Skills every trader should develop

By | June 20, 2013 3:16 pm

Financial Markets are under rout all round the globe. Whether you are day trader, positional trader or swing trader ,there are fundamental skills that each trader should master. Skill-building activities will help you sharpen your ability to make money and cash in on critical market movements like what we are seeing now.

1. Never ever go for perfect trade but focus on consistency

Consistent profits are achieved from winning more than you lose – not winning every single trade.There are plenty of professional traders who generate profits by winning just 10% of their trades by maximizing gains and minimizing their losses.

2. Stick to a Trading Plan/ Trading Strategy

Developing a trading plan is extremely important.Day trading around your own set plan for each position will produce consistent profits. A trading plan planner should be your best friend when developing your own trading style. The key is sticking to what you’ve written down on paper. As we have discussed before we work on Price Action trading strategy, so we do not trade on news we just trade as System is signalling us. We have firm belief price is everything so we just trade the system signals.

3. Know the Odds

You should know the payoff odds for each trade that you take.Scalping produces large gains from small movements with higher risk than swing trading. Your trading plan should include a way to regulate how much capital you’re willing to risk on each position – but you should never risk more than 2% of your total account value.

4. Complete Trading Plan

The skill to plan is the most important. A complete trading plan should be more than just “trade everyday from 9-3.” A plan should include how to act in upswings and downswings and how to protect your capital.

In many cases, a thin plan is worse than no plan at all.Stick to your guidelines to get the most out of each trade.

5. Ability to Keep Emotions Under Control

It’s hard not to be emotional with your money is at stake on the line each moment of the day.Think like you would in a survival scenario;you’ve got to be calm and keep your head above the water.Many traders slip from their plan and take positions to cover losses only to lose more money. Over time,a complete trading plan will produce consistent profits,but only if you believe in it.

6. Know How the Market Responds
After getting some experience, you should be able to know how the market responds to certain events before they happen. Like today we know market will bleed so no point in going long in market no matter what happens. Either be with the trend or stay on sideline.

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