My mate Brian from Inside Out trading gave me permission to give this report out to you all. I trust that you will enjoy it and find some benefit from it…

Here is a brief PDF…yes brief because I am, after all these years, finally coming to my senses. I have always believed more is more…well I don’t have time for more…I am in to much of a hurry these days, as are we all, so I will be brief…but in being brief I will not be negligible.
The message I bring this week is simple, but extremely powerful!
Hope you enjoy,
Chris.
Habits & Fear PDF

It has been a while since I put a video together. Anyway, I feel really bad about it and will make a huge effort next week to put something together.

For now I have these two really neat videos to share with you.

The first one Brian Mc Aboy from Inside Out Trading sent with me and it is really neat because it sheds light on why traders often do the very opposite of what they know they should do.

Click here to watch the video

You also know that I believe a decent Trade Planner is probably the most important part of your trading…well the other video that Matthew Buckley from the “Top Gun” crew put together on how to set up a trade planner, so check that out here…the first vid is an intro but the next one is the one I am referring too. It is an option trade planner, but the principles are the same.

Watch the Top Gun Trade Planner here

Cheers,

Chris.

Please don’t forget  to keep telling me your trading stories. I am able to then share more stories like the one below,and we all get to learn from our collective experience.

“Hi Chris,

Thanks for this I found it really interesting as although I’m not going to take up your great offer it re enforced  to me exactly how I trade FX 10- 20 pips targets per day 5 lots at a time I’m in most trades for no more than 20 minutes, which has and is producing really well for me and I  average around 400 pips a month total working for a couple of hours a day, this concept is exactly how I view the markets, get in get out enjoy your life. So if it isn’t broke don’t fix it.

I spent a good couple of years trying to be in everything checking the markets all the time feeling like I missed out etc. now it’s great I’m in and out banked and done, the reason for the email is that I hope more Forex traders adopt this philosophy and stop doing like I did trying to chase every pip going it’s not good for your health! And also invariably it just fills your broker’s coffers not yours!

Keep up the good work and thanks for the updates.

Regards

Martin.

That’s what I like to hear, an independent trader who has got a plan… To read the rest of this reply and my summary or what you need to remember at all times, go to my blog post at     http://www.traders-live.com/blog/ Cheers,   Chris.

If you want to become a Forex Trader, choose one of these mindsets.

The Independent trader or the Dependent trader

Which type of trader you are will dramatically affect the potential money you can make in the markets. In fact, it could well determine what the rest of your life will look like, whether it is how long you work for someone else, when and where you vacation, or where and how you live. You may think that’s an exaggeration, but the reality is those who take initiative can positively affect the outcome of their lives (and their trading) as opposed to those who let others determine the course of their lives for them.

It is important to note that anything requiring little to no effort will produce limited, temporary or no results. Conversely, anything requiring you to think and act for yourself will produce lasting and permanent results.

Trading, whether Forex, stocks, or other markets, especially proves this true. Returning to the two types of traders, they illustrate very common mindsets — which one represents you?

The Dependent trader is looking for the easy way, wants to make a quick buck, or strike it rich — but never wants to put any effort into the process of accomplishing such things (if such things even exist, and it should be argued that they do not).

Dependent traders will follow the crowd, trade based on hot tips, seek out automated ‘millionaire-making’ trading programs, listen to all the news experts and blindly place ‘can’t lose’ trades (which do lose), all with no plan, no thought and no understanding of what they’re doing. Naturally they’ll become frustrated with their losses and failures and do the only thing they can think to do: they give up.

Dependent traders are the trading equivalent of lottery ticket buyers; they know full well the odds stacked against them, but they believe anybody can get lucky, so why not them? Needless to say,

Dependent traders exert little control over their lives and have little chance for financial success. On the other end of the spectrum is the Independent trader. This trader wants to have control over their financial future and has learned (or will learn) how the markets work, which approaches to trading the markets really work, and how to empower themselves to trade without relying on others for advice or tips or news.

