Tag Archive for: successful traders

Using Meditation To Become A Better Trader

Do you find yourself repeating the same mistakes in trading over and over again?

Perhaps failing to pull the trigger when you have a perfect setup right in front of you?

Or find yourself afraid to take a new trade for fear of losing?

How about ‘knowing’ what to do, but being unable to do it in real time, yet you can do it perfectly on demo?

The answer to any and all of the challenges above you experience in trading comes down to two things:

  1. How Your Brain is Wired
  2. Your Mindset

The good thing is you can re-wire your brain for success in trading and life. And luckily you can do this in just a few weeks, for only minutes per day.

In this infographic I explain how top wall street traders meditate to improve performance, how different practices produce different results, and how you can improve your brain for trading and life in just a few weeks.

Comment below with your thoughts on this meditation for traders infographic.
Meditation - The Secret Weapon to Becoming a Better Trader

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5 Skiing And Snowboarding Lessons for Traders

Hey Traders,

After a family trip last week, within a day of landing back at the zion mainframe, I got the flu. I’m still feeling a bit under water at this point, but wanted to share a quick article with you about a few great lessons I’ve learned about trading, mindset and the process of becoming a better trader during my ski trip. My hope is you will find these trading lessons insightful, interesting and clarifying about your trading process, along with how you can become a profitable trader.

Let’s jump in…

Lesson #1: There Is No Success And Growth Without Pain

This year I started doing skiing and snowboarding. I grew up skiing, but then after a few ACL and MCL tears, switched to snowboarding as it’s easier on my knees. I haven’t fully rebuilt the strength and endurance in my knees, so the process can often times be exhausting and painful.

In trading, you’re not really building any physical muscles. The muscles you’re learning to grow and flex are in your mind, and this process of pruning old biological/neurological pathways while creating new ones is without a doubt ‘painful‘.

Just like we have growing pains as youths while our bodies become taller and stronger, trading is no different. You cannot grow in anything (sport or trading) without experiencing loss and pain. They are inevitable.

Hence ditch the idea of a pain-free path to success or climb up the trading mountain. It doesn’t exist. Once you get more comfortable with that, the process becomes easier.

To put this into an equation: your desire for success has to be > your response to the pain.

pain in sports

Lesson #2: Bad Technique Is Actually More Exhausting Than Good Technique

When snowboarding, you want to let the natural edge of your board carve the turn for you by simply leaning into it, feeling it, and timing the pressure + turn correctly. When you do this, you’ll often find a natural rhythm emerging between turns as you surf the snow in a zen like experience.

And while you have to condition your body to move in ways you normally don’t do in life (i.e. turning your front knee outside to initiate the turn), the process feels great when you nail it.

snowboarding 2

However, if you’re not doing this, and start using the back heel to kick your board out and complete the turn, you’ll find your back leg and ankle feeling strained and taking on more force than any natural turn.

What this translates to is bad technique is more exhausting than good technique. The same goes for trading.

If you start going against your biological gut feelings in trading, you’ll experience more stress, which consequently takes longer to let go of. If you have a haphazard trading routine, you’ll never consistently build a natural biological rhythm which supports successful trading.

Thus it’s important to remember, bad technique is way more exhausting than good technique.

Lesson #3: When You Are Fatigued, You Will Often Default To Bad Techniques

I live in a ski town around Lake Tahoe. While we have over 11+ mountain resorts within an hour or so from each other, our elevation is much lower than Colorado skiing (7-10K ft in Tahoe vs 9-13.5K ft in CO). We spent our time between Keystone and Breckenridge (Max 12.4K ft, and 12.9K ft).

Any decent increase in elevation will stress your cardiovascular system, even for routine tasks such as walking. While I took my time to acclimatize myself, I still felt the difference and noticed myself breathing harder, and working much more.

When you’re fatigued, your body will often default to a worse technique.

fatigue in sports 2

The same goes for trading. If you’re stressed and tired after work, most likely you’ll perform poorly, or make worse trading decisions.

Hence be really mindful about your energy and fatigue levels. If you start noticing your technique slipping, most likely you’re approaching your upper bandwidth of fatigue.

Lesson #4: When Fatigued, You’re More Likely To Be Emotional

Emotions in trading as a whole are not only good or bad. They can be both, however a large majority of them can bypass our PFC (pre-frontal cortex) which is needed to make a careful analysis of our trade setups and help us avoid bad trading decisions.

When you are fatigued, you’re much more likely to become emotional, and thus, be without the needed biological and neurological resources to make money trading.

frustration

Hence if you find yourself being emotional while trading, check your energy levels. If you’re fatigued, it’s probably better to get some rest, and tackle the market the next day.

Lesson #5: Look For Support In Your Learning Process, & Be A Support For Others

My brothers that I spent time with on the mountains this weekend are definitely ‘advanced’ skiers. My older brother Bill (who’s about to turn 60) has been a ski patroler for years, and had no problem sticking a 12 foot drop onto the back side of a 5 ft mogul, even while having his lower back fused years ago.

