The 6 simple secrets of successful forex trading

Goals

This really is the kind of principle that should play a role in every major endeavor you undertake. When you set out on a new path, it helps to set clear, definable goals to guide you. If you set no goals at all, or vague goals, you don't have anything to benchmark against. Clear goals help you stay the course on the road to success.

Realism

This second principle goes hand in hand with the first. Many beginning traders do set goals, only they're not very realistic. Setting the goal of making $10,000 annual profit with a trading capital of $500 is very enthusiastic, ambitious and optimistic - all very likable qualities - but such mission impossibles are best left to Hollywood. And since failing to reach a goal is very demotivating, there's really no reason to set goals that are ridiculously hard to achieve.

Analyze

Every successful trader will tell you that the most challenging aspect of trading is keeping your emotions out. It's hard to stay in trades that have a lot of unrealized profit, just as it is hard to close a trade that is moving against you. It's hard to keep believing in a trading system that hasn't delivered for some time, and very easy to start doubting everything you do.

Build

You should build your own trading system, rather than plucking one from the internet. I know it's very tempting to simply copy the trading system of some (supposedly) successful trader, and it might very well be a very profitable strategy but the fact that it works for them, doesn't mean it will work for you.

Impassionate

Interesting thing about the word 'impassionate' is that it has two opposite meanings. On the one hand it means being passionate about something, and on the other hand it means to be dispassionate. As a trader you need both those meanings to become successful.