Develop the Right Routine. 9. Plan your trades: An options trader who plans is more likely to succeed than one who flies on instinct and feel. If you don't have a plan, you will place random trades, and consequently, you'll be directionless. On the other hand, if you have a plan, you are more likely to stick to it. You will be clear about what your goals are and how you plan to achieve them. You will also know how to cover your losses or when to book profits. You can see how the plan has worked (or not worked) for you. All these steps are essential to developing a strong trading method. 10. Maintain records: Most successful options traders keep diligent records of their trades. Maintaining proper trade records is an essential habit that can help you avoid making costly decisions. The history of your trade records also provides a wealth of information that can help you improve your odds of success. (For related reading, see Make Better Options Trades With The Average Monthly Range. ) Top options traders get a thrill from scouting and watching their trades. Sure, it's great to see a pick come out on top, but much like sports fans, options traders enjoy watching the whole game unfold, not just finding out the final score.

These characteristics will not guarantee your success in the options trading world, but they will definitely increase your chances at it. How To Become A Successful Forex Trader. I was recently at a family get together. We were celebrating one of our newest family member’s first birthday. I love these events because it’s a great opportunity for all of us parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and our closest family friends to be together in one place. I’m fortunate enough to have a big family that all lives within the same general area so these gatherings happen several times a year. Recently, some of my uncles have taken a great interest in trying to figure out what to invest in. There are not a lot of good options these days and as we all get older (and hopefully a bit wiser) most are not interested in some of the better obvious choices like real estate or new businesses. Been there, done that! Something more passive and less time intensive is what tends to be the most attractive option. Inevitably, the idea of investing, and more specifically, TRADING is where this conversation usually leads. Mainly, because I have vast experience (go here to check out my experience) in this area and they want to pick my brain to see what might be the best choices for them. These conversations are pretty predictable as far as how they are going to turn out. Forex! Sure I could lead them into futures or Stocks and options.

But forex is where I would like to see them begin, mainly because of the excellent levels of diversification that is available, the ability to trade it on different timeframes (like daytrading or swingtrading), and MOST importantly, the great flexibility in position sizing that forex trading provides. While this might not be what inexperienced traders typically think about, position size is in my view, one of the top three elements to successful trading and IS a ‘make or break’ difference maker. Let’s talk about these three elements to successful trading. After all, if you want to become a winning forex trader, you had better have all three of these critical elements in place. Think of each element as a leg to a three-legged stool. This is your trading stool. If one leg is missing or weak, the stool will topple over. We’ll talk about each one in greater detail, but here are the three legs to your trading stool: An Effective Trade Method Money Management Trade Psychology. An Effective Trade Method. There are tons of trade strategies out there.

Some are very good. Many are not. If you want to learn more about the trade method that I like to use, you can find out more about it here. Most important to those trying to succeed at forex trading is ‘taking ownership’ of a method that is ‘best for them.’ Everybody is different so a little bit of self-analysis is required here. You need to determine what will best fit within your personal style of trading. You are not yet required to know this when you’re first starting but you have to be mindful of it. Usually it comes through a process of elimination. Here are a few questions you should think about: When can you NOT trade? Are you patient or not? How much capital do you have? How much time can you devote to your trading? What is your experience level?

You need to think about these things so you can discover the methodology that best fits your needs. Some of it will come with trial and error but you can shorten this part of the learning curve accepting what you can and can not do. Once you figure that out, you want to look for a method that offers the following key ingredients: A method that puts the odds in your favor on every trade. A method that is dynamic to different markets. Markets change over time. A good method should be able to work on a multitude of markets and forex pairs. A method that is dynamic to market conditions usually one that is based on ‘price action.’ Tradeplans! Each trade should fit into the context of a greater tradeplan, with complete rules of how and when to use it. This is critical. Most traders overlook this ‘must have’ component. Again, a trade methodology is only as good as the trader using it and the tradeplan is essential. If Methodology is the obvious first leg, then the next important leg of your trader stool is ‘money management.’ Did you know that a great trader can make money with even a mediocre trade method?