They’re both really strong skiers. I myself am an intermediate snowboarder who’s really only been snowboarding full time for 2 years. And they were definitely taking me on terrain above my snowboarding pay grade. They often had to wait further down the hill for me to catch up.

But none of this was an issue. They patiently waited, as we were focused on having fun via being on the mountain, which is an absolute joy for us.

brothers skiing

As they say in the Tao Te Ching, “there are 10,000 above, and 10,00 below.” Point being: someone, somewhere will always be better, while someone, somewhere will always be worse than your current skill level.

I recently read a review on Forex Peace Army about our trading courses where they talked about how supportive our community is. I’m not just interested in building profitable traders, I’m seriously invested in creating a supportive trading community.

Trading can often be a lonely venture. 99% of the time, you’re alone, by your desk, with nobody watching. Having the support of a trading community can be a game changer for your growth in becoming a successful trader. And helping others become stronger is another way to become stronger yourself.

In Closing

Some of the most magical moments of my life have been effortlessly gliding across the snow in a natural rhythm without the presence of ‘me’, ‘mine’, or ‘I’. It can often be a ‘zen‘ experience which seems to transcend words.

I’m a person who’s always thinking about trading regardless of where I am, and am looking for lessons or parallels between what I’m doing, and trading. I’ve had many ‘aha‘ moments on the mountain that taught me a lot about trading, the trading mindset, and how to continually grow as a profitable trader.

My hope and wish is through these 5 lessons here today, you’ve found them insightful and clarifying into your own trading process, and how to become a stronger trader today.

Please make sure to share your comments and sentiments on this as I really enjoy your feedback on these trading and mindset articles.

The Problem With Trading Mentors & Trading Education Today

What You’ll Learn In Today’s Trading Article:

-Why most trading courses will fail to teach you how to make money trading
-Major problems in the trading mentor and education industry today
-How can we implement technology to help improve trading courses

Retail forex traders (along with stocks, futures, options, commodities and global index traders) have a problem, and it’s a problem the broker has as well. Most traders who open an account on January 1st of any year will not be profitable at the end of that year.

Think along the lines of 8-9 out of you traders will not be profitable at the end of the year.

9 out of 10 traders won't be profitable 2ndskiesforex

Now when I started trading forex back in 2000/01, there were about 6 websites online about forex trading. Now there are millions of forex trading sites with thousands of online trading courses.

We’ve had a massive proliferation of online trading courses, trading mentors and educators, yet the needle of retail traders making money has barely moved. Hence you have to ask the question; why are so many retail traders losing money?

The answer really only has 3 possibilities:

1) There is a problem with the trader (you)
2) There is a problem with the trading education out there
3) All of the above

The answer to the above question is #3.

Without a doubt, there is a problem with you (the trader). This is implicitly obvious in the fact you are constantly studying, training, and taking trading courses. You’re doing this because you realize you need to make changes to your thinking, trading mindset, and price action skills to make money trading. Hence you implicitly recognize (consciously or unconsciously) there is something you need to fix, thus making #1 true.

On the other hand, there is a problem with the trading mentors and education today. Think about this probabilistically:

How can there be an enormous explosion + proliferation of trading courses and educators out there, yet profitability over the last 10-15 years barely move?

Even if the root of the problem to profitability is just with the trader (you), then isn’t it the responsibility of the trading mentors + educators today to recognize this, and then change their trading education and courses to help mitigate this problem?

chess board

Hence, the answer to the above question (as to what needs to change to make more retail traders profitable), comes down to you + the online training available today.

For trading mentors, our job is to train you in 3 main areas to help you make money trading:

1) building a successful trading mindset
2) acquiring trading skills that can give you a trading edge over time (i.e. technical, fundamental, sentiment, or flow based)
3) learn to properly understand, quantify and manage risk

And while I have written over 1200+ free trading articles to date, have been trading since 2001 and training retail traders since 2007, I am not immune to some of the problems in the trading industry I’m going to talk about today.

Since 2013, I’ve been thinking heavily on how to solve these problems in the industry. By 2015, after doing 2 years of research on this, I felt like I found several solutions to make more traders become profitable and change the trading education industry. From 2015, I’ve been quietly in the background working with developers to build a solution.

chris capre trading office

Since that year, I’ve spent close to $200,000USD building this solution to help change the trading education industry. And just a few months ago, I’ve been working with another trader in the industry who has the same focus, vision and commitment to changing the trading education industry forever.

We’re pretty close to announcing it’s launch soon, but for this article, I’d like to highlight why most trading courses today will fail to turn you into a profitable trader. Then I’d like to talk about how technology is a vehicle which can (and will) provide real world solutions to changing the way you think, trade and perform.

Let’s get into this controversial and (IMO) critical discussion to have about trading mentors, educators and online trading courses.

Problems With Most Trading Courses Today

If you’ve taken an online trading course, or looked to take one, you’ve probably found thousands of courses out there. The majority of all trading courses fall into the following categories:

Online trading courses (pdf’s, videos, books, text, webinars, live courses, etc)
Online Trading Rooms/Chat Rooms
Live in person training (seminars/workshops)

The first two are the most prolific because a) they’re more accessible, and b) the most cost effective.

