The Path from Empty Vessel to Expert Trader

Trading – Not Always what you Think it is!

Some believe that if you invest 10,000 hours into a new skill, you are sure to become an expert in that field. I mean entirely investing your time and energy into working 8 hours a day, five days a week, for three years. That is what makes us skilled at what we do. That can be either an intimidating thought for some or inspiring for others.

Becoming an expert trader is an exhilarating skill to choose from, but it is not an easy one. Many traders struggle through a tedious and up-and-down journey. Even those who have built their solid foundation still find it difficult at times. 

Good Enough is Never Considered as Good Enough

Trading is one of the least tolerant professions as you cannot earn a living by being merely average. You have to become an expert trader to make consistent earnings – and 10,000 hours of investment time does sound like a genuine requirement.

What is not said enough is that the majority of your trading skills are usually acquired within the first 20 hours of your learning. Meaning that once you have reached your 20th hour, by then, you would have earned about 60% to 75% of the skills and theory needed. The remainder of the skills will be gained only after putting the long days, nights, and weeks of practice.

Easy to Learn But Challenging to Master

The ‘learning curve’ graph below shows that we begin incompetent at a skill. Then over time, with practice, we can improve our skills. Eventually, our rate of skill plateaus and remains the same until we are ready for a new growth and learning spurt.

Trading is not for the Faint of Heart 

But, this could be a misleading experience. Traders may become frustrated and lose confidence because success in trading is hard to reach, especially since they already know most of the required skills and cannot reach achievement. Since the trading profession is unique, making a living out of trading takes no less than being excellent at it.

Brainpower = Trading Power

Another stage related to the expertise of a skill is the three weeks rule. Thus your skill will be practiced for three weeks consecutively, and through this, the ability will become ingrained in your daily routine and will play a natural role during your tasks.

Your mind can adapt to anything, and so during the process of these three weeks, you will notice how your brain can reprogram itself into reaching higher targets and creating new habits. When you become an expert and skilled trader, the three-week challenge will be an excellent tool to embrace working habits within your trading planning and routines.

Developing a Meaningful Habitat

Practice this method to acquire new habits. Begin a new program or break habits within your job or relationships that are not working for you, such as smoking and changing destructive patterns. Our minds are flexible, and soon after the three weeks are over, any previously practiced action will become intrinsic to us.

The mentality of risk management

Loss is not a failure. When you trade, you cannot succeed in 100% of the trades, so you must know how to deal with losses.

It is always difficult to deal with failures and certainly with failures that include a certain financial loss. The main problem is that traders see a loss as a “failure” when we trade in the forex market. We must understand that losses are a matter of routine.

To succeed in trading, you need to go back to the markets. If you just quit, you will not go through the process of learning from mistakes in order to become a successful forex trader.

Here are some steps that will help you prevent making more mistakes. For every step, we have an article that will be got you covered.:

1. You must use risk management.
2. Always use “Stop Loss“.
3. Do not make profitable positions turn into losing, manage the position.
4. Do not trade with emotion or boredom. Always trade according to your trading plan.

If you still find yourself on a losing streak, read this article.

Stick to your trading plan

“Stick to your trading plan” your trading plan is your guide in every step of your trading career. This plan needs to be close to you in order to make notes, keep track of your trading ideas, log your movements and the results.

Only a well-thought-out, carefully designed, and expertly crafted plan will help you succeed.

This article will find 4 Keys to Creating a Systematic and Achievable Trading Plan.

If you still didn’t create your trading plan, you can download this free PDF.

Must-Have Trading Routine for Expert Traders

Expert traders take their work environment and their routine seriously.

For example: if you trade the GBP/USD pair, you’ll need to adjust to the hours where most activity on this pairing takes place. If you live in Asia – prepare yourself for a lot of sleepless nights.

It includes not only when you actively trade but also the time in which you do your research, preparations, and after trading is done – your note-keeping and analysis.

A few more important points for your trading routine:

• Comfort is very important for a trading routine. Your chair and desk, which combine to create your workstation, must be comfortable.
• Healthy food for traders improves both your nutrition and your brain function. Whatever you put into your body can also become an important part of your routine and your trading environment.
• Do not forget to refresh, especially if you are a scalper or a swinger. Take 5 minutes away from your computer every hour.
• Shut out the noise. This is a crucial element in your ability to concentrate. No matter how you choose to trade, a noisy environment has an influence on your concentration.

Once you’ve managed your routine, things will start falling into place. you will be sharper, and able to produce better results.

The Trading Psychology Mindset

You need to accept your emotions in order to be a successful forex trader, but only through experience in the market that mental fortitude can be built.

Emotions are crucial in our decision-making process. Moderate emotions will lead to sensible decisions, as opposed to strong emotions that lead us to wrong decisions.

We must not let emotions take over us. We need to accept them and know how to control them so that we can continue to make sensible decisions later in our trades.

Give it Another Shot? Become an Expert Trader Summary

The 10,000 hours is one hell of a commitment. To know if you are the right candidate to become an expert trader, you can try out the 20 hours concept and once you acquire the broad knowledge and tools, then proceed with the three weeks challenges to put you on track.

If something is not working, it’s a guarantee that you can go back to the start and relearn the practice, which is way better than remaining on the current journey and struggling along.

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