 Ever since I started writing on TradersChapter.com and, now, TradeYourEdge.com I have been very fortunate to meet (virtually) some incredible traders from around the world. Many of them have different trading background – some are ex-institutional traders and some are not – but most of them have great personality and they all have their own niche. Chatting with them and learning from their experiences has been an incredible step forward for my development. This is especially true since my trading career was never really the conventional one and having different trading perspectives just fuels my motivation to learn more. With that, I hope to share some lessons I learnt from them along with some lessons that I picked up recently. I truly believe if you apply these lessons, you will achieve long term trading success. 1. Be Humble  Traders who are over-confident are usually the ones that get hit by the market the quickest. If you think that you are a good trader, then trust me on this – there are many more traders who are better. Well, I can’t speak for everyone but I can most definitely speak for myself. Ever since I moved to Asia, I have been spending more time on the web and I found many more independent traders out there who have made some really amazing trades. I mean, I’m a confident trader compared to many but when I analyse the trades from these independent traders – be it in the currency, commodity or equity market – I realise that their trade execution and the market view are near perfection. This experience has truly encouraged me to push myself even further and be humble in my approach. 2. Never Stop Learning This is probably the most important lesson I learnt. There are many opportunities out there and you should always find systems and markets that work best for you (and I don’t mean jumping around to learn different trading systems). If you've read the book “Market Wizards” (click here), you would have realised that many of the traders Jack interviewed went through at least one or two markets/systems before they found what they were really good at. Great traders have tried a variety of systems and markets before they found their niche. If you want to be a successful trader, this should be no different for you or me. However, make sure to have a structure to your learning process. More importantly, protect the systems that are profitable. 3. Prioritise You  As I wrote in my free ebook (click here), trading successfully involves learning about You (Your Psychology), the Market and the Trading System. In my view, these are these are the pillars of becoming a successful trader and all traders should continuously develop themselves so that they can be better. It is also crucial that traders should prioritise their learning in that order. Unfortunately, many traders first started trading by learning about the Trading System. That usually fails and they realised that they need to understand the various market conditions before they can use the system. So they’ll start looking for the repeatable patterns within the financial market. When that fails, they will either stop trading (and blame the market for their failure) or, if they realise it in time, will start learning about themselves as traders. Nonetheless, as they say, its better late then never. From a practical point of view, it may be difficult (as many lack the discipline) to fully understand yourself or to fully understand the market before you can start to learn about the system. Hence, I strongly encourage traders to have a development plan that allows you to learn all of them simultaneously. The best way to do this in a risk free environment is to trade with a demo account. 4. No One Is Invincible Yes, no one is invincible. Do not let marketing gimmicks fool you into believing that they can win all the time. As Larry William puts it: “Based on my research and experience, I have developed a powerful and profitable belief system: I believe the current trade I am in will be a loser ... a big loser at that.” Great words from Larry. Successful traders get it wrong all the time but novice traders keep chasing invincible trading systems. More importantly, accepting that you will be a loser before you even enter a trade is, without a doubt, one of the best advice I've found. If you can make this your trading belief as well, then you are on the right track. Conclusion Stay committed to your trading journey, but be creative and flexible in your approach. Make sure to priorities learning with the aim of becoming a better trader. The day you think that you've learnt enough is usually when problems start. A good alternative would include having a mentor to guide you in your direction (as oppose to a coach who teaches you new things). If you like what you read, please visit my site at www.TradeYourEdge.com
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