Live training in person is the least prolific because they’re a) not easily accessible being location dependent, and b) expensive for the amount of time you get doing live training.

london trading seminar 2ndskiesforex
(Image: London Trading Seminar 2015 – twas an amazing trading seminar)

Regardless of which category of training you work with above, they all have two things in common;

  1. They’re all primarily ‘informational’ (this means they spend the majority of time giving you information)
  2. Their feedback loops are almost always voluntary, not consistent, not automatic, not ongoing, and not continually updating.

Let’s address the first point to start with.

Why Informational Courses Fail to Help You Become Profitable

With informational courses, the general sentiments is ‘If we give you the information you need to make money trading, you should be able to then go make money trading…eventually‘. The problem is, you have to assimilate that information into trading skills, with you doing the majority of the work.

insight 2

Why do ‘informational’ courses not build your trading skills? And why is the feedback model with most trading courses so poor?

Information Does Not = Successful Trading Skills

How many trading articles, books and videos have you digested over the last several years? My guess is somewhere in the 100’s, perhaps 1000’s? Now if 8/9 out of 10 of you are not making money, then why hasn’t all the books, articles, and trading videos you’ve studied turned you into a successful profitable trader?

Do you really think reading books about golf will make you a good golfer by itself?

Do you really think watching 100’s of martial arts videos on youtube could turn you into Bruce Lee?

Can you become a good archer simply by reading books on archery?

No, of course not. That’s because information (by itself) does not make you a profitable trader.

Trading is a ‘skill-based’ endeavor, meaning you have to wire specific trading skills into your brain to make money trading. Luckily, you have an amazing neurological feature called neuroplasticity, which means your neurological circuits can re-wire themselves (through training and repetition) to make money trading.

This is a real thing.

rewiring your brain

Now there are 7 characteristics (or rules) behind neuroplasticity. They are:

Intention
Mindfulness
Belief
Emotion
Focus
Repetition
Choices

Notice the word ‘information’ is not in the list above. So jamming as much information to your brain as possible (by itself) will not make you a good trader. Just think back to your college/university days, and try to think about how much of the actual information you digested you can still recall today?

Bottom line is information does not = making money trading.

Now there are 4 of the 7 rules above which are super powerful for impacting and increasing neuroplasticity in your brain, but the one that is most fundamental is #6 (repetition). Simply put, you cannot build new neural structures without repetition.

Hence, since trading is a skill based endeavor that requires ‘repetition’ of a specific action (i.e. proper trading preparation, analysis, execution, risk mgmt, etc.), to make money trading, you’ll have to wire those skills into your brain.

Reading books or watching videos over and over again simply won’t cut it. You’ll need to continually practice those critical skills till they become professional.

tom brady training basics

Why This Matters

If most trading courses today are ‘informational’, then isn’t there a problem with the trading education and courses today? Doesn’t this mean the majority of trading courses out there are not going to help you make money trading?

 

While you’re at it, when you think about your struggling performance you’re experiencing right now, recall how many trading courses you’ve taken and ask yourself; how many of these trading courses were ‘informational’ vs focused on ‘building skills’?

insight

Most Trading Courses Have Poor Feedback Models

The second problem with most trading courses today is they have poor feedback models.

 

The best way to understand this is, reflect upon what gives you ‘feedback’ when learning to trade or taking an online trading course?

-the market (wins/losses/timing/trading location/accuracy/instruments/performance, etc)
-your emotions
-your self-talk
-your perceptions/attitudes about your trading performance
-your experiences
-environment
-the course content
-the skills your course teaches you to build

feedback model

Now there are several types of feedback you can get, but all peak performers in trading, sports, etc have the following characteristics:

The feedback model is quantified
The feedback model is automatic
The feedback model is ongoing
The feedback model is responsive
The feedback model is continually updating

For a feedback model to be quantified, there has to be fixed metrics you’re measuring through the course that are minimally sufficient to give you quantified data on what you’re specifically performing well with, and what you specifically need to change.

For a feedback model to be automatic, it has to be one where the feedback and data collected is automatic.

For a feedback model to be ongoing, it has to be feedback you’re consistently getting over time.

For a feedback model to be responsive, it has to be able to analyze what training/feedback/execution variables are improving your performance, and which are not.

For a feedback model to be continually updating, it has to be collecting your performance data and continually updating it based upon new data coming in and how the bulk of your performance is changing over time.

Now of the above 5 models for feedback, how many of them does your current course provide? My guess is 1, maybe 2 max. It needs to be said, while my 2ndSkiesForex trading courses offer quantified feedback (our Trading Analytics sessions), which is ongoing, responsive and continually updating, it’s not automatic (not yet at least ;-).

If you’re missing 2-3 feedback models above in your current online trading course, then you’re likely getting insufficient feedback and clarity on how to improve your trading performance. And that can mean the difference between making money trading, and losing money trading.

You’ll have to decide which side of that equation you want to be.