On the other hand, poor traders will LOSE their money even with the BEST trade method. Why is that? Usually it is due to over-leverage putting on too much risk on any given trade. As tempting as it is, you should never use the leverage that your broker offers. Knowing how much risk to put on a trade is critical. Think instead of how much is a responsible level that will keep you solvent in case you experience some losing trades (you will) so that you can stay with the trade methodology and continue to follow the money-making tradeplan. Taking the next trade in the plan is critical if you hope to let the odds work to your favor. We don’t make money if a trade or series of trades wins or loses. We make money from the EDGE that the methodmethodology gives us over time. Much is written about money management and it can be very sophisticated. To keep it very simple, here is the ONE critical thing you need to adhere to with your money management. USE SMALL RISK!

I recommend that you keep your risk between 1 and 2% of your available trade capital on any given trade. That means from your entry to your stop-loss (the price level when you just have to admit the trade was wrong and exit with a pre-calculated loss), the amount you risk should be between 1 to 2% on average. As you grow your account, the position size will grow but it should remain within this risk ratio. This will certainly help you sleep at night and keep you out of trouble when your plan hits a momentary set-back, as they all do at some point. The winningest strategies will put together a string of losses at some point. What’s important is that you are not shaken out of a winning tradeplan due to the natural drawdowns that take place within a winning, money making method. That leads me to the 3 rd leg of the stool, trade psychology. Much has been written on this subject and I’m not going to rehash it all here. So let me give you a few nuggets that have really helped me out over the years: Make sure you’re trading for the right reason. To make money should be the only reason. Check your actions and make sure they reflect your reason for trading. If they do not, then you need to stop trading until you figure out why! Understand that to make money, you have to give your tradeplan a chance to work.

Money is made from the EDGE that you have in the market. Winning more than you lose on a consistent basis. Let the odds that your tradeplan gives you, do the heavy lifting. Learn how to take the pressure off of yourself by just ‘leaning on the system.’ Take ‘internal ownership’ of your tradeplan. This can only be done by backtesting your method. You have to witness wins and losses AND how your tradeplan makes money despite the losing trades. This is called building your belief structure and is the basis for a strong foundation from which to place your trade stool on. Practice, practice, practice! Make sure that you do not make execution errors or mistakes that are avoidable. Strive to trade perfectly by following the rules of your tradeplan without error. Set achievable goals and reward yourself when you reach them. A reward could be paying yourself, increasing your position size, adding another pair to your repertoire, etc.

I realize that there is a lot here to think about. It was not my intention to over simplify successful trading. Trading IS simple but it is never easy. YOU can be successful at it if you just keep things simple in your mind and focus in on the 3 legs of your trader stool. By doing so, you will put yourself in a better position for success than 90% of the traders out there and those are darn good odds to put to work in your favor. Become A Better Trader. Trade With The Champion. Learn to trade futures, options and stocks from. Rob Hoffman, the trader who has won more. domestic and international, on-site, real money. trading competitions than anyone else in the world!

WHETHER JOINING OUR LIVE TRADING ROOM OR PREMIUM DAILY VIDEOS, MEMBERS RECEIVE ACCESS TO: The strategies and methods of a nine-time International Trading Champion Trading cheat-sheets and checklists to shortcut the learning process Over 1800+ recorded videos to accelerate your trading knowledge. Want To Trade Like A Champion? Sign up today to receive Rob’s free daily insights – up-to-the-minute market strategies that you can use today! * By filling out this form you agree to receive our free nightly videos, invitations to live trading events with Rob, lessons on Rob's award-winning trading strategies, and promotions from our company designed to help you Become A Better Trader. Rob Has Been Featured In. Rob Hoffman and Become A Better Trader, Inc. provide educational resources in the areas of futures, forex, stocks, options and ETFs with a focus on both intraday and swing trading strategies for short - and long-term traders and investors. International Trading Champion Awards. Get started below with our in-depth products, courses and videos! Options A to Z Training Course. Master the art of options trading with 60 days of real-time lessons. Weekly Q&A sessions to get your burning trading questions answered fast Nightly videos explain the day’s trading alerts including setup and management.

