Trading isn’t easy. Indeed, the odds are against you. But if you succumb to hopelessness, you’ll never become a winning trader. You have two choices: You can wallow in self-pity or you can take action and do whatever it takes to win.
Depending on your personal background, a host of obstacles can prevent you from trading the markets successfully. Unless you are extremely wealthy, for example, you need to find a way to build up capital to really make enough profits to support yourself and survive the ever-changing markets. No one is a natural-born trader; like all professions, you have to learn to trade. You need to find good training and take the time to learn how to trade. But knowledge by itself doesn’t ensure success. You have to hone your skills to trade profitably. There’s also a psychological aspect of trading that can’t be ignored. You have to learn to accept the risk, take losses in stride, and pick yourself up fast when you feel beaten down.
Do you think the list of obstacles is too long? It may be long, but the action-oriented positive thinker doesn’t care how long the list is, he or she spends every waking moment trying to figure out a wait to shorten it. In his book, “A Strategy for Daily Living,” trading expert Dr. Ari Kiev notes, “A successful life does not result from chance, fate, or good fortune, but from a succession of successful days lived in pursuit of a worthy pursuit.” Dr. Kiev points out that you can work toward your goal every day, day after day, and eventually even the most elusive goal can be achieved. Perhaps you will make more progress on some days than others, but what is most important is that you never give up and spend every day working toward your goal.
Many traders make the mistake by thinking they need to be an overnight success. When they trade week after week, month after month, and don’t achieve the profit goals they set, they start to become disappointed. Instead, they should remember that not everyone can learn to trade overnight. It takes time and the right set of circumstances. For instance, it is much easier to learn to trade in a bull market rather than a bear market. If you want to make it in the end, you have to work at it every day.
Do whatever you can to make steady progress toward your goal. Learn about trading strategies. Paper trade to get a feel for the markets. Work every day and take positive steps. Whatever you do, however, don’t give up. Don’t stagnate. Take positive action and find solutions to problems. If you stick with it, you can learn to master the markets and end up a winner.