Final Thoughts

I believe the trading education industry needs to change. I think we have to improve our feedback models, along with stop producing ‘informational’ courses, and start building more skill-based trading courses.

This means not just teaching systems and how to enter/exit a trade, but how to build the most important base skills of trading. This has to be done in the same vein as professional basketball players continually work on their dribbling, passing, footwork, and shooting skills day in – day out.

I also believe the trading education industry is going to change, and it’s going to do so with the help of technology. I feel the technology is in place to produce the best training tools available, so you can become a peak performing trader who makes money trading.

beautiful car sunset

Now Your Turn

Do you feel the trading education industry needs to change? How do you think online trading courses can be improved? How do you see technology helping with this process.

Make sure to share your thoughts and leave a comment below as I’m very passionate about this topic and changing the trading education industry.

The 30 Day Mindset Challenge: Will You Succeed?

trading habits challenge 2ndskiesforex

We are on the heels of June and I’ve decided to take on a new challenge.

For the entire month of June (30 days), I’ll be taking on not 1, not 2, but 7 new habits.

I definitely like a challenge, and for me – a successful mindset requires successful habits.

Hence I decided to announce this challenge openly to you and others, sharing all the details along the way.

But before I get into the nitty-gritty details, I need to talk about habits and why they are key to your brain & success.

key to profitable trading habits 2ndskiesforex

Why Habits Are Key To Your Success

For you to make money trading and achieve your goals, you’ll have to wire in successful habits.

But you currently have a problem. Your brain will do what it is wired to do most of the time (think 90+% on avg).

And your brain is not programmed to make money trading. So you’ll need to un/re-wire your current programming while creating a successful trading mindset.

Now how your brain is wired (wiring = habits) can be explained by one principle – neuroplasticity.

What Is Neuroplastcity?

Neuroplasticity is your brain’s ability to wire and make new connections. Its also the reason why you can unwire connections and bad habits.

There are two key terms for understanding neuroplasticity. They are:

1) SDN = self directed neuroplasticity

and

2) EDN= experience dependent neuroplasticity

To help you understand the above, just memorize the following statements:

1) Neurons that fire together wire together

and

2) Passing mental states = lasting neural traits

Now one thing that is implicit in the first statement is the following:

Neurons that fire apart wire apart

You’ve probably heard something similar in pop culture, such as the ‘use it or lose it‘ phrase. This statement is completely valid regarding your brain.

Habits are what you create by repetitive actions over a consistent period of time. Creating successful habits requires mental toughness because you’re fighting against your brain’s conditioning.

Once you’ve created a habit, your cognitive bandwidth is now available for other important activities.

Think of what your trading would be like if every time you spot a great trade setup – you pull the trigger without worrying about a loss. How would that help your performance on a day to day basis?

Hence your direct path to successful trading is to build successful trading habits.

habit quote aristotle successful mindset 2ndskiesforex

NOTE: If you want to learn my personal methods for wiring successful habits into your brain fast – check out my Advanced Traders Mindset Course.

Front End Work For Long Term Benefits

Building successful habits requires most of the work to be done on the front end. What do I mean by front end?

To wire in a new habit, you have to physically (and chemically) create a new series of connections. This takes (at a minimum) consistent repetition over time.

How long? For the expert at this – about 21 days is the fastest you can do this. 30 days would be more reasonable.

What if you are not working 4-8 hours per day trading at least 5 days per week?

You’ll need about 90-180 days.

From my experience as a trading mentor who’s turned many traders profitable, this is one of the biggest reasons why many never succeed. The habit wiring curve takes just a tad longer than most are willing to do consistently over time.

Do you change your pair, price action strategy or time frames if you don’t get the results you want in a few weeks or a couple of months? Do you just jump from mentor to mentor and course to course as you continue to struggle?

If so, then you have a problem because you’re changing critical behaviors before you’ve fully wired in the habit.

Hence you never get the benefits of wiring successful habits into your brain. And then you eventually wonder why you cannot trade consistently.

Sound familiar?

Thus most of the work in building successful habits for you will come in the front end. The good thing is once you’ve wired them in, the rewards (and potential upside) are unlimited.

That sounds like a pretty good trade to me now doesn’t it?

Why Delayed Gratification Is Key

In your journey to create new habits, you’ll be fighting against a primal instinct. This is via instant gratification and one reason why our brains work against us in trading.

The key is to flip the script and opt for delayed gratification. The problem for you is – in a time of instant gratification, most of what you are exposed to works against this.

The Marshmallow Test & Why Delayed Gratification Matters

 

So you have to go against the grains of every day society and culture.

The bottom line is – if you want ot succeed in trading or life, you’ll need to seek out delayed gratification. This will direct your mindset towards building successful habits over time.

As you begin to add positive habits into your life, you’l build up your self-image along the way.

Having a positive self-image will increase your confidence. Eventually you’ll start to think and believe it is ‘like you’ to succeed.

You’ll believe it is ‘like you’ to accomplish what you set out to do. This is one of the most important things you can build for your mindset.

