The title of this article could easily be, “this is where the rubber hits the road.” A computer cannot make you a good trader and having a large trading account won’t make you a profitable trader. You will have to make yourself a profitable trader and that is no small feat. It takes dedication, perseverance, and just plain hard work to achieve your trading goals. Are you up to the task? Can you handle failure and get up again, dust yourself off, and start again? Resilience is the hallmark of a great trader.

Resilience is a great place to start discussing learning to trade. Trading is not a “get rich scheme” by any stretch of the imagination. I would rephrase that trading misnomer as “get a bit poorer, and then earn a nice living.” Every year I enter a period of frustration and seriously consider quitting the trading business, and if you don’t think about quitting trading 20 times your first year I would think there was something wrong with you. You have to stay focused on the bigger goal down the road; you can be a successful and very profitable trader if you learn to do the little things that successful trading practice daily. Resilience is the key to the whole sha-bang. You are going to need to pick yourself up after repeated unsuccessful days while you are the simulator.

You won’t become a successful trader by sitting in a trading room, or reading a few books on trading. You need to find a friend who is a competent trader, or hire a mentor to direct your efforts in the right direction. You have to learn to practice to improve your skill level. That means spending most nights practicing on Market Replay for 30-60 minutes. It also means you are going to spend time each day trading either live or on sim during the cash market session. Are you willing to work that hard?

But that’s not all…

I have found that maintaining a “student” mentality in my approach to trading is a key for ongoing success. There should be no period in your life where you become satisfied with your trading; you must continue to strive for improvement. This means reading all sorts of blogs, reading texts on trading technique, and engage in the process of constantly improving your judgment, testing new techniques to keep your emotions in check and determining the success of given set-ups. In short, the day you quit learning is the day you start backtracking your skill level and become less of a skilled technician. Stopping the quest of trading knowledge should be the day you retire from the business.

You have a big job in front of you and only steely determination will transport you to the promised land of trading profitably. As always, best of luck in your trading. Trade smart and stay focused on the big goal.