Watch Rob trade the markets with the strategies he used to become a seven-time International Trading Champion! December 18, 2017 Key Tech Stocks Not Matching The NASDAQ’s Performance Watch Now December 14, 2017 Being Quick To Sell Was The Right Course Of Action Per Last Night’s Plan Watch Now. Browse our store to find everything you need to become a better trader today! VIDEO TRAINING COURSES ROB'S FAVORITE INDICATORS PRIVATE MENTORING THE LIVE TRADING ROOM WEBINAR DISCUSSION FORUMS NIGHTLY NEWSLETTERS AND MORE. Rob Hoffman is the founder and CEO of Become A Better Trader, Inc. As an Award-Winning trader, frequent speaker for the major financial exchanges, and seven-time International Trading Champion, Rob believes he is one of the few traders in the business with the experience and credentials to help you develop into the trader you want to be. Rob uses adult learning theory in his teaching to drive home key points so his students can understand how to identify trade setups, overcome fear of pulling the trigger, make the trade, and follow the trade through to completion with the skills and coolness of a true Award-Winning trader. Get Rob's Nightly Market Reviews. Sign up for Rob's FREE nightly trading videos! Get free insights about stocks, futures, options and currencies every trader should know from world-renowned trader Rob Hoffman. * By filling out this form you agree to receive our free nightly videos, invitations to live trading events with Rob, lessons on Rob's award-winning trading strategies, and promotions from our company designed to help you Become A Better Trader. Become A Better Trader, Inc. and our team want to ensure you understand that futures, options, and spot currency trading have large potential rewards, but also large potential risk. You must be aware of the risks and be willing to accept them in order to invest in the futures and options markets. Don't trade with money you can't afford to lose.

This website is neither a solicitation nor an offer to buysell futures or options. Part 1 – How To Become a Pro Forex Trader: Building the Foundation. Building a Foundation for your Forex Trading Career. This week, I am starting a 4-part blog series on “How to Become a Professional Forex Trader”. It will be laid out in a step-by-step easy-to-follow manner. However, before we get started I must issue a note of caution simply reading this 4-part series alone is not going to make you a pro trader. You have to actually use the information provided within this series and understand that there is no “quick-fix” to trading the market for a living. Becoming a pro trader is going to take time and effort on your behalf, and you will probably experience some ups and downs along the way. However, you should not be discouraged, because the sooner you accept this reality, the sooner you can get on the path to becoming a professional currency trader. Now, let’s get cracking… Step 1: Be honest with yourself.

First off, let me clarify something becoming a professional trader is the result of first being a consistently successful trader and building up your trading account and trading skills over time. Thus, your aim as you begin your Forex trading journey should be to FIRST become a consistently successful Forex trader, but that does not necessarily mean you will become a “professional” or full-time trader right away. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, becoming a pro trader is probably going to take a good deal of time if you are starting from a small trading account, but that does not mean you can’t make consistent money each month in the meantime. Consistently successful trading and professional trading might sound like the same thing, but they are not. Your aim should first be set on making consistent money each month relative to your account size, not on becoming a pro trader right out of the gate. You see, if you have a $1,000 trading account for example, you will not be able to make enough money each month to live off of, and if you try to trade your $1,000 account like it’s a bigger account, you’ll end up blowing it out. So, if you eventually want to be a full-time professional Forex trader, you have to first aim a little bit lower you need to aim to make consistent money each month while simultaneously implementing effective Forex money management. This is called being honest with yourself about what is really possible given your current financial situation, and many traders simply don’t do this. You need to think about your trading in terms of dollars risked vs. dollars gained, not in terms of “how much money do I need to make to quit my job and buy a Ferrari”, which is how most beginning traders think. Pretend that you are trading a 1 million dollar account even if your account is only 1 thousand dollars. If you can consistently average a 3R reward each month (meaning a reward of 3 times your overall risk) then that means you are making 3 x 12 = 36R per year. Now, if your per-trade risk on a $1,000 account is $25, that would be $25 x 36 = $900 in a year, or a 90% yearly return a very very good performance by any professional’s standards. Now, take that 36R and imagine you are trading a $100,000 account it would equal $90,000 over a year if you risked $2,500 per trade.