“The habits you wire in today will become the vehicle for your success tomorrow.”

In the spirit of wanting to build my self-image, habits and mindset, I’m taking on these 7 habits for the month of June.

challenging your mindset 2ndskiesforex

The 30 Day Mindset Challenge: Will You Succeed?

For the next 30 days (without breaks), I’ll be adding the following habits to my daily routine.

Here they 7 new habits below:

1)    1hr of writing/producing new trading content per day

2)    45 pushups

3)    25 situps

4)    25 squats

5)    30 mins reading a book or article about buddhism

6)    30 minutes reading a book or article on neuroscience and/or mindset

7)    30 mins – 1hr work on the new trading applications I’m creating (will announce at a later date)

Looking at the list above, that is a lot of new habits to take on. We’re talking about adding 3-3.5hrs of work to my day every day for the next 30 days.

Normally I do not recommend taking on such a big load of new habits or hours to your daily schedule. However I have confidence in my ability to manage my time and get this done.

Will you take on this 30 day mindset challenge?

If so, I’d recommend starting with 1 habit to begin with.

Start small and work your way up. There is no point setting yourself up for failure, so work on something you can achieve. Just make it stretch your comfort zone a bit.

NOTE: For a great article about the comfort zone and how it determines your success in trading, click here.

comfort zone - challenging your mindset to succeed 2ndskiesforex

 

BTW – if some of you are thinking ‘only 25 situps per day?’, my apologies as a) I’m getting older and b) I’ve spent far too much time in the seat lately 😮

All kidding aside (partially kidding…), what new habit will you challenge yourself for the next 30 days?

Write it below along with why you want to work on this.

IMPORTANT: Make sure to work on a habit that you can control the execution of.

For example – you cannot control the market and profits. Hence creating a habit like ‘I’m going to make $5000 per day trading’ will fail because it’s based on something you cannot control (markets).

This is why you only work on habits that you can control.

Now make sure to share below what one habit you’ll be working on for the next 30 days. Be specific along with sharing what it will mean to you to build this new habit.

I’ll be posting updates on this once per week every Tuesday at 930am so make sure to check back regularly.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you. And I’m willing to bet you’ll feel like a more confident version of yourself for completing such a challenge.

Until then – good health and trading to you.

A Message to Traders for 2015 (By Chris Capre)

chris capre trading office new years eve
Hello Traders,
I wanted to share some holiday/new years wishes for our members, to struggling traders, and the club of those wanting to become successful. These are my sentiments, hopes and wishes for you in 2015:
People are often unreasonable, unkind, irrational & self-centered: Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives: Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies: Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you: Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy it overnight: Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous: Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten: Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough: Give your best anyway.
-credited to Mother Teresa
May good health, abundance and clarity be with you in 2015.
Kind Regards,
Chris Capre

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The 4 Components of A Trading Process

4 components of a trading process 2ndskiesforex
I recently read a post by Brett Steenbarger called ‘The Four Pillars of Trading Process‘. In this article he outlines and details what is a trading process, isolating several components of any trading process. They are;

1) Preparing
2) Performing
3) Reviewing
4) Revamping

Before I get into the spice and flavor of these four points, I’d like to state this commentary on Mr. Steenbarger’s post is both praise and critique. I appreciate his work on trading psychology and would suggest checking out his blog.

In this post, I found useful components to his description of the trading process. However, there are a few ingredients I would amplify/expand on, meaning I felt they could have been cooked a little more.

Let’s get into the four components and how he describes them. I will go over one at a time, discussing what I found valuable, along with what I’d change/adjust/or add to.

I will also give suggestions how you could get a greater understanding of the trading process and how to leverage this to increase your trading skill set.

#1 Preparing

Mr. Steenbarger defines this as the following;

“Preparing – What you do to identify and exploit opportunity in markets, including observation, research, idea testing, trade structuring, portfolio construction, and trade planning.”

To me, this first one falls short, because it only covers what you do once you sit down in front of your trading station.

Preparation (in my book) begins with the mental game, and that has to start before you actually put your butt in your chair.

light bulb idea preparation in forex trading 2ndskiesforex

You’ll see this in professional athletes who are getting themselves mentally ready before they even get to the stadium.

Aaron Rogers (quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, 1x Super Bowl Champion & holder of several Quarterback records) actually spends time the night before thinking about the game and what he is going to do.

Trading has to be approached in a similar way, and the successful traders I communicate with regularly employ the same tack.

Hence, we have to include mental preparation in this part of the trading process.

Even though Brett (Mr. Steenbarger’s first name) does a good job outlining what you do when you are in front of your trading station, I think this definition of ‘preparation‘ needs to be amplified.

#2 Performing

Here Mr. S. defines this as follows;

“Performing – What you do to initiate and manage positions in the market, including sizing, risk management, entry and exit execution, and adjusting to the ongoing stream of news, data releases, and market movements.”

Here I think Brett covers (by and large) all the ‘mechanical’ actions you as a trader will execute and engage on a daily basis. I do feel there is room in here to discuss ‘mental management‘ which is a large component of ‘performing‘ during your trading day.

