Each beginner trader dreams of taking their trading on a professional level (i.e., making trading the main source of their income). And this is understandable.
Who would not want to make good money doing what they love? And you can trade from almost anywhere in the world, from Nigeria or any other country (the choice of location is limited only by the availability of the Internet) and at any convenient time.
In general, the dream of being your own boss is so close to many (and not only to novice traders, by the way). But to achieve this dream, a trader must, first of all, achieve stable results in trading.
From Beginner To Professional
Whatever one may say, but without gaining your own experience, sometimes through difficult mistakes, you will not be able to become a professional trader. Several crucial recommendations help mitigate as much as possible the consequences of failures on the path of becoming a trader so that these mistakes do not throw you out of the rut. After all, it is no secret that many novice traders, after a series of failures (hitting hard on their pocket), simply leave, later remembering Forex trading as a bad dream.
1. Get ready to work hard
After all, many start trading precisely because of the deceptive feeling of easy money, it would seem, what is complicated about it: bought at a cheaper price, sold at a higher price, made a profit. Technically it is, of course, true. Buy cheaper, sell higher, make a profit. But do not forget that money does not come out of thin air, and for it to appear in your pocket, you must first find the pocket from which it will disappear. In other words, you have to beat other market participants, and given the fact that real professionals are playing against you, it is hard to do.
To consistently gain profit from foreign currency trading, you must always be head and shoulders above the majority of other players. And for this, you need to constantly be in the process of continuous improvement (both in terms of sharpening your trading system by reading the Forextime blog and self-improvement in a psychological sense).
2. Experience is the son of difficult mistakes
Secondly, do not immediately rush into the stormy and sometimes muddy waters of the market — learn to swim first! For these purposes, all more or less serious traders have demo accounts. Such accounts are no different from real ones, except that you trade (play) for virtual money. The demo receives the same quotes in real-time (as if you were working with real money). Practice, thought out your strategies, achieve stability first on a demo, and then switch to real accounts.
At the same time, always remember that no success on the demo will guarantee you the same in real life. There are many reasons for this. Among them, for example, there may be such as:
● Requotes and slippages that prevent a trader from opening and closing their positions normally. They can be associated with both the dealer’s dishonesty and objective circumstances (liquidity shortage due to the emergence of new unexpected information, etc.).
● Floating spread. On demo accounts, the spread is usually fixed, while on real accounts, it can swell significantly.
● Psychological discomfort associated with the fear of losing your money.
3. Do not try to jump over your head
Set realistic goals for yourself and do not chase super-profits. In other words, you should not expect to start making millions with a couple of hundred dollars in start-up capital to implement this grandiose plan.
Forex attracts many since it allows you to start real trading with a deposit of not only $100, but sometimes even $10 (or even less) on the so-called mini- and micro-accounts.
It is necessary to clearly understand the direct dependence of potential earnings on the degree of risk assumed. The higher you take on the risk, the more money you can end up making (or losing). And vice versa, the less the risk, the less the percentage of the profit will be, but the likelihood of its gaining will increase to the same extent.
4. Discipline
It would seem that Forex trading is not an army, but on the contrary — free flight as a trader independent of anyone. What is the discipline here? But trading at a professional level requires no less, but on the contrary, sometimes even much more stringent control. The only difference here is that you need to obey not your boss but yourself.
As trite as it may sound to some — adhere to your trading system and follow the rules of money management. Everyone talks about it, but few people actually do it. Meanwhile, this is one of the pillars on which stability in trading is built.
