3 Reasons Why Feeling Invincible Can Destroy Your Trading

Many successful traders that I have met have been through major drawdowns at one stage in their trading career. While I don't know the exact statistics, I know for certain that some of them were on a down hill because they were feeling over-confident about their trading. Some even went beyond that and were feeling Invincible.

Believe it or not, even I had this not-so-fortunate experience. After my first major drawdown (since I started trading), my monthly return went from breaking even to having an approximate 5% return month-on-month. This went on for a few months and I thought: "AWESOME!!! I'm ready now and this is going to be a piece of cake!!"

Well, it was that exact statement I made that turned my trading results around from profitable back to breakeven and even a few months of losses. Thankfully, I didn't have to go through another major bad patch before I woke up again. However, the feeling of being greater than great and thinking that I was ready to conquer the world also meant that (to a certain extent) that I was feeling invincible about trading. I was so full of myself that my trading results proved to me that I was just being an amateur.

Having gone through that experience, I would like to share with you why feeling invincible can destroy your trading. More importantly, I hope that this can be a warning, to some of you reading this, to stay humble, modest and diligent at all times. Anyway, the following are 3 reasons why feeling invincible can destroy your trading.

1. Your View of the Market Becomes Skewed

When you're feeling invincible, your view of market becomes skewed. Because you had a few good months of trading, you perceive trading as being too easy and you start to focus on the wonderful things that you can obtain from trading - as if Santa comes around every month. You'll start looking at trading like a bank which pays a fix dividend. While trading opportunities are endless, you seem to think that the market is always kind and generous.

Because you've had a streak of wining trades, you think that it is possible to win all the time. Which means, the mental image on your head only shows you what you want to see and when you're over-confidence, you only see winning trades. In other words, the worst thing that can happen has happened - your belief is that you will always be a winner.

Like having negative emotions - where you only see the worst side of trading - when you're feeling invincible, you only see the best side of trading.

In the end, you take every trade that is available and assume that it will be a winner - even if some may not meet the rules. The feeling of being invincible continues to cloud your judgement and you will struggle to realise that you are trap.

2. Losing the Pace

Have you seen a marathon or long distance runner pace themselves by either running at constant speed or running closely behind another runner? They usually keep that pace for a long time and only break that pace as they approach the finish line. While I'm not a runner, I know that international marathon runners need to pace themselves so that they can sustain the entire race.

If I were to flip the focus to amateur runners instead, they are the ones who runs the fastest at the start. They don't have proper rhythm nor do they pace their race at all. They probably end up using too much energy at the beginning and they fail to maintain proper breathing techniques. As you lose energy and start to panic, your mind starts to dysfunction. When that happens, runners start losing sight of what they are doing and their focus starts to fall apart as they lose their momentum.

Do you think they can be consistent till the end? My guess is that they probably can't. They might even need to rest a little before they walk their way to the finish line.

Feeling invincible is a somewhat similar to an amateur runner. They feel great at the start of the run and they use all their energy. However, as they reach the mid point, they start to panic because they've either ran out of breath or they can't focus properly any more. Unfortunately, like running, when traders lose focus and start to walk (instead of run), it does take a lot of effort to get back into the rhythm.

So which type of runner do you want to be? Do you want to be able to sustain the race or would you prefer to speed ahead at the beginning and risk losing the focus?

3. Opportunities for Bad Habits to Breed

Trading habits are crucial for traders to maintain discipline and good trading routines. Nevertheless, feeling invincible and being over-confident are the few characteristics that will breed bad trading habits.

Think about it, once you are profitable and over-confident about trading, the chances of slacking and taking things for granted is much higher (compared to a trader who is not profitable yet). Hence, if the trader were to take the chance and become slightly less discipline, he/she might do it one time, two times and if done the third time, they will likely repeat it even in the longer term.

Bad habits includes missing trading opportunities, skipping weekly analysis, or even forgetting their trading routines. The list goes on. These are literally the bad habits that will destroy you.

Well, breeding bad habits is probably the easy part. The real challenge starts when you want to remove bad habits. Traders forget that changing habits (without seeking professional help) is actually more difficult. Just like smoking, once you're a smoker, it's difficult to stop smoking without professional help. But unlike smoking, bad trading habits can be disastrous.

Also, more often than not, people would prefer not to change as they fear that any changes worsen their situation. Of course, that's assuming that the trader realises that they have bad habits.

Conclusion

It's great to be confident about yourself, trading (as a career) and your system (the rules). Unfortunately, many traders fail to see the difference between that and feeling invincible over the market. The focus should always be on the process and not the financial reward.