The return would be $900,000 on a million dollar account if you risked $25,000 per trade. Do you see my point here? Sure, $900 a year might not seem like a life-changing amount of money, but what you need to understand is that if you are consistently making 36R per year on a $1,000 account for example, the exact same processes and thinking that resulted in that $900 and 90% return WOULD result in a life-changing amount on a $100,000 account. So, the point is that focusing on the actual process and mechanics of trading is far more important than trying to make a lot of money on a small account . If you are pulling a number like 36R or even 15 or 20R a year, you will have no problem finding funding for your account or getting a job with a prop trading firm. Before you begin learning how to trade or before you open a demo account, you need to sit down with a pen and paper and make a monthly budget. You need to list all the expenses you have each month and then subtract them from your monthly after-tax income, if you have any 100% disposable income left over then it’s OK to use that money to trade with. If you find you don’t have any disposable income left over each month, you’re better off saving your money or finding a different job until you are able to make some money to trade with. The reason why I am telling you this is because most traders never do this instead they end up trading with money they really should not be trading with, and also because if you truly trade with only 100% disposable income you will significantly reduce the potential of becoming emotional on any one trade. So, if you really think you have what it takes to become a Forex trader, and you are going to be honest with yourself about what is possible given the amount of starting disposable income you have, then it’s time to move on to the next step of learning the basics of Forex trading… Step 2: Learn the basics of Forex trading. Next, if you have fully accepted that you need to focus on the process of trading rather than the money, and you know you aren’t going to get rich quick on a small trading account, you should focus on actually learning to trade. Now, it might seem obvious that you should learn the basics first, but most beginning Forex traders simply have no clue what they are doing as they learn to trade.

Many of them ignore the basics of Forex trading and of learning how to trade this is a big mistake because if you really want to become a professional at something you have to start by understanding and building a foundation on the introductory concepts. You should first get a solid education in the foundational concepts of Forex by taking my free beginners Forex course. After you have done this and you thoroughly understand what the Forex market is, why it exists, and how to make sense of it, then you should move on to learning a real-world trading method like price action. I can assure you that if you take this one extra step of learning the basics before you start buying trading systems and strategies, it will save you a lot of frustration, time and money, as well as put you far ahead of most beginning traders who simply dive-in head first without first building a solid foundation to trade off of. Step 3: Learning to trade with an effective method. After you have completed steps 1 and 2, it’s time to learn some real-world trading strategies and really start getting into the “meat” of Forex trading. Now, there are thousands of different ways to trade the market out there, but if you want to learn how to read the raw and natural price dynamics of a market, I suggest you learn to trade forex price action strategies. By making price action trading your primary trading method, you will develop chart-reading skills that will last a lifetime and make any other method or system you use even more effective. As you probably know by now, I am a huge proponent of “pure” price action trading, and I really feel that it’s the best way to trade the Forex market. The price action strategies and methods that I trade with and teach my students have served me well for many years now, and it’s because there is nothing complicated about them. I simply use my ability to read and interpret the overall market structure to find high-probability price action setups, and I watch for these obvious price action setups forming at key chart levels. Thus, there is no confusion or uncleanliness to my trading approach it’s all about taking advantage of high-probability price action events in the market and knowing how to make sense of and read the ever-changing market conditions. In Part 2 of this mini series (click here) – I am going to share with you guys the importance of testing your trading method as well as how to track your progress and develop a trading plan. These next steps are critical in refining your trading approach and developing an organized and structured trading routine that will guide you when you switch to real money trading and help you avoid becoming an emotional trader.

If you want to learn more about my price action trading strategies after finishing steps 1 and 2 in today’s article, check out my Forex price action trading course and members’ community. Related. A Day in the Life of a Professional Forex Trader. How To Grow A Small Trading Account Successfully. (My Secret Trading Weapon) – The Most Important Ingredient to Trading Success. The Differences Between Amateur and Professional Traders. 6 Unknown Winning Habits of Successful Traders. Profitable Traders Do Nothing 99% Of the Time. 61 Comments Leave a Comment. I am off to part 2. Thank you Niall, very good education. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, experience and writing this blog. I am a member since Jan 13 and I can say that progressed a lot with your course, videos and forums. I (we, as my friend become a member too now) and came out with our trading method and now doing back testing and we see positive results. We are trying to overcome fear of losing and trying to be consistent in following our method and I thinking we are getting there.

