Below are some tips I have compiled that should greatly assist you in achieving consistently profitable trades.
- Start your trading day fresh and alert - stay well hydrated, and have a good, wholesome breakfast. Periodically take deep breaths to keep oxygen in your blood.
- Read the daily news, and be aware of major news events so you are not caught in a trade during an announcement.
- Before you execute a trade, make sure you are certain it is the right trade. Patience to wait for the right setup is invaluable.
- Make every trade count... high quality trades, not high quantity of trades. Trade less, but profit more!
- Develop a good trading plan; one that you understand and know intimately. It should be well tested and proven to make money consistently over the test period.
- Practice and strive for flawless execution of your trading plan. Never put on a trade unless you know where you will enter and exit the trade beforehand.
- Practice using a trade journal every day. It helps identify good and bad trades, and can show you potential strength and weaknesses in your trading. Those who don't learn from their mistakes are destined to repeat them.
- Trust your plan. Don’t abandon the weeks and months of work invested in building your trading plan by doubting your signals or trades. If you do, go back to a simulated account to regain your confidence to trade your plan successfully. Once you begin to pick and choose your trades, you are done for.
- Develop multiple trading strategies for varying market conditions. For example, have a strategy for trading trending markets, and have a different strategy for choppy market conditions. Have a plan for Forex markets, and one for equities. Have a plan for daytrading and one for swing trading.
- Practice sound money management principles. Begin small and don’t increase your lot size until you have earned the right to do so. You earn the right to increase your lot size by showing consistent trading profits.
- Never add to a losing position (unless that is part of your strategy).
- Practice your trading plan in a simulated account until you are consistently successful for a minimum of 3 weeks. Adjust it as necessary until you prove that you can show weekly profits for 3 straight weeks minimum.
- Remember that trading is your business profession. Give yourself time to learn the skills needed to get the job done.
- Find a good trading “buddy” to help you focus on success, and help keep you accountable to following your trading plan.
Good trading!