Forex A recipe for success, what many seem to forget

Hopefully i got you interested after reading this topic title. This topic is made in particular for those who try to their hardest to gain success, yet fail to profit from this game. I by no means claim that i am successfull in this game. "Successfull" means having extra pocket money at the end of the month to one person, while it means being a billionaire to another. However, we can improve our success in this game and i hope to give you a little motivation shot in the arm with this topic.

Before i go on the majority of the readers that are trading Forex for only a few months or a few years will not take my advice, most likely because its too vague for them. New traders wish to have secret market structures explained to them with a TE attached in big green numbers... that is not what this topic is about. I am trading forex for almost 5 years now and what i noticed is that while you can have precise pinpointed levels that accept or reject price, you may very well still lose in this game; TA has its limits.

No, in my opinion the number 1 reason we either succeed or fail has everything to do with subconscious emotions. It has nothing to do with finetuning / plotting your S/R differently on a chart. It has nothing to do with changing parameters, such as stop adjustments. The majority of "traders" you will find on these forums are dogs chasing their own tail. The more they watch charts, the more they will be subject to mime. They see price interaction with their variables and tend to think they found something that the market reacts to. Then based on a future trade (hopefully loss for them, otherwise the market conditions them further in a completely wrong way), they will change settings in order to further improve results... Their magic line is now used by big participants in the market that bet millions on them. Trust me, that line is not there, it only exists in your head.

Now to continue with subconscious emotions, obviously we cannot touch them, we cannot recognize them so we cannot change them (directly). Yet they have so much influence on ones trading. Subconsciousness can only be influenced by conditioning your mindset. An example of a subconscious emotion is one that i personally dealt with (and still try to deal with from time to time); inevitable failing. No matter what you do, in the end you will always fail. This is a famous subconsciousness emotion, especially when dealing with forex. Keep in mind 90% of the textbooks (in particular the ones that explain you TA like they are the holy grail and giving you managing methods according to those methods) are complete junk. We however do not realize this as a starting trader and eventually the inevitable will happen, we will lose, no matter what textbook/forum material we apply to the market. Keep doing this for a few years (the more obsessed, the more damage your personal being will suffer) and the subconsiousness emotion of inevitable failing will surely come visiting you.

Now its important to realize that the subconscious emotion of inevitable failing triggers a vicious cycle that will prevend you from profiting (at least consistently) in any way. Even to such extend where people feel they are being watched by big participants, hunted by their brokers, being cursed by black magic. Non of them are in fact happening, its you, yourself that has a problem and only you can change it.

Knowing that you have the power to change yourself, and that 99% of the retail forex market is an illusion, we need to condition our mind with the help of external sources. Remember, being successful is a state of mind, it is (often) not found in one area. In other words, being succesful in one area highers the chance of you being successful in another area. I personally experienced this myself. Ironically when i had less time for forex because of nearing my my graduation (thesis), while working two jobs, i had more succes in forex than i had ever before. Think about it for a second, what this sentence is basically saying is that screentime got traded for outdoor time, where i conditioned my mind in being succesful in other areas. The success that i gained from external sources was now transferred into forex, while i did not had to study any charts for it(!).

To sum it all up, my advice (especially to the traders that think succes comes from obsession and love for charts), please realize that the magic formula is not found within forex itself. Be succesful in other areas, heck, make them a component in your trading plan. Mental aspects within trading are not limited to having a system that is easing the mind, it goes far beyond that.

Source.