How I Turned the Corner in My Trading Career

I remember how it feels to be right where you might be at right now. You feel like giving up, you aren’t sure if trading is really even something you can actually make money at. I’ve been there and I’ve figured out how to crawl out of that funk and emerge a successful, profitable trader.

In this article, you will learn how I made the shift from losing money in the market to becoming a consistently successful trader. The insight I am about to share with you explains the discoveries and changes I made that led to the turning point in my trading career. I hope after reading it, you will learn how to turn the corner in your own trading…

1. I stopped caring so much

Have you ever noticed that as soon you stop ‘caring’ so much about your trading you actually start doing better? I noticed early on in my trading career that if I simply stopped paying so much attention to the market and to my trades, my trading performance slowly began improving. This discovery / understanding was a big event that led to the turning point in my trading career and that got me started down the path to trading success.

Now, to clarify, I am NOT saying you should “not care” about your trading. I am simply saying that paying TOO MUCH attention to the markets and to your trades is detrimental to your trading. There’s nothing wrong with checking the markets once or twice a day briefly after you have learned how to trade. But, if you sit there for HOURS upon hours staring at the charts, searching through them, trying to find a trade, well, you probably will find one. But, is that a high-probability trade or is it just something you rationalized in your mind because you really want to be in a trade and ‘make money’? That’s the question you have to honestly ask yourself before each trade.

When you’re swing trading on higher time frame charts, which is what I teach my members and how I personally trade, there simply is no need to spend hours in front of the charts all day. Stop thinking that more time in front of the charts = more money, because it’s actually the opposite.

2. I got realistic about what was possible

You aren’t going to turn the corner in your trading until you stop thinking you are going to quit your day job or get rich without much trading experience, skill or knowledge and a $500 account.

It can take people years to become consistently profitable traders, and even then, if you don’t have much spare money to trade with, you aren’t going to make a huge financial change in your life.

Now, I’m not trying to be pessimistic, I am just being realistic so that you aren’t heading into your trading career with unrealistic expectations. Basically, I don’t want you to unnecessarily lose money in the market and I want you to learn proper trading habits, that is my mission. You cannot do this if you have your mind is not in the right place.

You can make slow and steady profits even with a small trading account if you learn how to trade properly. But, my point is, if you think you’re going to ‘get rich quick’ on a small account, you’re more likely to lose money and blow out your account because you will end up over-trading and risk too much.

Your mind has to be focused on learning how to trade properly, becoming the best trader you can be and developing proper trading habits, NOT on “how much money can I make?”.

3. I began to trust myself

Until you can trust your own trading decisions and your gut trading feel, you aren’t going to have the confidence it takes to stick with trades / not get shaken out when the market moves against you a little bit. If you constantly get shaken out of trades, you will get caught up in a game of jumping in and out of the market and second-guessing every trade you make. You will see the market move back in your favor after you exited, then you’ll want to jump back in, but at that point you are already not following your plan and you’re not being disciplined, and this is how you develop bad trading habits.

Of course, in order to trust yourself in the market you have to know how to trade and have a base of experience built underneath you. You aren’t going to be a confident trader with no training and no experience. It takes time, effort and education to develop the trading confidence you need to succeed in the market. The biggest thing is learning how to trade, learning from your mistakes and sticking with it.

4. I realized all I needed was price action on my charts

Every beginning trader goes through a period where they think there’s some ‘Holy Grail’ trading system that will allow them to easily make money from the market with few losses and little involvement on their part. Once you realize this is simply a fairy tale, you can move on to the business of actually learning how to trade properly.

For me, once I discovered I didn’t need indicators or anything on my charts but price, the turning point in my trading career was officially underway. There is no magic formula or magic combination of indicators that will give you never-ending profitable trades. Trading success is the result of good old-fashioned hard work, time, experience and most importantly, trading education. The sooner you stop trying to ‘cut corners’ and ‘get rich quick’ the sooner you will actually start making money in the market and see your trading dramatically improve.
Remember: Stop caring so much, be realistic, trust yourself and learn how to trade with price action.