However, I will cover this in the near future.

#3 Reviewing

Mr. S. here writes;

“Reviewing – What you do to examine individual trades and overall trading to learn from successes and mistakes and to reexamine ideas about markets.”

Not much to say here – he pretty much nails it, other than reviewing one’s mental performance & trading journal.

improving trading results 2ndskiesforex
Note: For a great article on how to review your trades, read Reviewing Trades: Two Crucial Tips)

#4 Revamping

Brett here states;

“Revamping – What you do to translate your reviews into concrete goals and actions that make you more prepared and aid your future performance.”

Here I also feel he gets it right, although I think we can bring this into #3 above and make them one whole component of the trading process.

Now he also states in this article how the main issue for traders is not letting their emotions affect their trading and discipline. He feels the big issue is how they neglect the last two elements and spend most of their time working on #’s 1 and 2. Does this ring a bell?

While I certainly agree traders are less likely to review their trades, performance, process, etc., I find most revamping their methods all too frequently without ever digging deep into any one process, system or skill set.

On top of this, I find without a doubt many traders let their emotions affect their trading and discipline. I hear about it all the time, and even see it in their trading journals.

My experience is both are a major issues. Any trader not controlling their thought processes or emotions is the least likely to succeed. Hence I see it as a both-and scenario, not an either-or.

the trading process by 2ndskiesforex

In Summary

I think Mr. Steenbarger does a good job of breaking down specific components of the trading process, and giving them a more detailed look.

I personally feel there needs to be more emphasis on preparation & reviewing, along with managing one’s mindset and emotions in real time.

I do see other components besides these four, which I will cover in the near future, but overall, he does a good job of bringing a greater discussion on the subject.

Those traders without a well developed trading process beyond the vanilla a) take a trading course, b) learn a trading system, and c) start trading in the markets, will find themselves struggling to trade consistently, missing key components, and not building their skill set.

Unfortunately this is the path most traders take, and it simply won’t get you from here to consistent profits. Hence why this is an important article and discussion.

With that being said, what parts do you see as critical to the trading process? Do you agree with my sentiments here?

Please make sure to share your thoughts, comments and feedback, particularly why and what you see the same/or differently.

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Excuses in Trading: What They Do & How to Overcome Them

