How to Learn to Trade Forex

By Albert Schmidt

Is trading Forex profitably is a learnable skill or is it something that depends on personal traits? I hear some people who failed in trading complain about anything but their ability to change their psychological outlook on trading. I do believe that successful trading is a learnable skill as long as one has a strong desire to succeed.

First of all let's find out why people fail in trading Forex as in any business they want to start. Most of us come to a decision to start our own business be it a trading or something else because of the freedom it promises. How often we hear "fire you boss", "become your own boss", etc. But what we don't realize is that we come to these endeavors with the job environment mindset. We cannot be accountable to ourselves unless someone else will hold us accountable. In my opinion that is a big problem for many of us.

So once we identify the problem the solution is simple. Find a partner who you can be accountable to. If you can find a mentor successfully trading currencies himself then it's the best option. But it can be your friend or relative how doesn't even know anything about trading. The only requirement for such a person is that he or she must be supportive in your venture. I personally have my wife to hold me accountable in completing my daily tasks that I have planned.

Now these are the steps you can take with your partner to develop your disciplined approach to trading Forex. First pick a trading strategy. Second decide how much time you are going to devote to back testing it on a daily basis. Third make a list of qualities you want to develop or get rid of in your trading. It can be for example "Don't take a trade if the signal is not clear" or "don't risk more than 2% of the capital in one single trade", etc.

At the end of the day or end of the week report to your partner on how well you followed through your own rules. It is not important if you lost a trade or won. What important is how well you were able to stick to your plan. If you managed to accomplish every task that you have preplanned than the day was successful. If not than you have a failure. You should remember that it is not the profit in a single trade will make you successful. What will make you successful in a long run is the habit you develop by following your rules of trading day in and day out without fail. An accountability partner can help you to achieve this goal much more easily then if you were on your own.

Albert Schmidt is a part-time currency trader. After quite a long time of struggle he learned to make consistent profit trading in Forex. Review a trading strategy he successfully uses in his trades.