Just What Is It That Makes A Successful Forex Trader?

By Author: Donald Saunders
Total Articles: 84
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If you were to separate Forex traders into two groups � those who are successful and those who are not so successful � could you identify those characteristics which separate one group from the other?

It does not really matter what we do in life, and that includes Forex trading, but, no matter what we do, one thing that will have a more significant affect on our success than anything else we do will be goal setting.

It is a simple fact that the human brain works best when it is given a roadmap to follow and, in setting yourself a goal, you start the process of building your roadmap by clearly defining the end point of your journey. However setting a destination is not sufficient and you will also need to define the route which you are going to follow to get to your destination. Here is an example.

Imagine that you make up your mind to build a fortune as a Forex trader, who doesn't want to after all! This in itself is not however very helpful as any goal that you set yourself needs to be measurable, otherwise you will have no way to know whether or not you have reached it. So, at this stage, ...
... you need to define precisely what you mean by a 'fortune'.

Let us assume therefore that you decide to set yourself a goal of making $1,000,000 in the next year. You now have a clear destination. The next problem is that, since you are probably a newcomer to the world of Forex trading, are still learning the ropes and may have only limited money to invest at this point, making $1,000,000 in the next year is perhaps not that realistic a goal.

In addition to being measurable, any goal also has to be realistic. It does not matter what goal you set for yourself in Forex trading, but it must be within your reach. There is no point in saying that you intend to win Wimbledon if you have never even held a tennis racket.

So, instead of aiming for $1,000,000 let us look at setting a far more realistic target of say $120,000. Having done this, we next need to split this figure up into marker posts which we can put onto our roadmap and this can be done by looking at our target on a monthly as opposed to an annual basis. This will give us twelve $10,000 markers. Now, if we keep going along these lines we can next break our goal down further into weekly markers of $2,500.

At this stage we have got something that we are able to view against our current experience and it is a fairly simple matter to determine whether or not this figure is attainable. Is it possible, in the light of your recent experience, to make $2,500 trading Forex in the coming week?

Your goals must be measurable and realistic, but they must also be attainable. It is all very well to set yourself a realistic goal, but you also need to have the right tools, in the right place at the right time to reach that goal. If you are currently making $750 a week then you are probably not going to turn this into $2,500 overnight so, in this case, your goal is unattainable and you will need to go back to square one and start over again.

However, if $2,500 is attainable, then there is just one further step that needs to be taken before you are ready to set off on your journey. That last step is to paint a mental picture of your destination.

Despite the fact that you have set yourself a target of making $120,000 in the next year, the money itself is of course not really what you are aiming for, but it is what you can spend that money on that is important. So, having got your $120,000 what are you going to do with it? If you plan to buy yourself a new SUV then paint yourself a picture of driving off into the sunset with the roof down and then you will truly have a goal.

If you wish to be successful in Forex trading then you have to set yourself a goal that is measurable, realistic and attainable and than paint a picture of that goal in your mind's eye. Do this and you will be surprised at just how simple a matter it is to get to your destination.