Very useful article for novice 4X traders. Very nice material. Thanks a lot and have a wonderful weekend. i should have read this when i started to trade ……great insight! Good lesson. Price action is the best way to trade especially if it involves knowing when the market is going to move based on an understanding of key market elements. you are spot on nial……if you factor in the compounding aspect even a 3R reward every year adds up to a lot over only 10 years…nice one man…..cheers. thank you. everything you have said is for real true. i am anxiously waiting for the next chapter.

Your article with regard to the price as well as the subject matter of risk involved it. How to identify the trend to what extent it will reach either down or up trends, these are previously calculable it, then go on its treading methodology. Really nice article. I am very happy to see it. great article Nial, it always inspire me when i feel down in my trading….. This article is very educative and entertaining. keep it up! Nial you are so so right about getting our trading method right is more important than worrying how much we can make… now i am trading on a smaller lot to improvise my trading method. Your explanations are so easy to read and understand. I find your advice useful and it makes sense to me. I look forward to seeing trading results after applying your course material. Your price action stratergies sound great. I’m placing my faith in you. Happy Easter want to be traders. Brian. Hi Nial - Good stuff, keep it up. Thank Nial This is an eye opener.

I hope to be a pro trader in 2 years max. you are outstanding teacher, I really approciate what you are doing for us, I haven’t started trading yet, but am learning more from you before I start. you’ve made aware that is good to focus, persistance, dedication will make as achieve our success in trading, and we shouldn’t give up when the ups and downs come. I also understand that patience is our a virtue. thank you. Great article. Indeed the process is more important than the result. Traders really need to understand the concept here. Forex Trading is a business! Yeah, dont focus on the money, dont even focus on wins and losses… focus on sticking to your trade plan!

If you can honestly say you stuck strictly to the rules of your trade plan then you have put yourself in the shoes of a professional trader and have dramatically improved your chances of success. Just try it as see the results for yourself. If you are new to trading and are on a demo account then you have nothing to loose and the sooner you develop good trading habits the sooner you will achieve success! Nice one.. This topic is very educative.. I love the part where he says ”By making price action trading your primary trading method, you will develop chart-reading skills that will last a lifetime and make any other method or system you use even more effective.” Superb article, especially Step 1. As someone who is only starting the process, it’s particularly important to realise that no-one can become rich overnight without a helluva lot of hard work and study. It reminds me of some poker buddies of mine who thought they could turn their $100 starting bankroll into a full-time income within 12 months. They went busto quicksmart… :D. It’s refreshing to see someone who makes money from a trading course actually telling potential clients this fact BEFORE they proceed any further. Thanks for your honesty.

Excellent first installment, makes perfect sense to me . Thank you very much Nial, I read almost all your article and it really help me in my trading. I´m looking forward to your 5 steps :) Thnx ! …:-)) another great lesson and read. -)…one to treasure and re-read for sure. -)..and it is sooo true – consistency consistency…it reinforces what Niall said in previouse articles – you need to know your system so well your entries should be automatic WHENIF you see your signals to enter and the wins will come…love your website Niall and I re-visit it very often…you dispel delusions of quickeasy money and deal with realities of trading. very knowledgable article thank u. Thanks for the great stuff Neil. You really help to learn how to trade in profit. Hello from Russia. Excellent article. The major problem for the vast majority of people who are attracted to trading is that they have “heard”, “believe” it is a fast way of making a lot of money. For some it is but most it is not. This mindset makes people take crazy risks that have very little true reward if any.

When someone starts out with a few hundred dollars they have no patience to build their account and see it as an uphill struggle. If only they would focus on the trading and not the money then success will follow, like nial points out, once you can show solid consistancy in your trading with whatever profits you have then the money will follow, in the form of other investors. So, their is no need to get stressed about trying to turn your small capital into millions. Just aim to be consistant! I am waiting for your next part of Learning. Thank you for excellent way of your article. Let me learn and make money and I will join as permanent member. Great article, but I don’t get one thing. What do you mean by making 3 times your OVERALL risk? Let’s say I make 6 trades in a month (risk is 100 per trade), lose 3, and win 3 with 3R, that is -300+900=600. So I make 600, but my overall risk is also 600. So that is 1R, but I would say that is still not a bad result, for me anyways. Regards! Thank you and I am looking forward to part two.

