Currency Trading Information

A Fools Game


I received an email this week with a question (below) which caused me to think about the wisdom of pursuing trading as a career. Regardless of your trading time span, the skills and concerns of active short-term trading are relevant to all market particpipants.

Question: "There are a lot of people who say that day trading is for "fools" and that it is very difficult to make a living from Day Trading. What are your opinions?"

Trading is like most business: it requires commitment and perseverance. It is never easy to make money, but people who have mastered a skill make it appear easy. The really successful pit traders that I have known made trading look very easy, tantalisingly easy; but they all had many years of experience behind them. For every successful trader there has probably been a few hundred who have tried and failed.

I think people fail at any business if they approach it without an appreciation and understanding of what is required for success. The majority of traders fail because they have no such appreciation and they have unrealistic expectations of themselves. Any trader who starts with the expectation of becoming an instant success is setting himself up for failure. No one would decide to become a golf pro and assume that they could just pick up a bag of clubs and start winning tournaments. Yet novice traders do this all the time.

Just to start with the understanding that trading is a skill that is developed over time, through experience, puts a novice trader way ahead of the competition.

There are 2 core skills in trading, first the ability to anticipate the market (read the market) and second, having the discipline to execute your plan. To learn to read the market you may as well use a trading simulator and only start to trade when you have demonstrated to yourself that you can anticipate the market. Discipline, though, has to be developed and tested in the real world. Discipline is really the crux of the matter and it is here that most traders fall down. Their failure is mainly due to the fact that they are not really aware of its importance. Just starting out as a trader with the intention of developing your discipline puts you way ahead of the average trader. If you can trade with discipline (i.e. stick to your own rules and limits) you are 95% there!

So I would say that for the average aspiring trader, trading is a fool's game; but for those of us who approach the business as a business, with a clear understanding of the unique challenges that trading offers, it is a rewarding and fulfilling career.

Malcolm Robinson
LIFFE Pit Trader & Electronic Trader
InstinctiveTrader.com


MORE RESOURCES:

Currency Trading - Making Money with Scientific Theories
Corsavoo.com, France - Aug 20, 2008
These three theories claim that markets can be predicted with scientific accuracy as human psychology is constant and always will be, therefore once you ...


Currency Trading System - A Simple 1 2 3 Step Method For Huge Gains
Corsavoo.com, France - Aug 19, 2008
You don't get paid for effort in currency trading you get paid for being right. 2. Because you built it you will Have Confidence You will understand it and ...


Sify

NSE to start forex futures trading from Aug 29
Times of India, India - Aug 20, 2008
Other than big banks, exporters, importers and financial institutions, NSE's online currency trading platform would also allow retail investors access to ...
MCX Stock Exchange to trade in Currency Futures Commodity Online
NSE To Start Live Trading In Currency Futures On Aug 29 TopNews
NSE To Conduct Live Trading In Currency Futures Effective Aug. 29 RTT News
all 27 news articles


Software Firm Delivers Currency Trading Software for Panamanian ...
PR Web (press release), WA - Aug 13, 2008
Netsalon Software Development, Inc. announced the June delivery of X-Grid foreign currency trading platform for its client FXWN SA Forex Wealth Network SA ...


The challenge is to take currency futures to every part of India
Livemint, India - Aug 20, 2008
NSE is already regulated by Sebi and it is creating a division for currency trading. Its division has got Sebi approval and it happened faster as NSE did ...


Trade Forex with New Currency Trading Signals on DailyFX+
Daily FX, NY - Aug 12, 2008
Currency trading signals on DailyFX+ have been expanded to our newest offering: interactive system trading alerts that update on a dynamic basis. ...


Chicago Mercantile, banks may team up for currency trading
Economic Times, India - Jul 23, 2008
MUMBAI: India’s two major stock exchanges — the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange — may have to ready themselves to take on a new ...


AFP

Stocks dip on banks, oil
CNNMoney.com - 10 hours ago
In currency trading, the dollar tumbled against the euro and the yen. COMEX gold for October delivery rose $21.80 to $834.20 an ounce.
Wall Street inches higher India Infoline.com
Stocks set to fall amid jitters CNNMoney.com
Financials hit Wall Street again India Infoline.com
all 382 news articles


Currency Trading Markets Show Little Concern Ahead of Fed Rate ...
Daily FX, NY - Aug 4, 2008
Currency trading market volatility measures show expectations of subdued price movements through the short term—even as the US Federal Open Market Committee ...


Maktoob Business (press release)

Dollar Falls on US Manufacturing Slump, Credit-Market Losses
Bloomberg - 20 hours ago
... a lot against the dollar,'' said Motonari Ogawa, director of currency trading in Tokyo at Barclays Capital Inc., a unit of the UK's third- biggest bank. ...
Yen inches higher versus dollar Monday RTT News
all 361 news articles

Currency-Trading - Google News

home | site map
© 2006