How to Trade Forex Consistently
In one of my trader forums, I recently asked an important question to the students, ‘How does one trade consistently?‘ There were many interesting responses, some of them close, but none that hit the mark. There really is only one consistent trade strategy, yet it seems to elude most traders.
My guess is most of you have experienced this inconsistency in your trading, moreso in the beginning, but perhaps even still today. Have you ever asked these question to yourself, ‘why are my trading results all over the board?‘, or ‘why can’t I seem to trade consistently?‘
If you have, you are not alone as most developing traders are not able to trade consistently. This was demonstrated very nicely in an article which explored forex profitability over 8500 accounts.
The key takeaway’s from it are the following 2 points;
- Less than half of those who make profit in one quarter (2930) fail to profit in the next
- For those who do profit back to back quarters (~15% of the 8500 accounts), about half can do it multiple times
Thus, 1 in 3 traders are able to profit over a 3 month period, less than 1 in 6 can do so in back to back quarters, and less than 1 in 13 can do so consistently.
The underlying point – most traders do not trade consistently. Thus the question has to be asked, ‘why are traders so inconsistent, and what can you do to trade consistently?‘
Is it the system? Is it the time frame I am using? Is it my money management?
The answer is no, so what is the answer? How can you become one of those 1 in 13? Are they just gifted, or have some special talent you don’t?
Not at all, and this one thing you are missing is something you can completely develop. There is only one way to find it in your trading, but you’ve been looking in all the wrong places, so I’m going to share the answer now.
The only way to trade consistently, is to have consistency in your mind. Having consistency in your thoughts, actions and thinking will bring consistency in your trading. It is the only way.
Try trading a new system every week for a month and tell me how your results are. Try using a different risk of ruin profile and tell me how your performance goes.
To have consistency in your trading you need to have it in your trading mindset. This is where it all starts.
This is why we have a trading plan, so we have fixed variables we work with day in-day out. This is why we have rule based systems, for if we change the rules, how would we ever know what is working and what is not?
Thus…
All inconsistency comes from the mind, while all consistency in performance does as well. If you are not focused in the moment, you will have inconsistency in performance, because the mind is on the moving thoughts – not the action you need to do in the moment.
Without a consistent picture in your mind what you need to do, how can you ever duplicate the results of your successful trading?
Do you think an Olympic archer has a completely different focus and mindset each time he pulls the bow? Do you think a professional golfer has no routine when hitting a golf ball? Absolutely not. They shoot / hit consistently, because they’ve programmed it into their mind what they need to do, and they just do that.
It is the exact same for trading.
Don’t have consistency in your trading and mindset now? No problem. The mind has neuro-plasticity to it, meaning you can physically build the neural pathways to think and trade consistently.
How do you build these neural pathways to trade forex consistently? There are several shortcuts you can take and do to build these in minutes per day. When you run these exercises and mind programs, you will find greater consistency in your trading then ever before.
I will discuss these shortcuts in an upcoming article, so stay tuned to the site for how to learn these tricks, and build consistency in your trading.
dear sir, i must confess that you almost spoke directly to me. i have seen great amount of profits wiped out in minutes just for not keeping to my rules. thanks for this article.
No one can do anything successful without having rules period. Without having rules you may as well play Russian Rouletet with a bullet in every chamber.
Hello Alan,
Rules by themselves are meaningless if they are not followed. There are tons of traders that have written ‘rules’ for their trades, trading plan, risk management, etc., yet still lost money. I can have all the ‘rules’ I want, but without consistent thoughts or actions, those ‘rules’ will be meaningless.
So by themselves, the rules do little. But with a consistency in your mind, the rules can now have power. So it all starts with consistency in your mind.
Thanks for sharing.
Kind Regards,
Chris Capre
i feel overwhelmed now because do i have to learn how to meditate before i could trade successfully?
Ha – no, you do not have to learn how to meditate to trade successfully, but you do have to be able to watch, observe and notice your mind, with the ability to not let it dominate you in a negative way.
Kind Regards,
Chris Capre
Hello Chris
This matter of consistency is something that most don’t think about in the beginning and maybe further on as they are focused on this and that strategy most of the time. I think the book “playbook” that you recommended has helped me a lot in honing my mentality to be more consistent and think everyone should read it.
Keep up the good work mentor.
Glad you found that book useful as Bellafiore is good and a nice chap to talk to.