clair and chloe gruenke 2ndskiesforex
Meet Claire and Chloe Gruenke. They are 13 year old twins. Both of them compete in track for their junior high school in Illinois.
A few months ago, both were in a track meet when Chloe felt something ‘pop’ in her leg and fell down. Trying to complete the race, Chloe tried to get up, but she couldn’t run, let alone walk.
At this time her sister Claire, realizing Chloe was physically unable to complete the race on her own, did something extraordinary.
Instead of calling for help, she put Chloe on her back and kept on running for the finish line. There was no chance either of them was going to come in any place but dead last. Yet Claire ran with her sister on her back.
Right before crossing the finish line, Claire gently let her sister down and told her to cross the line first. Chloe saw the bigger picture, and they crossed at the same time.
This is an amazing example of losing the race, but winning at life. It is also reflective of something which plagues developing traders – dealing with excuses when facing obstacles.
Excuses & Your Trading Mindset
When it comes to trading, what is the most damaging part of the excuses you make? Is it the fact you missed an opportunity pull the trigger on a winning trade? No. Is it that you didn’t fill out your training journal and learned from your trading mistakes? No.
The most damaging part about making excuses when it comes to forex trading, is how they affect your self-image. Every time you make an excuse, and then act upon said excuse, you communicate something which dis-empowers you.
excuses in forex trading
Each excuse you give and act upon sends a message to your self-image of how weak it is, how unable you are to accomplish something, and ultimately where your level of ability is at.
This is incredibly damaging because our self-image is one of the greatest determinants for our performance and level of trading success. With each an every excuse we make, we not only stunt the growth of our self-image, but concurrently shrink it.
Excuses Affecting Performance
We all have the goal to become a successful profitable trader. When we parse out an excuse as the reason why we didn’t do something, we lower our self-confidence, particularly in our ability to follow through. When we don’t follow through (even though we recognize our ability & potential), we experience frustration which affects our performance negatively.
Products Of…
In most cases, excuses are a product of two things;
1) Lack of Proper Motivation
2) Unspecified Goals
If you aren’t properly motivated to trade profitably, or do not know the underlying reasons for your motivations, your unconscious mind & limiting beliefs will subvert your efforts to do the hard things when it comes time.
This lack of completing what you set out to do can often be a reflection of being unmotivated. It is only when your motivation becomes larger than the energy of your excuses, is the moment you start to see forward progress in your efforts and training to accelerate your learning curve.
Also, having unspecified trading goals leaves you with no clear endgame, and thus motivational underpinning to trade successfully.
Easy to Produce
It will always be easier to produce excuses any time we fail to do something or reach our goal. We will always have moments when we are tired, do not feel 100%, lack inspiration, had a bad day trading, don’t have the money, the time, the genes, the experience, and the list goes on…
All of the above can be manufactured in a second and take no effort at all.
Before 6am & -40 degrees F
I cannot say I truly like getting up just before 6am every day. Sometimes it feels great, and sometimes I’m tired as all hell. In those latter moments, it is hard to get up, and quite easy to stay in bed.
transforming excuses into strengths 2ndskiesforex
Luckily, I’ve had various ‘trainings‘ since I was young (soccer, martial arts, yoga, meditation, forex trading) which conditioned me to ‘just do it‘. Getting up when it was -40F at the age of 11 during a Chicago winter wasn’t fun by any means. But working towards a goal and accomplishing something for my day was 99% of the time far better then doing nothing.
It’s true – getting up that one day wasn’t going to make me a professional trader, martial artist, or soccer player. But each step was both building my skills, while increasing my self-image. Do this enough times and eventually you feel like you can overcome almost any obstacle.
Common Amongst Successful Traders & People
One thing you will notice amongst highly successful traders and people, is when they come up against an excuse, they look for ways to get past them and complete their task. Their long term vision is far more important than their short term discomfort.
They are solution focused, thus constantly turning their minds towards finding an answer. This solution based focus, while being focused on the process helps to improve brain performance and wire your brain for success.
Successful traders and people do not leave much space for excuses to enter. Even when they do surface, they are usually met with discipline, focus and a forward moving momentum excuses usually fold under.
Overcoming Is…
Remember, overcoming is the currency of success. Thus it is very important you are solution focused when facing your challenges, instead of allowing your challenges to transform into excuses.
In 95+% of all situations, you are in control of ‘you’. Hence the underlying reason you haven’t done what was needed, was because of something YOU chose to do (or not to do).
Once you realize how much you are in control, there are fundamentally no more excuses to give as you determine your reality more than any other agent.
Going back to Chloe & Claire, Claire was less worried about winning the race, and more focused on finding a solution.
She communicated to everyone on that track, there are always ways to finish the race. She wouldn’t let any excuse into the situation. She showed us all something great about humanity, of what we could be if we let go of excuses, and directed our minds towards solutions.
Unable to run, Chloe still finished the race, and Claire wouldn’t let it happen otherwise. She had the mentality of ‘No-Obstacle‘, which is one of the most powerful mentalities you can have in trading and life.
Every time you face an obstacle or excuse, but overcome it – you increase your self-confidence and self-image. This is one of the most effective ways to build a successful trading mindset.
In Closing
Excuses are some of the most damaging things to your mindset and trading success. They reduce your self-image, which must be strong to trade successfully.
By learning to see what excuses are, and discover how much we can actually control them, we give ourselves the potential to transform obstacles into growth, and excuses into determination.
In reality, although there are great mountains like Mt. Everest & K2, the greatest mountain we will ever climb is our own mind, and our own challenges.
no excuses in trading 2ndskiesforex
For those who can and do scale such mountains, you will find yourself standing atop all those obstacles, limitations, and challenges, which can bring a confidence to last you a lifetime. It is in that moment that you will see the great expanse, and what’s available to you.

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Korean Archery And The Training Process

In the summer of 1988, a new trend was about to begin. During the Olympic games of this year, (ironically being hosted in Seoul, Korea), team archery was being introduced. Since this inclusion of team archery into the Olympics, the Korean women’s team have won all 6 titles, with the men’s team winning 4 out of 6.
Before the 2012 Olympics in London, of the the top UK shooters, Larry Godfrey said the following:
“Myself and Simon Terry are the only British archers to have ever shot over 1350 points in a round. But in Korea, there are at least 50 archers who could score  over 1350 at the moment.”
koren archery and the training process 2ndskiesforex
Needless to say, Korean’s are some of the most dominant archers in the world, and one of their secrets to success lies in their training. And never mind the fact the archer featured above is virtually blind!
Moving on, there are many aspects of their training which deserve study, but we will focus on one component here.
In many Korean archery schools, you may actually practice the basic technique of shooting a bow, for 3 months before you actually fire a live round.
Let me repeat that – THREE MONTHS!
What this hyper-focus on technique does, is insure you have properly wired into your brain the foundation for correctly shooting the bow and arrow. It also forces you to focus more on process and technique, thus keeping the right perspective.
This is one of the most common elements successful traders have, as well as high performers in all fields (the focus on process/technique – not results).
Imagine what your trading skill set would be like now, if you spent the first three to six months focusing entirely on technique and process. How much better would your trading be for it?
Have you focused 90% of your energies on results, or technique? On process or profits? Would it be worth taking a little longer in your training process to build a rock solid foundation?
If you are focused on getting rich quick, then you’ll skip this process, and ironically, be least likely to achieve your goal. But if you want to learn how to trade professionally, you’ll take the time, train properly, and put in the effort.

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4 Ways to Improve Your Trading

Why do some traders you know seem to profit consistently, while those green trading days elude you? Why do you find yourself consistently making the same mistakes over and over again?

