Trading is probably one of the most lucrative jobs right now. It takes a big brain and little to no physical effort to create wealth that will last you a lifetime.
To get in trading, you do need a couple of things, and many are asking just what do you need to be a successful trader? Well, the article today will talk about this topic and we will try and explain a few things about the hectic job that this is.
Like in any other job, there are a few steps you need to take to become a successful trade. Firstly, you need some sort of higher education and knowledge on trading that will set you up for your first job where you get experience. Secondly, you will most likely start as a retail trader and you will have to put down some of your own money first if you want to learn. From there, anything can happen depending on how good you are and what you managed to learn in the process so far.
What you also have to familiarize yourself with is the top brokers and places to invest and pull info from, like investing.co.uk. you have to know your market, your assets, and plenty more, but we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s start from the beginning!
1. Education
Yes, we all sound like a broken record by now, but education, especially the primary one is really important in life. Some believe that you have to decide what you are going to do in life and focus your education on that making it limited and narrow. All of the successful traders had the broadest education possible, allowing them to pick up as much of the information about anything as possible. It does sound a bit overwhelming but if you look now you never know when a certain thing might come in handy. After a broad education, you will focus on what interests you in college. There you will be familiarized with the field you opt to, in this case, trading, and you will get all the necessary information for it.
After education, the real trouble starts. That is the time when you have to start using what you learned in real-time and in real life to prove your worth. This where information like technical indicators, price actions, long-term and short-term investments, moving averages, volume, trendlines, etc. pay off because you know how and in what conditions to use them best. All of this focused-on-trading knowledge used with broader one from early can come handy in some cases.
2. Consistency
A successful trader is consistent in what he/she does. This is probably one of the most important qualifications and traits a trader should have. By having consistency, you can easily determine your way and your earning potential. The best way to explain this is if you are just starting to trade. Set up a budget for each day and do that for a week. Let’s say you want to start with $100. Try and earn that amount every day – no more no less. If you start to lose close out everything at $100. So, by the end of the week, you should have $500. Next week go up higher, and higher and so on as long as you feel comfortable. The worst thing in a trader can be his/her ability to earn a few hundred dollars on Monday and lose $1000 on Thursday. Every trader that does so will end up in red every few trades and eventually eat away all of there, or even worse someone else’s capital away.
3. Discipline
With education and consistency, discipline is the third most important thing in a trader. Everything falls into the water if you can discipline yourself in a certain situation. Many traders lost everything because they did not have the power to hold themselves back while something is happening in the trade. For instance, you could have bought a stock for a certain amount in the hope it would raise more. It suddenly starts tanking down and if you decide to buy it down you will end up without anything. This is a prime example of not having the discipline to stop and simply do nothing. If you made a mistake and bought something that isn’t going the way you expected it then simply let it go, you are out and that is it, come back tomorrow. Never average down, never follow it, never try to make it good just let it go, pull out when it’s best and come back tomorrow.
4. Confidence
Confidence in traders comes from experience and education. These two things are imperative for a successful trader. Don’t fool yourself and think that you can get into trading and instantly become successful, a professional, and have a ton of money. Most traders the really good ones, crashed a few times so hard that it is impossible to figure out how they ended up again. This is thanks to confidence. Every trader knows this and thanks to all of the skills and the tools you have in front of you every day you can get back but only if you have confidence in yourself, in your knowledge, and if you can muster the discipline again to reach back on top where you belong.
5. Patience
Every trader goes from ups to lows. Sometimes you will have a period of nothing but lows and you will have to be patient and believe in yourself and in your knowledge and you will return. The good and bad days, weeks, or months are an integral part of any business and it is no different here. Be patient, wait for the right opportunity, wait for the right patterns and you will set off again. Rushing into certain things just for the sake of salvation is never a good idea especially where there is a lot of money riding on the line. Trading is a job where patience pays off and as soon as you manage to figure that out you will be at least s step closer to real professionalism.