LEARNING THE SECRET OF PERMANENT TRADING SUCCESS âImpossibilityâ is found in the dictionary of fools.â â Napoleon Bonaparte "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.â - Winston Churchill Hello: Trading profitably need not be reserved for financial gurus and degree-wielding mathematicians in investment banks. The process of buying and selling looks simple when considered at first. For instance, long and short possibilities are also categorized by signals. When you buy an instrument youâre long. Thatâs simple enough to understand. But trading in reality is more difficult since the markets canât be predicted with absolute certainty. This is why you need to learn the principles that can ensure permanent safety of your capital in the face of the market uncertainty. Traders might not get rich quickly, but they shouldnât get poor fast either. In view of this, trading risk managers work hard to educate people on the best ways to keep their portfolios safe. Those who refuse to listen risk losing out on the opportunity of getting on the road to everlasting triumph in the markets. What about you? Would you be guided by misconceptions and preconceived ideas, or would you be willing to test facts with an open mind? Many a trader is haunted by a memory of devastating mistakes they made in the past. What influence does past life or trading experiences have on your conduct as a trader? Have you invested the time to uncover the impact they may well have upon your performance? Memories can be a blessing. Reflecting on past pleasant trading results can warm our heart. But in other case, memories may seem more like a curse. Are you plagued by painful memories of hurtful past trading results? If so, you may wonder, âWill these sad memories ever fade from my mind?â Good thoughts illuminate oneâs trading career, bad thoughts darken it. Now, what choice can you make to revolutionize the way you trade? How can the choice help you in your trading? The greater the choice, the more the effort, and as time passes youâll build your own toolkits of profitable trading ideas and these will likely serve you well because experience is the traderâs most valuable asset and it soon develops into your own valuable investment guidelines. No victory without battles The essence of this article is this: You need to learn what it takes to be a permanently successful trader, and you need to discipline yourself to carry out what you learn automatically. Some golden rules should be rigorously followed, plus traders shouldnât be afraid to make up their safety rules based on time-tested experience. How Long Does It Take to Be Successful in Trading? Humankind tends to take the most difficult route which is often perceived as the easy way out. Itâs this very perception that makes it easy for many to believe anyone saying that a trading idea or system is magical. Innumerable amount of trading ideas and methodologies have been hyped, yet over 90% of traders canât still make money in the long run. I canât forget the famous song by Kermit the Frog: âItâs Hard Being Greenâ (voiced by Jim Henson). If you can get the necessary knowledge and practice long enough, your trade results should end up being green. For you to survive so long in the markets, you need more than a strategy that shows or let you know when to buy or sell. Now the question is: Then how long does it take to be a permanently successful trader? âTrading is a performance skill like sports, the arts, medicine, etc. There are many world-class trading educators out there whoâd be glad to show you effective and timeless trading principles. But do you have the discipline to learn and develop a method that works for you? Do you have what it takes to step up to the challenge, take risks, and do the work necessary to review and improve your trading? Also, can you control your emotions when, not if, you lose money? Once you have a game plan that works for you, will you still be able to stick to it day in and day out? How long it takes you to reach a level of competence in trading depends on the circumstances surrounding you and your level of discipline. It absolutely depends. The time it takes is really up to the time and effort you put in to learning and practice, and your situation in life. If youâre trained by someone who hasnât found the secret to permanent success or doesnât seem to know how to keep his account safe in the face of excruciatingly protracted losing streaks, then youâre going nowhere. It doesnât pay much to learn from people that canât trade. If you are constantly exposed to those who believe some entry system to be the magic solution rather than the real secret (the real secret has nothing to with a system that lets you know when to buy or sell), it may take you more than 10 years to be successful. This is because many people donât know what theyâre doing. Mike Bellafiore (co-founder of prop trading firm SMB Capital) says, "It is common for experienced traders to acknowledge that they did not know what they were doing until after three to five years." This is also true of any other performance skills. However, if youâre trained by those who know this secret, your learning curve would be sped up. It would take you shorter to master the art of trading. What you need to do, as quickly as possible is to hook up with people that actually trade successfully. Success comes from inside. That means you must have the persona that successful traders have. While youâre journeying towards trading mastering and learning, your mindset must be prepared. If you like, you may recite the following in quiet surroundings. This may be done in every morning for the next 30 days. The recital is below: I wish you well in your trading and want to commend you for wanting to continue to learn and educate yourself to new ideas. If you are experienced in trading risk control and self-discipline then I hope this brings new meaning or refreshes your outlook. Successful trading principles are a treasure. They can show you: how to be the best trader you can be, the ways to survive anything that the markets will throw at you, and help you to learn about yourself and become a disciplined trader. Take responsibility for your survival. Thatâll put you in control and will empower you to do something about your trading returns. The future of our trading career is loaded with great opportunities. We canât afford to trade them away and weâll not. Conclusion: Trading is hard work normally, but in these volatile times of global economic uncertainties, individual traders need something really different to compete successfully. The articles in this series provide the edge that you can use in todayâs unforgiving worldwide markets. They include tools to increase a traderâs insight into real-time market environments help them identify trading opportunities and further simplify the overall trading experience. As from the next month, this secret would be unfolded systematically. Itâll be one of the highlights of a global effort to reach out to avid traders who love trading and want to learn more about it. Youâre invited to learn from us at FXInstructor.com. This article is concluded with a quote from Jeff Cooper. Itâs a beautiful description of trading: âTrading is not about control. It is about going with the flow. Trading is not about knowing the future. It is about allowing the future to take place. Trading is observation, pure and experiential. Thinking is not necessary and just gets in the way. Trading is the glass half empty and the glass half full, alternating without rhyme or reason by the minute. Trading is total ruin and absolute reward; dual demons that lurk around every corner. Trading is an alluring distraction from life or a life raft on the stormy search for self. Trading is strangers offering up their most precious ideas. Trading is the clueless trying to offer ideas to their friends. Trading is your best friend who steals your spouse and your house. Trading can send us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere we have never been. Trading is a blessing whose rules, if ignored, become a curse. Trading is taking a knife to a gunfight. Knives and guns leave traces of blood, but the logic of the market is the weapon that manages to destroy without leaving clues. The mountain of trading is in the mind as the lake is level. Trading is more about knowing when not to trade than it is about trading. Trading seeks equilibrium. Trading is learning a never ending balancing act on a tight wire above a moveable abyss. Trading is timing. Waiting is painful. Pain brings wisdom. Wisdom brings balance. Trading can be excruciatingly exciting when done wrong and tauntingly tedious when done right.â Thank you. With best regards, Azeez Mustapha