Traders who are successful month in-month out, handle losses in stride. They are comfortable with losing periods, while maintaining discipline. And most certainly, they do not accept under-performance, constantly training to improve their game.

4 ways to improve your trading 2ndskiesforex
The good news is – you can be a successful trader who profits month in-month out.  Nobody is born to be a successful trader. These traits and characteristics can be learned.

Many of my profitable students, were not trained in any related field of finance. Yet they consistently make money.

Trading profitably is certainly possible for you, no matter where you are in your learning curve. But you have to work at it, and likely make a few adjustments from what you are already doing.

Here are 4 ways to drastically improve your forex trading.

1. Maintaining Commitment, Even During Challenging Periods
Throughout your learning curve in forex trading, the actions needed to get you there will not always be fun.

You have to love the process, and enjoy working towards your goals every day, regardless of the daily results.

If you were not being paid to trade, would you still love it, and enjoy the challenge? If so, you will maintain the commitment necessary to succeed.

2. Get Comfortable With Losses, and Losing Periods
How many emails have I received requesting a system with a high win rate? Enough to fill your inbox for a year.

By itself, the win rate does not guarantee profitability. Your risk of ruin does!

But I’m going to make a controversial statement here. That is:

Most un-successful traders who want a high win rate, are really asking for ‘compensation’.

What are they wanting compensation for? A lack of confidence. It is wanting something solid, yet virtually nothing is solid about trading.

Obsessing over a high winning percentage is short sighted. Directing your focus to continually getting better (i.e. on the process), is seeing the forest from the trees.

3. Intentions Must Be Consistent With Actions & Beliefs
If your goals, intentions & efforts in trading haven’t produced consistent results, there is likely one cause. You!

It is one thing to say or think, ‘I want to be a successful & consistent trader‘. But if the moment comes to fill in your trading journal, and you balk, then there is inconsistency between your conscious and unconscious mind.

Just like you may conceptually say ‘I want to be wealthy‘, but if you look around your house, and feel poor, you are not going to create wealth for yourself.

This is called ‘thinking in one way, and feeling another‘. Only when these two (thinking and feeling) come together in your mindset, do you produce results that match your intentions.

successful traders 2ndskiesforex
4. Ban Under-performance in Trading
What is one thing which without fail promotes under-performance? Excuses. Have you ever used excuses for your results in trading? If so, you are making it more probable you will under-perform.

The best way to ban under-performance in trading, is to ban excuses. Adopt a ‘no-excuses‘ approach to trading. Better yet – burn the following mantra in your brain:

I am responsible

You may not be in control of everything that happens in the market, but you are responsible for your performance.

In Closing
Ask yourself, how of the aforementioned forex trading tips and advice suggestions would help you in your trading performance? If you were to adopt the above suggestions, would they change your mindset and approach to trading?

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The Trading Mindset: Frustration Leads to Learning

I was listening intently to an interview of a professional athlete, talking about playing against one of the best teams in their league. Instead of being intimidated by the prospect of playing such a highly dominant team, they had the following to say;

“These are the games you really look for. They force you to test yourself, to find out what you are doing well, and what you need to work on.”
If there is a mindset or quality I’d like to install in every trader, it would be what this athlete was conveying. They looked forward to the challenge they were up against.
They weren’t worried so much about making mistakes, or not being able to handle the more dominant team.
If they couldn’t, it meant they had things to work on.
Frustration Leads to Learning
Developing traders need to build this type of successful mindset. Losses will happen, you will be frustrated at times, and the market will not always make sense. These experiences can last for hours, days, weeks, perhaps months.
How you respond to each and every trade matters more than you can imagine.

frustration leads to learning 2ndskiesforex
If you as a trader are going through, or have recently gone through a frustrating period – you have to let that ‘feeling’ of frustration be temporary. It is ok to experience stress in trading, but it is not constructive to define yourself by your frustration.

Frustration must lead to learning.
Better to have the approach that any losses, mistakes, or frustrations are learning experiences. That you actively seek out the challenges inherent in the markets.
Approaching every single trade as a learning experience, will help you see the bigger picture and build confidence in your trading.
Opportunities to Learn
Each trade and moment behind the charts is an opportunity to learn.
Are you really trading like a sniper, or just sitting on your hands waiting for some perfect setup? Are you trading to be right, or are you actively focusing on improving your skills? Are you working to accelerate your learning curve, or are you letting your emotions define your experience?
Frustration must lead to learning – in fact all trades must lead to learning. You either win, lose, or learn from each trade. The first two you cannot control entirely, but you can with the last. And which do you think leads to your development as a trader?
The best athletes, professionals, and successful traders learn from each trade, and maximize every chance to learn. This is part of building a successful mindset, which is essential and required for trading successfully.

michael jordan obstacles dont have to stop you 2ndskiesforex
Ask yourself, how would your trading experience and mindset differ if you looked forward to the challenges, and the frustrating moments, learning from each? How would this change your daily approach and thoughts when engaging the markets each day?

What parts of the above can you work on, and what have you noticed about yourself after reading this article?
Please make sure to comment, share your current experiences, and what you thought about these suggestions.