5 Character Traits of a Successful Trader – Tips & Tricks of the Pros!

 Maybe you are interested in trading, and you have taken the first step by researching on forex trading. You might also be currently trading but going through a tough time with your results in the markets and dealing with the recurrent autosuggestion, telling you how this journey might not be for you or you are not capable of achieving successes in this journey.

It is essential to know that you are not alone in this feeling, and before you fall into the rabbit hole of depression, feeling like a failure in yet another skill you have chosen. Let me make it clear; the answer is YES, anyone can achieve success in trading, including you. It would only cost you a few character trait adjustments.

Before we delve in, it is vital to point out that success in retail forex trading does not just add the fulfillment of an additional skill to your resume. It also has the potential to transform your finances in a positive direction. You also get the luxury of working with an enormous amount of flexibility, basically providing the most accessible and comfortable work-life balance you can ever find.

Achieving this is a daunting and challenging process; most traders fail to achieve consistent profitability and lose a lot of money in the hunt for the Holy Grail strategy. While the answer might just lay within their process all along.
In Just a few paragraphs, I would show you some character traits and a few ideas on how you can make these traits innately part of your system. Such a way that you don’t just attain consistent positive growth in your trading but in some instances, your personal life as well. Let’s get started;

1.) Consistency

In the pursuit to acquire any skill, doing something little every day is always better than doing a lot in one day. It is easy to fall into the spiral of trying to get everything about the forex market quickly, especially as a beginner trader. While this level of aggressiveness might be useful in acquiring the fundamental knowledge you need to participate in the market, it is not a very efficient way of turning traders into a success story. 

 I will discuss two simple ways you can ensure consistency in your trading journey below;

• Define your WHY;

Why refers to your purpose, which is the ultimate reason behind your need for success. Some people want a second income stream, while some want to achieve financial freedom. The point is whatever you choose, should be deep enough in your heart to keep you coming back to your desk every morning but at the same time broad enough not to affect your daily trading plan.
Let’s break this down; now there is a difference between wanting to make 10,000 dollars in 3 months and just aiming to become profitable. The former gives you a time constraint, while the latter allows you the freedom to go through the process.

When you have a restriction in your goal, this may be time or actual dollars; you tend to feel a compulsion to achieve them. This compulsion may be useful in a deadline related task, but in trading, you can’t determine when you find opportunities, the market makes that call.
So you want to give yourself the freedom to only trade when a clear opportunity/setup presents itself, rather than feel compelled to find opportunities when nothing of quality has presented itself.

• Start Small;

The entire value gotten from consistency, is the ability to repeat set actions over and over for them to become second nature. In order to achieve this effectively, it is better to pick a specific task, for example; ensuring all your key levels are placed on your chart correctly before the trading session begins.
Now, these tasks are likely to be different for different traders, but the goal here is to ensure you repeat the desired task with consistency over several days. Enough for you not to remember a time you traded differently. After successfully imbibing the desired process, you can now move on to another task.

2) Discipline

Nothing works without discipline. Trading is a game of rules, and you would encounter multiple rule-based systems as you go through your journey as a trader. Due to these restrictions, you can’t achieve success if you are not consistently following specific rules, regardless of the basis of these rules.
It could be based on sentiment, market structure, or fundamentals and in some cases, a combination of everything. The core is you must have rules, and as a result, you need to follow them with a level of focus that guarantees a successful performance.

I understand that discipline is a buzz word, and a lot of people/educators use it but have no way actually to show you how to be committed. The reason for this is that there is no single model designed to make all individuals dedicated to a cause, but luckily, I have one idea, which is JUST DO IT. It would take some time, but you would eventually adjust to your routine, but the only way to get there is always to force yourself to do what is necessary and right according to your rules, whether you feel like it or not at the moment.

3) Confidence

Confidence is another character trait that would take some time to acquire. You could be a generally confident person, maybe as a result of your education or looks, but my advice is, do not approach the market with an alpha male bravado. Trading is not a sport where you can allow your ego to drive your performance. I don’t even think any sport would allow for an ego-driven performer, but if the success of a particular setup builds your confidence, then you’re on the right track.

