One of my list members answered the call to contribute some thoughts on trading and trader development to share with others through a guest post. He’s asked to remain anonymous. I think it provides a fantastic perspective on what it really takes to become a successful trader – hard work and experience.
It took me many years and thousands of hours of market watching to develop my proprietary trading methodology. The baggage from my old “learnings” was so heavy that I was unable to trade successfully until I got rid of it. Then I stopped trading for about two years to get rid of bad habits.
There is always a price to pay for education. For some it may be losing several accounts, for others it may be hiring a good mentor to teach them; for me it was the school of hard knocks and even living at the border of impoverished conditions in order to study the market, back-testing and forward-testing several trading strategies until I finally developed a proprietary trading methodology that gives accurate entry/exit signals with levels for stop loss and profit targets. It was back tested with 5 years of data, forward tested in a virtual account successfully for six month and I am currently forward testing it in a live account.
Success comes with knowledge. Knowledge comes with experience. Experience comes with time and hard work.
I believe that one needs one good trading methodology to enter a world that no one ever really sees until you are there yourself. I am determined to enter this world this year and I will be happy to take many with me, if they so choose. I am taking baby steps toward that world and it is a great feeling.
I definitely don’t know everything. In fact I know very little and I am finding out the longer I live the less I know. I do make mistakes like everyone else; but I learned to quickly correct them with no ego involvement. Hesitation has little reward in life and none in trading.
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About the Author
John Forman, author of this blog, has traded for more than 20 years, is a professional market analyst, and authored The Essentials of Trading. He is an active participant in trading forums, consults for trading related businesses, as published literally dozens of trading articles, and has been quoted in a number of books and in the media.
** See John’s full bio.