An Independent trader understands and believes that only they can maximize their odds for success and only they can achieve their financial and life dreams. They will seek out and learn from others, educate themselves, learn from failure and strive to accomplish greater things. It should be noted, however, that everyone has a little bit of the Dependent trader in them at some point. The difference being, the person on track to become Independent may take up with a mentor or lean on a reliable education source at the outset – but as their knowledge grows, the Independent trader will begin to apply what they’ve learned completely on their own.

The Dependent trader never will.

Three simple steps to becoming an Independent Trader:

Step One: Create and execute a trading plan. Whether you want to day trade or trade at the end of hte day, or once a week — decide what fits BEST in your daily schedule and then determine what sources form #2 and #3 below best align with your plan. Don’t try to apply day trading methodologies to end of day trading and vice versa, as you’ll likely discover they don’t and won’t work.

Step Two: Seek out 2-3 reputable education sources. We will provide some to you – but the goal is to identify one that you can understand and trust. Learn everything you can from those sources. Then, learn to apply it on your own.

Step Three: Learn from and test out multiple methods for trading. You are unlikely to succeed wihtout some basis in trading methodologies, especially when utilizing technical or fundamental indicators. The steps above will require time and money investment.You should consider them your trading education costs — it is far better to invest in yourself than to lose money too easily in the market.

I believe that the Authors contributing to this site are amongst the best and will give you everything you need to become an Independent Trader so check them out and always look for what you “need”. Don’t get caught up in buying more of what you already have, or stuff that is of no use to you.

Sadly, there are some people that just plain will NEVER make it as a trader.

Oddly, the reason is NOT because they aren’t smart enough or because they don’t have the ability.  It is because of something that happened along the way that they haven’t addressed.  They are aware of it to a degree, because they can make money in their trading.  The problem is that they have a decent run and then get cocky and reckless, and then wind up giving it all back to the markets.

And this happens again and again and again.

Another ironic thing is that it really isn’t their fault because it is caused by their primal survival systems kicking in and over-riding their rational mind.  It’s a response triggered by a specific set of circumstances that are very common in trading, and once activated, this response tends to create a vicious cycle that is nearly impossible to break, at least without some help.

Here’s how it works.  We’ll use my friend Jerry as an example (of course Jerry isn’t his real name).

Prior to opening his account, Jerry hadn’t ever traded at all.  He’d just heard about it, but didn’t really know what it was about.  He quickly sought out the basics of how trading works and chose to try a few things he’d read about on different forums he’d found.

It didn’t take long and Jerry felt confident enough to open a live trading and began placing his first trades.  Afterall, how trading works is straightforward enough and he was pretty smart, certainly smart enough to get this.

During this time, he was trying earnestly to make money, but he was mostly hitting losers because this was all still very new to him.  When he hit his first decent winning trade, he was jazzed.  What a rush!  What a great surprise!

The next winner was even bigger and WOW this really rocks!

Jerry managed to run his account up by just over 20% and he was feeling invincible!  He’s got this trading thing down and he’s on his way!

It didn’t take long though until Jerry started getting reckless, jumping into trades that he had no business entering.  He felt helpless as his account balance went down to break even, then down by 10% from where he started, then down by 20%, then down by 30.  He couldn’t stop himself, even though he was well aware of what was happening.

Jerry put more funds into his account because he just knew that he could make this work, that he could repeat his nice run.

Unfortunately, Jerry was able to repeat the run, but not without repeating the rest of the cycle as well.

It finally got to the point where he just had to close his account and take a break.  He just couldn’t take it any more.  The most frustrating part of it is that intellectually he knew he could beat this, he just couldn’t seem to control himself once he started winning.

So Jerry called me up and asked for my help.

He wanted to understand why this happened and what he could do to fix it.

What Jerry didn’t understand is that what he’d been doing really was gambling.  He wasn’t trading, because he hadn’t taken the steps necessary to trade in a calculated and business-like manner.  What he had been doing was playing the game of anticipation and seeking the thrill of the unexpected.

Once a winner gets hit when you’re in this mindset, your brain chemistry is essentially the same as a drug addict and a gambling addict.  It kicks in and shuts down your rational mind while activating your pleasure centers in a big way.