Since we agree that confidence should come from the performance of the setup and not the individual, your focus should solely be on the trading setups you take. I suggest staying on a single setup. Repeat that over a long period, until you master that setup. This process should be carried out on a small practice account with a small position size, where losing even up to 50 trades would not hurt but would pinch enough to keep your attention glued to the process.

While you carry out this process, ensure you have a detailed statistical report of every single trade. This process would help you assess what your limitations are and point out your strengths, which in turn would build your confidence in the setup or help you conclude on whether to dispose of that setup completely. The objective here is to find a trade-setup with an edge and stick with it, and by doing so, build trust and confidence in that setup.

4) Patience

Finding the will to go on might be the most challenging aspect of trading. Most people come into this with a very wrong orientation that they are likely to change their financial situation within a short time frame.
The truth is in today’s world; there are opportunities where you can begin to find profitability almost immediately you learn the fundamentals of trading (i.e., signal services such as the weekly forex market analysis and copy trading opportunities), but you would never build your knowledge and understanding of the workings of the market without a high level of endurance. 
In some cases, using some of those services can prove difficult if you approach it with the wrong mindset. Trading like most businesses is a marathon, not a sprint, and you have to be willing to weather the storm because there sure would be a lot of storms along the way.

5) Passion

Passion is another Buzz word, and everyone says you have to be love what you do for it not to feel like work. Indeed, this might be true, but there is more to the story. The love you find in trading, like any other relationship, needs to be nurtured or you can fall out of love with it. This decline in interest is mostly because of the simple idea most traders use in approaching the market, which suggests that trading is mostly a quick way to earn a buck. Like most relationship experts would say, you need to spice up your relationship with gestures that help you remember why you got into it in the first place. In trading it is quite similar, you should take some few steps to make you remember why you came to love trading and sustain the feeling to keep you going in the market.

Let’s discuss a couple of ideas,

• Set Simpler targets

 The more simplistic the goal, the faster you can achieve it, and successfully ticking off a target or goal, brings a feeling of fulfillment that goes beyond financial satisfaction. Every human is continuously in search of meaning, and we always want to know that whatever we spend our time on is not a waste. Smaller goals could vary between traders. Your performance level would determine where you need to lower your expectations. An example could be ‘’how many trades in a row you take perfectly, according to your set rules’’ or ‘’how much in percentages you can grow your account within a month’’. In the case of the Latter, if you usually set 20 to 50 percent monthly targets, you can bring that down to between 1 to 5 percent monthly.

It is vital that you don’t conflict a short term goal with your overall reason WHY you choose to trade as it is very likely to make you quit trading totally when targets are not hit. In the other hand, when targets are made (because they are simpler to you), it can catalyze your desire in trading.

• Reward Yourself

I have come to realize that most traders do not feel the real impact of their trading. They try to grow their accounts through several drawdowns but never get to withdraw any money and at some point, the real money they have begins to feel like virtual money. Because they disconnect from what the real impact of that cash could be in your life. Take some profits out from time to time and reward yourself, no matter how small. Try to ensure that what you spend on can last a long time so as serve as a reminder to what success can do. You are sure to build your love for trading if you practice this process.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I like to think of success in trading in line with developing a skill successfully than just building a business. The reason is, people think of their businesses in terms of Profit and Loss statements, but when it comes to a skill, it’s more about the process and how much you enjoy what you are doing. I understand that trading should be a business, and in some cases, you should treat it as such, but as a trader, your performance determines your profitability. So focus on your abilities, which is skill based and build the character traits discussed above. Apply consistency by developing routines with through discipline would become habitual, and with positive progress, you would build confidence. This, in turn, would fuel your Passion, and with patience, you would leap to the success you desire in trading.


Happy trading!
-Dale

P.S. – If you would like my Daily and Swing Levels so that you can start ‘Earning While You Learn,’ then check out our Advanced Volume Profile Training Course and Members Forum for more information – Click Here to Start Learning Now
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