The market mindset trap:
The Forex market can be a very dangerous place for those not operating from the proper mindset. Trading is almost entirely psychological and how you think about the market is the most important factor in determining your long-term trading success. An objective mind set is really what is necessary to succeed in the forex market. While many traders start out with an objective mindset towards the market, very few can maintain this way of thinking.
The difficulty in maintaining an objective market mindset resides in the fact that you can do an enormous amount of damage to your trading account extremely quickly in the forex market. Traders have access to an enormous amount of leverage in the forex market and leverage is extremely dangerous to someone who is trading with the wrong market mindset. So how does one achieve and maintain an objective mindset in the ever changing and volatile arena of forex trading?
The proper market mindset begins with not trading money that you can’t afford to lose. You should most definitely not be trading money that you could possibly need to live on or that anyone else in your family might need. This is the first thing you need to do in order to operate from an objective point of view in the market. Not needing the money in your trading account allows you to develop virtually no emotional attachment to anyone trade you enter, this is very important if you want to consistently make profits in the foreign exchange currency market.
Only after we have confirmed that we are not using money we need for any day to day expenses should we move on to the next most important factor in achieving and maintaining the proper market mindset; a truly profitable and easily definable trading methodology. We need an edge in the market, a definable and profitable market edge is important because we need it to base our trading plan on. Money management is equally as important, if not more, than your profitable edge. However, you first need to define your trading method before you can build a money management plan.
Building your money management scheme is the next step after you know what your definable trading edge in the market is. You need to sit down and calculate how much you are willing to risk every time your edge appears in the market. Many traders cannot maintain an objective mindset while risking more than 2% on any one trade. This of course is only a general rule and mainly depends on the frequency of your trading, if you only trade once a month than you might be able to operate objectively by risking 5% per your once a month trade. However, if you are trading once a week or more than generally speaking 2% is the most you should be risking if you want to give yourself a realistic shot at not trading based on emotion.
I can recommend a very good trading method that will provide you with some time tested strategies for finding a truly consistent edge in the market. Price action analysis is the best method I have found so far for trading the forex market. After I discovered and implemented specific price action strategies into my trading I was able to easily plan out my money management technique. This allowed me to remain calm and confident during every trade; this is the key to achieving an objective market mindset. There are many ways to profit in the market, which ever way you do it though one thing is for sure; you need to think objectively about all of your market related activities.