The added danger of this and the reason that many people won’t make it in trading is because they’ve been caught in this experience, and they won’t be able to shake it until they quit gambling and truly treat their trading as a business – again in a very calculated and business-like manner.

If this story here sounds at all familiar to you, then I strongly urge you to check out the training in the Trading P.I.T. Club.  In it you’ll become that business-like trader that you need to be to stop gambling and start real trading.

Click here to find out more

Of course if you have questions, just let me know.

Cheers

Brian
“The Trading Turnaround Coach”

P.S.  Those that don’t attend to the problem described above are bound to only repeat the vicious cycle and unfortunately it can go on for years.  Don’t let it happen to you – stop gambling and get on with business-like trading that will help you keep your head clear and let you trade well rather than give it all back whenever you do make money.

Click here to find out more

By Brian McAboy
“The Trading Turnaround Coach”

When it comes to business & investment pursuits, trading truly is a great business – but only if you treat it as the business that it really is.  Most traders get around to this only after taking several financial and mental beatings, but it when you finally do, the rewards are great.

Where most traders go wrong with it starts at the very beginning of their trading careers.  They see trading more as a simple way to make some money, rather than a real business – and they pay a steep price in both financial and personal terms for this error.

Remember when you first heard about trading?  It sounded relatively straightforward and potentially very lucrative while offering many great benefits: no employees, low barriers to entry, relatively low startup capital, just to name a few.

It didn’t take long though to discover that it isn’t quite as easy as it seemed at first, did it?  There are hundreds of choices to make and the possibilities seem almost endless.

Now because trading is often presented as ‘easy money’ and not a real business, it is quite common for new traders to just jump in with live trading thinking that if they can just start making some money with it, everything else will fall into place.  Either that or they just aren’t considering the challenges of making that money consistently over time.

When you approach trading as the business that it is, you realize several truths that make life easier in making a success of the endeavor.   You also realize several significant benefits and advantages that otherwise would elude you.

First of all when you mentally approach your trading as a business, it has an entirely different look and feel.  Many traders view trading as their future and for some it even becomes their identity.  When it is your business though, you remain detached to a degree because it stays separated from you, an activity in which you participate, a business that you own – while you keep your identity whole.  The feelings will still be strong, but at least some separation and needed detachment are there/

Secondly, without an entrepreneur’s mindset, the whole activity of trading gets organized only to a limited degree.  For those with the ‘easy money’ view of trading, it will only become organized and structured to the extent that you can get started.  When approached from the view that it is a business to be built, much more detail and forward thinking is brought to the matter, giving realism and proper perspective that otherwise is absent.

Third advantage is that of structure and patience.  You know that businesses are not built overnight, so the expectations from the onset become more realistic and thus more manageable.  If you are looking to ‘make lots of money fast’ instead of building a business, you will have disappointments and frustrations due to the unrealistic expectations not being met.

You avoid tremendous opportunity cost.  Every month that goes by that a trader continues to trade for little or no profit represents an opportunity cost because their time has been spent and investment capital tied up when it could have been generating a return elsewhere.

Probably the greatest advantage to treating your trading as a business is that of compressing the time to profitability.  When approached realistically from the proper viewpoint that trading is a real business, this causes you to properly plan your business, thinking through most matters that otherwise only get addressed as errors are made.  The most common denominator among failed traders and failed businesses in general is the lack of a business plan.

Go to any bank, angel investor or venture capitalist, and tell them that you have a great idea to make money.  Then tell them that you have no business plan.  They will tell you to go away, without giving you any money or even the time of day – because they’ve learned over decades that without a business plan, your odds of success become about 10%.  They also know that even if you do eventually succeed, your time to profitability will probably be unacceptably long for them to get their money back.

Another way, and probably the one with the greatest impact, in which the business approach gets you to profitability faster is that with a working plan in place, you will avoid the many detours and wastes of time and resources that can too easily occur without it.  How many traders do you know that have tried several different markets or at least different systems, yet still are not making the money they want?  This is but a small illustration of the savings of time and capital.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, feel free to watch the video presentation “Trading As Your Business” which expands on the matter by going to this link,

Click here to watch the “Trading As Your Business” video