The ONLY Difference Between Professional Traders and Amateurs Is ...

He's a blog posting from one of my friends on mySpace, Barry. To close the year I couldn't resist posting this for thought!

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Here's a revelation that changed my trading forever:

"Successful trading is imply a business of not making mistakes."

That has become such a cornerstone to my trading that I actually framed that saying and put it on my wall over my trading flat screens.

One of the most productive things you can do to become a profitable trader is to make a list of your most common mistakes.

Awareness is the first step.

Then watch your behavior and don't allow yourself to make those mistakes any more.
Each of us has her or his own challenges, so you must make your own list.

But to get you started, I'll expose my sins and share with you what have been my most common mistakes over the years. This is the official list of my own 7 most common mistakes. Perhaps you'll find it helpful:

1. Missing trades. When my setup occurs I need to make sure I'm aware of it and haven't been distracted by chat rooms, email, phone calls or lulled into boredom by a consolidating market.
I also need to make sure I don't hesitate to pull the trigger when I do see my setups.

2. Trading reversals that are not in extended trends and during which the internal market energy has not reversed.

3. Trading only 1 time frame without the confirmation of a longer term chart.

4. Trading while tired.

5. Over trading. Never try to make up for losses or missed trades. Never trade out of boredom. Never take any trade that doesn't match my rules 100%.

6. Not taking profits on my first exit soon enough. This is critical to adjust my cost position in the trade and therefore keep losses small.

7. Exiting my entire position too soon. I must keep at least part of my position alive until the energy of the trade has shifted so that I can ride the big moves.

Well, that's my confession.

Now you know my sins, but I imagine they're not so different than yours.

Have you committed these trading sins ... or your own unique ones?

The only solution is to REPENT!

That doesn't simply mean to say you're sorry.

It means to change your behavior.

Many people treat trading as:
an intellectual exercise.
a mathematical challenge.
or a research project.

Actually it's more about managing your behavior than anything else ... of course that's often the most difficult thing of all!

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I couldn't have said it better!

Barry can be found at: http://www.myspace.com/topdogtrading

Happy New Year !!

Forex Journey