As a professional trader of international currencies utilizing the FOREX market place, I find it very important to refocus my attention and my efforts to insure that I'm staying on the right path. Of course, it helps to have a partner who is also a trader and Diana very often is the catalyst for such a refocused approach.
Diana asks some very hard questions, challenging me to define clearly what I'm doing and why. Her participation in the Blue Heron Trading Room brings some confusing issues into focus for all of us and her insights via her experience in Fundamental Analysis is very helpful. Technical traders and Fundamentalists have similar goals, to make money in the markets we trade, but we take quite different paths.
Her recent challenge to me was to help me figure out why I was exiting some of my trades early on. To do that, she certainly asked me the harder questions that I feared to even ask myself. Perhaps some of the readers have been challenged in such a way. I discovered that while everyone has figured out that trading in a trend is easy, the choppy markets of late have increased the stress levels on traders and as such we begin to question our decision tree and trade identification process.
So, challenged as I was, we sat down and started to review and perform a forensic analysis on our Trading Plan (if you don't have one written down you should). We discovered that our indicators that I use on the technical side fail in the shorter time frames in a risk market environment and something that is a bit clearer was needed. Technical analysis is my passion so set off on the right direction once again, I explored new indicators, tested them and found that in reality, the old familiar process still worked and all I needed to do was to re-optimize my old charts.
It's important I believe to become familiar not only with your indicators but with the markets you trade. While we in the Blue Heron Trading Room look towards and trade some seven or eight FOREX currency pairs, I strongly suggest that for new traders they trade only one currency, usually the EURUSD and learn how that pair operates and the indicators work within the FOREX Market action. Many traders believe that to make more money they have to trade more FOREX pairs, when in reality, the only way to make more money is through consistency.
Your best road to trading FOREX consistently is through detailed exposure to your preferred FOREX currency pair, learning how it moves, the FOREX Market interaction with your chosen indicators, and beginning with small trades, building confidence with growing consistency. Once your confidence has developed, so will your account as you take more trades with consistent wins and with such a record, you'll increase your trade size.
A case in point... two years ago, I was approached by Chris A who asked me to mentor him in an effort to improve his trading. He had been grinding down his FOREX Account trade after trade and needed to refocus his efforts and build consistency in an effort to work full time from his home. That was his goal. We built his trading plan, focused on the EURUSD only, learned to trade the 5 and 15 minute charts and his consistency began to improve and his account stabilized. A month later, we touched base and he had remained on track and his FOREX Account was growing. Later that year he told me that his air conditioner had failed. With that, he sat down one afternoon and traded during a period he usually didn't trade but his short term goal was to pay for his new air conditioner without impacting his normal trading. His knowledge of the FOREX EURUSD Pair permitted him to gain the funds needed to pay for the repairs and then some he said in about 3 hours.
I talked with Chris last week and he continues to grow his account as well as take away from the market a very good living. Sometimes, refocusing is what's needed for all of us to regain consistency and find once again success.
So, if you're having less success than you expect, perhaps a refocus through the help of someone you trust who will ask the very hard questions of you, then direct you to release your unproductive and maladaptive practices and regain confidence. For me, Diana helps me keep my head on straight in this high risk FOREX Market; perhaps if you don't yet have a Diana in your life, a couple of hours with Diana through our mentoring program can help set you back on track.
For traders like my friend Chris and several others, FOREX Coaching or utilizing a FOREX Mentor is more about an investment in yourself than it is an expense. After all, if you improve your trading consistency, are able to increase your trading size and account successfully, the investment in yourself pays for itself time after time after time.
Of course, we're trading in the Blue Heron Trading Room today and I started the day with a rookie move, losing 22 pips. Stepping back with a fresh cup of coffee and then Realigned and Refocused myself back to success, gaining far more than I lost on that first trade.
Wishing you the very best, remember to hug the ones you love, I do. Trading FOREX is risky, be sure to use sound money management. See our disclosures on the website. Happy trading. Richard
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