I hope you've enjoyed the article. Please feel free to post any comments and queries at the bottom of the page.

If you like what you read, do visit us at TradeYourEdge.com

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Trade Marketing - How Trade Marketing Isn't As Bad As You Think

Trade marketing is the largest market consisting each day of almost a trillion in volume everyday. The investors in trade marketing are getting more interested in this market, and the rapid growth is almost considered as a liquid market now. A trade marketing manager salary speaks for its self, but everyday traders have to learn to manage their holdings so that at the end of the day, their profits speak in their pockets. This is why students of Forex markets have effective strategies that are an extension of their marketing mix. Depending on the commodity and the marketing plan, a marketing manager will have various approaches to targeting the market. Here's two trading topics that can help the beginner with gripping Forex trading.

Day Trader

As a day trader it is important to know what is marketing. It can be defined as a planning process that execute pricing, distribution of goods, and services. As an experienced Forex marketer, having a sound analysis of how to have a good conception ability to execute strategy is key to being a trader. The daily trader engage in the business of selling securities that are from their own accounts, which make them profits from the acts of trading. What experienced traders know is that all requirements as a taxpaying trader is substantial. Which can be interpreted as Forex trading, in which traders seek to catch daily market swings, and to profit from the short-term changes in market value, rather than profiting on long-term holding on to investments. This is just what you would use a broker for, a day trader takes a position on commodities within the main trading platforms, including the futures market. Making options on bids, and then liquidating them before the close call during the same day of trading.

Oversold

What oversold means in trading, is described as a condition of the market quantified by using certain technical indicators. Using oscillator indicators as they are called to measure the momentum of a current currency price in comparison to its historical price. The over-bought oversold indicator is a gauge of the strength of a currency pair as the quantity tick or move, which also is called a pip. A good commodity that shows clear oversold indicators is gold, and the market conditions can be studied using a gold technical analysis strategy. Just by having a way to identify trend in trade marketing on Forex platforms can become lucrative. This is what is so scary about the Forex market. When the market price for no real reason declines too fast or steeply, and no technical reason, but opinion of underlying fundamental factors can be said are the causes.

Armand O. Wilson is originally from St. Louis MO, where he took up the traditional American values of growing up. He specialized in imaginary writing, placing him in a position for a writers scholarship to North Carolina Central University, where he played four years college basketball. Graduating with a B.S. in Psychology, later leading him to expertise in writing and marketing knowledge, about many subjects that are problem solution base strategy. Just visit at the link below for information on more Trade Marketing tips. http://www.whereiskobebryantfrom.com/#!trade-marketing/c9ns

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Why Is Paper Trading Important?

Once in a while, I get questions like this from new traders as well as seasoned traders (who never really paper traded in the past). When I reply, I would almost always encourage them to paper trade but they usually disagree. Their argument is quite simple - if the objective of trading the financial market is for wealth, then surely trading a live account is the way to go because you can never make money just by paper trading.

Believe it or not, you can make more money by starting your trading career with paper trading only. Yes, I kid you not. With that, I hope I can shade some light about the importance of paper trading and I hope to influence you to do the same.

Note: With the rise of modern technology, the term Paper Trading is meant to represent any form of system testings. This includes any demo trading, back testing and forward testings that you may use.

Technical Vs Psychology?

Here's a simple question, when you start learning to trade, what is most important to you? Technical knowledge (either fundamental or technical analysis) or Trading Psychology?

My guess is that many would say technical knowledge. Because most new traders would assume it is. Meanwhile, a minority would think that learning the psychology is important.

If you picked either of them, you are (both) right. Why? Because both of them are important. In fact, you need both as one cannot do without the other.

However, many traders still struggle to become successful traders. I believe that's because many fail to priorities both the areas properly. Well, if you're not convinced, please read on.

Technical Is Important

As mentioned, if you think that learning the technical is important, you are absolutely right. Unfortunately, I find that some of you would also start trading real money immediately. Some of you seem to have this "try and see" or "let's learn by getting our hands dirty" mentality.

Of course, 'getting your hands dirty' is crucial but I don't think you need to use money to get your hands dirty when learning the technical. Agree? For those who don't, you might even suggest that traders will not understand their emotions unless they start trading real money.

Voilà... (This is usually the part where I'm most excited.)

As a new trader, if you really want to learn and understand the technical know-how of trading, then stop worrying about how your emotions will pan out. Instead, stay focus on learning the technical until you are a master at it. Until then, put your emotions aside and the only way to do that is to use a demo account.

