Statistics and society may predict, but you alone determine whether you will succeed or fail. You alone are in control; take responsibility for your performance and your life. There are always tremendous opportunities in the markets. It is not what happens; it is what you do with what happens that makes the difference between profit and loss.

Most traders move from trading method to trading method, over time, until they find one that suits them one that is comfortable to run, and tests well first by back-testing, and then by real testing.

Some traders never stop looking for the right way to trade. THAT is a problem. There are many ways to trade that can generate nice profits over time. To settle on a right way for you to trade:

First, you have to believe in the process which leads to the generation of your entry signals. Does that process make sense to you?

Maybe youre a visual sort of person and you are drawn to Candlestick charting. Take the time to understand why the patters mean reversal and not just accept the picture. Go deep.

Choose a guru to follow. Maybe you learn best from mentoring. Choose wisely.

Second, choose a method you decide to go with, back-test it. In todays modern world of software, theres no excuse not to run all the back data you can through your method and see what the results would have been.

Third, THINK about the process you are choosing and why its right for you. THINK about the results you get from your back-testing and your real-time testing of your system.

Fourth, BE A MACHINE (DONT THINK) when you are trading your method.

This is why I am a huge proponent of mental training for traders. Unless you can control yourself, you can never control your trading. In order to control yourself and your emotions, you have to believe totally in the way you trade. Do the work. Think. Then dont think.

Joe Ross
Trading Educators Inc