Getting to be a full-time or ‘professional’ Forex trader is something that almost every trader hopes to achieve. Contrary to the myths, there is no magic trading system that can make you a professional Forex trader out of thin air.
This post will discuss a couple of the integral steps to help in making your fulltime Forex trader dream a reality.
1) Be Practical and Stay Rooted to Reality
You need to take a good look at your current trading scenario and base all your future plans on that. In simple words, this means that if you are currently trading with amounts lesser or equal to $2000, then you might be better off focusing on Forex trading income as a support to your main income.
The golden rule of Forex trading is that you should not risk any amount outside of your comfort zone. Trading even a few hundred dollars outside your comfort zone can jeopardize your finances and that is definitely not the way to begin a fulltime income generating business.
Sticking to your comfort zone can also free your mind to focus on improving your trading strategies, rather than distracting it about financial stability worries.
2) Learn Forex Fundamentals
Any business needs certain skills and everyone who aspires to be a fulltime Forex trader must certainly possess trading skills. Now Forex trading skills are not instinctive or acquired by birth. You ought to learn them and this is an important strategy for anyone who intends investing their hard earned money in Forex.
3) Perfect an Efficacious Forex Trading Strategy
Different Forex traders have different strategies to win their trades, but one man’s meat could be other man’s poison. Just because a certain trading strategy works for your friend, it might not work for you. You have to keep trading and gaining practical market experience to know what your ‘golden Forex trading strategy’ is. Once you find this, excel at it and perfect it to such an extent that you become a maestro of that strategy.
You could also keep experimenting and mastering newer strategies to enhance your Forex trading skills and wins. But the fact is that mastering even one skill is enough to get you consistently winning trades.
4) Make a Forex Trading Plan and Stick to It
Every business needs a definite executing plan and the same goes for your Forex trading too. Make a Forex trading plan and ensure that it is based on principles that you can stick to. Once you have rendered this plan, stick to it and do not let go of it at any cost.
Sometimes prevailing market trends might tempt you to over-trade and over leverage, but discipline yourself to stay rigid on your plan.
Emotional trading is the worst enemy of a successful Forex trader and the only antidote to it is a rigid Forex trading plan.
5) Maintain a Forex Trading Journal
Forex trading is by no means a game of chance. It is a financial endeavor and as with the rest of the investments, you need to be very observant while trading Forex. The best way to do this is to create and maintain a Forex trading journal with disciplined regularity, wherein you register all your trades, your strategies used and of course the outcome.
This journal can prove to be quite beneficial to you in the long run and help in highlighting your winning and losing strategies fairly quickly.
6) Practice on a Demo Account
A demo Forex trading account is a lifesaver by all means. Never ever attempt to plunge into real time Forex trading without at least 6 months of demo trading experience. Demo accounts will acclimatize you to the Forex trading atmosphere and finally when you trade real money, you will be better prepared.
7) Never Take Unaffordable Risks
A professional Forex trader is one who knows how to handle the risks efficiently. He/ she will never risk any money that they cannot afford to lose.
8) Forex Trading is Not Gambling
Only amateurs look at Forex trading as a gamble, where they can either make piles of cash in just a few hours of trading/ lose everything they have. Professional fore traders always keep the emotions out of trading and consider it like any other investment business. They follow a set of rules and strategies and do not simply trade according to their emotional whims or fantasies.
9) Don’t Fool Yourself
This tip may be the last but it is the most important of all. Forex trading is commonly considered as a get rich quick scheme that can transform $10,000 in your trading account into $100,000 within a few hours of trading. Stop fooling yourself because Forex trading does not work that way.