You see, many new traders contradict themselves by telling the world that learning the technical is important. Yet, they would also put real money at risk to understand their own emotions. While this is not impossible, it has been shown in the past that many have failed to learn both at the same time because emotions usually override our rational mind. When that happens, many new traders struggle to tell the root of a failed trade. In other words, they cannot identify if it's their psychology or is it their system that is working against them?

Furthermore, many would end up breaking their trading rules because the irrational mind (emotions) is acting on their behalf. But if these new traders break their trading rules all the time, they won't have enough sample trades to determine if their system is profitable at all. Not only have they messed up their system beliefs, they have also messed up their own confidence.

Thus, traders end up going in circles.

Psychology Is Important Too

Working on Psychology is important too. However, I'll be brutally honest here, although learning about trading psychology is more important than learning the technical, it is difficult to master your trading psychology without having sound technical knowledge.

Some of you might be scratching your heads now wondering what I'm talking about. As the owner of this trading psychology website, I truly think that trading psychology is the most important element in your trading career. However, many people cannot truly appreciate trading psychology unless they have traded the financial market in the past.

This is just like riding the roller coaster. When you ride the roller coaster, you feel the adrenaline, the rise, the drop, the fun and the rush of the ride. However, in order to build the ride (a.k.a. the system), lots of work has been put into the engineering design (trading plan) as well as the safety features (risk management) before the structure of the ride is even built (live trading account).

Unfortunately, many traders want to enjoy the ride before even having a fail safe design. That's like riding the roller coaster with a few missing nut.

See the problem?

Paper Trading is the Solution

This is one of the main reasons why paper trading is important. You want to separate the Technical knowledge from the Psychology of trading. More importantly, you want to manage them independently without the influence of one over another.

On top of that, you cannot ignore the fact that trading real money is a very emotional activity. While money is a very unique asset, it is also an asset that can make or break your trading. Hence, why would you want to trade real money at the very start?

Every time I explain this to traders, they tend to ignore me because - while their instincts know that paper trading is the right thing to do - their pride, ego, stubbornness is trying to rationalise why they should continue doing what they are doing. Trust me, even I struggled to revert back to paper trading when I came to this realisation.

Hence, here are some proposals that you might find helpful:

• Paper Trade New Systems

Whenever you learn a new trading system or want to introduce one into your portfolio, always paper trade them. Do so until you are consistently profitable (on paper).

Some of you find this challenging because you don't pay enough attention to the trade when there's no real money at risk. However, while many are not aware of it, this is only true if you don't set yourself a target. For example, if you have a new system, make sure to set yourself a target (say 5% gain or 10 winning trades) before you move them to a live account. This way, there is motivation to perform and that will keep your interested.

• Start a 2nd but Smaller Account

Instead of shrinking your trading account, why not move a portion of money to a new or sub account. Most brokers can accommodate clients having 2 or more trading accounts at the same time.

Once you've done so, use this account to trade systems that are only marginally profitable while you find ways to improve these systems. This is part of money management because you are now trading with reduced risk. Also, put any new systems (after having successfully paper traded them) in this account too. Do not increase the risk of any new systems until they are consistently profitable in this sub account.

Conclusion

As you can see, it's pretty easy for new traders to get confuse between managing their trading system over managing their emotions. This is probably one of the biggest challenge that new and seasoned traders need to overcome.

In order to overcome these problems, we need to separate the two elements and manage them independently. Like it or not, by paper or demo trading, we are able to achieve that and, hence, traders who have paper traded in the past will likely to become more successful traders in the longer term.

If you like what you read, do visit us at TradeYourEdge.com

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Comparison of Forex Trading and Stock Trading

Very many people wonder what difference there is between forex trading and stock trading. These two financial markets share a lot in common and for the uninitiated they may look like one and the same thing. However, they are very different in form, function, and many other different ways.

Leverage

Of all the differences between these two giant financial markets, the most glaring is their respective leverage levels offered by brokers. A stock trader can get leverage of about 2:1 in the US though in some countries that may go up to 15:1. Additionally, there is a rigorous process involved in qualifying for any type of leverage in the stock exchange market and thus most traders have very limited financing options from their brokers.

On the other hand, the forex market is known for its high leverage levels offered by brokers. In the US, this is now limited to 50:1 but in most countries you will get leverage levels of 200:1. In fact, brokers are increasingly offering higher leverage levels and it is now common to find brokers offering leverage levels of 300:1, 400:1, 500:1, and even higher.