I understand part one and apply it about 75% of the time. This means there is still room for discipline. This article gives me that incentive to raise that %. inspiring article……thanks Nial :) Thanks Nial..a good start. Thank U, Your articles guide me how to trade. Fabulous, I have forwarded to my sister your email as she wants to start learning. Perfect timing. I want to learn as well. Thank You, Thomas. Thanks Nial I have traded a few differant stratergies & made some money, but they all stressed me out to the max.

Your PA is so stress free compared to the others. I have been member for 7 months now. I did blow my acc from $2000 to $1400 in 3 months. But no I am slowly getting back on track. Back up to $2100. What I have found is I am trading much less & having more winners. Somtimes I only trade 2 to 3 times a month. Thanks for every thing Nial looking forward to your next lesson. you are indeed helping thanks. God Bless You. I appreciate the wisdom you constantly share with your readers.

It motivates me tremendously to become a professional level trader like you! Hi, Nial, Wonderfull Idea Your Today’s Lesson… Thanks. Thanks for the great article. The foundation, the most important part of every business. Thanks to remind that to start from the beginning is a good step in direction of success. cheers for this article. some top tips. This article is a must-read for traders, since this article was created by people have a lot of experience. God Bless YOU! I love the honesty Nial and appreciate you providing your skillsexperience with us. many thanks it really makes sense.

Always a pleasure reading your lessons for the week. They really do remind me to stay patient and focused on the objective. BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL TRADER… Hi NIAL ! Thank you for being so generous, to lead us to the path of becoming, eventually, a successful professional Trader. THANKS & REGARDS, AMIN. great article nial as always……..and im pleased to say im conforming to this disipline before i jump into forex fully……… thank you for this great article…& i am waiting for next article…thnx. I believe in pure price action tradin. Its very simple and effective. Anybody that aspire to be a pro trader should learn to read and interprete price action. Thanks nial for ur great effort in bringin this knowledge to us. Good article! Hope to understand strategies more by reading than videos cos I am Deaf and won’t understand what is said in the videos.

Thanks for the article, it is very helpful! Looking foward to the next steps. thank u so much for all ur educational tips, really, price is the king, and every trading method is simply a derivative of price, so it really makes sense to focus on price action formation, not just in the air, but at key levels. trading is not really that difficult, what is difficult about trading is mastering urself and sticking to ur trading plan. any man trading with even a simple 50-50 pure probability method will still make more money than a fellow with a sharp edge method in his hand, and a sharp edge emotions in his mind!! Fantastic article, great useful information. Keep it up:) Very useful article. Excellent article, once again many thanks. Look forward to the next one. Hello Nial, this trading room in the picture looks really very nice and motivating. Is this the place where you analyze and make your orders? Best regards… Leave a Comment Cancel reply.

Nial Fuller’s Price Action Forex Trading Course. Learn Advanced Price Action Strategies & High Probability Trade Entry Signals That Work. Nial Fuller. 6 Unknown Winning Habits of Successful Traders. Why The Best Trading Plan Is Built Around Anticipation. 6 Tips On How To Identify The Trend On Charts. Is Your Stop Loss Too Tight ? How to Trade Long Tailed Pin Bar Signals on Daily Charts. The ‘Weekend’ Forex Traders Lifestyle (How & Why It Works) What Is The Weakest Link In Your Trading Chain ? How Beginner Traders Can Fast-Track Their Success. Nial Fuller Wins Million Dollar Trader Competition. Daily Affirmations Will Improve Your Trading. The Minimalist Guide To Forex Trading & Life.

Price Action Trading Patterns: Pin Bars, Fakey’s, Inside Bars. Why I ‘Seriously’ Hate Day Trading. Trade Forex Like a Sniper…Not a Machine Gunner. The Best Currency Pairs to Trade & Times to Trade Them? (Part 1) ‘The Holy Grail Of Forex Trading Strategies’ – Daily Chart Time frames. Warning : mysqli_num_fields() expects parameter 1 to be mysqli_result, boolean given in homenialfullerpublic_htmlwp-includeswp-db. php on line 3189. Connect. Categories. Disclaimer: Any Advice or information on this website is General Advice Only - It does not take into account your personal circumstances, please do not trade or invest based solely on this information.

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