Liquidity

When trading stocks, there are limited numbers of shares you can buy or sell within any particular stock exchange. Most company shares will cost from a few dollars to some hundreds of dollars. Trading on the forex market is a whole different ball game. The number of currencies to trade in is very high and the amount of currency you can buy or sell is unlimited. To further illustrate the difference in liquidity, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) report for August 2012 shows that the stock market experienced a daily turnover average of $2 trillion. The same report shows a figure of $4.9 trillion per day for the forex market.

Trading Hours

When you are trading in stocks, you are limited to normal business hours. You can only conduct business during those times when trading is open in the centralized exchange market that you are operating from. For instance, if you are trading on the New York Stock Exchange, you are limited to trading Monday to Friday between 0800hrs EST and 1700hrs EST.

With the forex market, there is no centralized exchange and you can trade 24 hours a day 6 days a week. This makes is quite easy to fit your trading to your schedule even if you have other commitments. For instance, you can run your other business or work at an employed job during normal business hours and trade in the evening or whenever.

Bear Markets

The stock market can go into decline where most stocks will lose value. Stock traders may make profits by shorting during such moments but this is strictly regulated and extremely risky. The benefits of such a move are usually very little except if you are making a very large investment. On the other hand, in the forex market there never is a bear market. When one currency is in decline, others may not be.

And even in a case when both currencies in a pair are in decline, the forex trader can profit by selling the fast-declining currency and buying the one with the slower decline and reversing the transaction when the fast-declining currency attains its low. A forex trader also profits from selling high and buying back low so there really is no bear market in forex trading.

Regulations

The stock exchange market in any country is controlled through very strict regulations that brokers and traders have to adhere to. This restricts the number of brokers, traders, and other market players and makes it somewhat difficult to participate in the market. The forex market has no such qualms and is basically a free for all.

There are no limits to how much you can invest, when you can enter a trade, which currency you can trade in, how you can make currency trades, or what you can say about the market, particular currencies, or prices. In short, there is more freedom in the forex market.

The author of this article is associated with http://www.forextradingbig.com/, a pioneering website that provides foreign exchange (fx) trading schooling free of charge. You are welcomed to visit the site to learn more.

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What Do Day Traders Do?

Day Trading is a term that is very common in investing circles these days. But if you are new to the industry let me explain a little more about it.

Traditionally people invested in stocks and commodities meaning they did careful analysis on where their favored market will go over the next 6 months to several years.

However now with the invention of computers, the internet and the low cost trading infrastructure it allows people now to enter and exit trades in fractions of a second. Fractions of seconds are a little beyond the realm of this article, however to enter and exit a trade that you have had on for minutes is quite possible from home. I am a professional proprietary trader and have been for 8 years. I trade futures contracts and very often I will be in trades for only 6 or 7 seconds.

There are many many different techniques used to decide when to enter or exit a trade which couldn't possible all be discussed in this article, although i talk about them more on my free website. But some people would be looking to jump on momentum if there is a fast move in a market, other people looking to wait for quiet times in the market and just buy and sell back and forth whilst the market is in a tiny range. Then there are techniques such as spread trading (not to be confused with spread betting) which is when you buy one market and sell another closely correlated market if their relationship moves out of its historical range

So broadly speaking day trading means you are not holding any positions overnight, you get in and out of a trade on the same day.

The profits and losses from day trading can be a lot greater than traditional investing, because you are using a lot of leverage. This means you are essentially borrowing money from your broker to trade by placing a small deposit with them each day. They will give you the means to buy and sell large quantities of a commodity based on this deposit. So it is possible to make a lot of money taking just the smallest fraction of a movement from the market.

I have worked in professional trading firms all my career and some of the amounts made are mind boggling. I have seen people make 20-30k in a day and much more. However whenever there is reward there is also risk. You should not attempt to be involved in day trading unless you have studied hard and have a game plan in place because when things go wrong they can go wrong very quickly. The key is to accept you are wrong early and cut your losses. I typically will only let a trade go 1 or 2 ticks against me before i get out (a tick is the minimum price movement a market can go). There are a lot of free demo platforms with brokers which you can find on the web, this allows you to practice techniques without risking real money. YOU MUST NOT trade with real money until you have got to a position where you make money consistently on a demo platform.

You must also shop around for the broker that gives you the lowest commission rate. As when you are paying $2 every time you enter or exit a trade this will add up. I typically will spend $300 - $400 a day on commissions so I need to be making at least that in trading profits to make money.

But it is a fascinating and potentially very lucrative world and am happy to answer any further questions at my site.

I have been a professional proprietary trader for 8 years and am happy to give free advice at my website http://www.beingatrader.com

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4 Psychological Challenges Forex Traders Face

It is often said that trading psychology is the hardest aspect of trading to develop. For beginner traders, the main problems can be narrowed into four psychological challenges that need to be overcome.

1. Trading will make you rich instantly.

One of the main misconceptions about trading is that it is a fast track to wealth. Although many are enticed to trade by the promise of profits, it can be a slow and difficult path before one achieves consistent returns.

A trader that aspires for quick riches on the get go might get easily discouraged, especially when losses or losing streaks occur. Dealing with a negative account balance can be very challenging for a beginner trader, as he or she feels increased pressure to perform better and make up for the damage.

If losses compound, a trader might suffer a breakdown if he or she simply focuses on the money aspect instead of the correct process. One might result to overtrading in order to hopefully recover right away but this can lead to haphazard decision-making.

2. Losing is bad.

As mentioned earlier, losing is part and parcel of forex trading. There isn't a single expert trader that hasn't experienced a loss at least once in his trading career.

Of course, encountering a loss can be accompanied by negative emotions but one should not dwell on these for too long. Instead, it is more important to be able to review what went wrong, analyze what could've been done better, and figure out how to improve later on.

3. If you're right, then you will win.

There are some cases in the markets that you analysis may be spot-on but the price reacts in a way that you didn't expect. In other words, having the right analysis of the markets doesn't necessarily guarantee a win for your trade setup.

For one, the market could always have a surprise up its sleeve. There can be sudden events or unforeseen happenings that could completely change the course of price action. Another scenario is that you were able to predict price behavior correctly but you were unable to structure your trade properly or manage your risk well.

Always remember that analysis is just one part of the trading equation. Proper trade execution, risk management, and discipline are also integral parts in landing with a profitable trade.

4. Being aggressive leads to bigger rewards.

In trading, the key to staying positive in the long run is proper risk management. Even if you are always correct in your analysis, if you do not exercise enough discipline to limit your losses or lock in your gains, you might end up losing overall.

Some traders are so motivated by the potential reward that they could end up doubling their risk when they feel extra confident with their setup. For beginner traders, this is a practice that is not encouraged because it turns trading into a form of gambling.

Remind your self that you should always be prepared to handle the loss in case price action doesn't turn out the way you expected. Even more importantly, you should be confident enough that you will be able to bounce back from that loss later on.

To learn more about forex psychology or ways to overcome these psychological challenges, visit PremiumSignals.com and check out our forex trading blog.

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How to Make Money From Penny Stock

If you're new to stocks and thinking about investing in the market, beginning with Penny stocks can be your best bet. It is one of the most popular investment options among amateur investors. Low-investment cost is the basic reason why new investors prefer investing in such kind of trading.

Ever since the trend of online trading took off, investing and making money through penny stocks has become extremely easy. Online trading methods and day trading related to these stocks are much easier and user-friendly attracting a lot of new investors, especially beginners. Basically, it's no longer difficult to buy cheap stocks.

Even though it is a risky investment, it does sound appealing to many people looking to get some good returns from low-investments. If you find online trading interesting and wish to indulge in this risky investment, it is important to do a thorough research about profit and risk factors. Knowledge is the real power of trade, especially when it comes to online trading of penny stocks.

How to Make Money From Penny Stocks

Now, let us give you some simple tips about making money from penny stocks:

1. Begin With Investing Only A Nominal amount

If you don't have any prior experience, it can be way too comforting to buy low-priced shares. It is more beneficial to buy a company's shares priced at $2/share rather than investing in another company's shares available at $2000/share. Moreover, it is logical to buy small amount of shares of different companies. This makes sure that if circumstances go against you, all your money is not lost at once. Just remember to not invest more than 3-5% of your corpus in penny stocks.

2. Seek Thorough Information Before Investing

A lot of novice investors do not care about doing their homework on the company's role in the economy and operations before putting up their money on them. Considering the company's current status in the market is not enough. For better judgement, you should be aware of its management, operational numbers and other such information. Always make sure that you only put your money on shares that appear reliable and promising in the long run. Consulting an expert or broker whose well-versed with NYSE and other major stock exchanges would help you to understand the trading properly.

3. Study The Trading Volume

Most of the time, penny stocks are liquid. A major share in the investment is held by promoters, who are always willing to be sellers. One major problem is that you won't find many buyers. At times, you may want to buy more when the prices are cheap. This can increase the severity of the problem. In the long-term, you will find it very difficult to sell your share. Thus, it is very important to study the history of trading volume. You need to check trading volume for the last sixth months or so. You should check whether the trading volume has been high or low. If you witness any uneven spurts, it could indicate manipulation instead of high liquidity.

4. Prone to Manipulation

Unlike other major stocks, these stocks are easily prone to manipulation. It is a fact that most investors buy stock on the basis of word-of-mouth recommendations. As a result, it becomes easier for unscrupulous dealers to rip you off your money. It is important not to get carried away by biased or manipulated media reports in television shows, newspapers or newsletters. It is extremely important to do a thorough research before making an investment. You should never believe tips which don't have any facts supporting them.

5. Stock Price May Not Recover

When it comes to penny stocks, many investors believe that the stock prices won't go any lower. However, this is just a big misconception. Stock prices may not ever recover if a company is experience business or legal problems, promoters have cut financial support or manipulators have already earned their share. If any of this happens, you can simply forget about getting any returns. In fact, after some time, the stock exchange will even de-list the company. As a result, you won't even be able to trade in that particular stock. Thus, it is very important to work with stringent stop-loss targets. You should not just rely on hope.

Most of the time, penny stocks can prove to be quite risky. In fact, such stocks may result in a lot of different kinds of scams. However, it is important to understand that penny stocks can make you a lot of money. This is the reason why most investors are always willing to invest in these stocks. They believe that the pros of stocks outweigh their cons. Among courageous and brave investors, these stocks have always been popular. In simple words, they can deliver impressive returns in a short span of time.

Penny Stocks

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Limiting Beliefs - The Silent Killers That You Should Eliminate

There were once a pair of twin brothers - the older one is Jon and the younger is Tom. Both of them went to the same school and even graduated with the same degree in the same university. Both of them were bright and intelligent students even though they were fairly individualistic - Jon being the older was more sensible and slightly more risk adverse. Meanwhile Jon was more adventurous and more risk taking.

Two years ago, both the brothers signed up for a trading course and they loved it. However, two years later, Jon is still struggling to be profitable while Tom is hitting consistent returns on a month-on-month basis. Although Jon does not make huge losses, he is frustrated and believes that he is not destined to be wealthy.

As you can see, although these brothers have very similar up bringing and received the same education throughout their lives, can produce very different trading results all together. In fact, I've used twin brothers only to exaggerate my point. Do you remember any trader who started learning to trade later than you but is now trading much better than you? Do you recall any trader who has been trading much longer than you but is doing much worse than you? More importantly, do you know why?

If you are curious to find out why, then please read on.

Beliefs Vs Limiting Beliefs

While the reasons that differentiate both Jon and Tom can be multiple, we can be certain that one of Jon's failure can be narrowed down to his limiting belief.

You see, having a strong and solid belief (system) is crucial and it looks like Jon has been well equipped with that since a young age. His achievements in school would have been a good confident booster for him and it will prepare him for many obstacles in life.

While having a good belief system is vital to succeed, the opposite is also true - the presents of a limiting belief can also prevent you from becoming successful. For Jon, he believes that he is not destined to be wealthy and that can be a huge limiting belief. In fact, it may have been the only reason that is stopping him from being profitable. That's because, in truth, even though having a good belief system leads to taking the relevant actions, having a limiting belief will stop you from taking those actions no matter how much you want it. Do you see the problem?

What Are Limiting Beliefs?

If you're struggling to understand the idea of limiting beliefs then let's flip the question around instead. Ask yourself - What is a belief?

According to Oxford dictionary, the definition is "an acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof". In other words, having a belief is like having the feeling of certainty inside you. There will be feelings of comfort and assurance because you know that those ideas or information are true. The stronger the belief, the stronger the feeling of certainty will be. In fact, when you have a strong belief and strong feelings of certainty, it is like knowing that the sun will rise tomorrow. That specific belief is extremely strong because you know wholeheartedly that the statement is true.

The simplest explanation and answer to the original question is this - having limiting beliefs is having the Lack of Belief or Doubts. Whenever you lack a belief (which is required to take a specific action) it is almost always due to an equal but opposite limiting belief.

Unfortunately, the sources of both beliefs and limiting beliefs are too many to list. Some of these beliefs are just thoughts and ideas that you repeat in your mind several times and that causes you to accept it unconsciously. Sometimes you'll even accept it without have reasons because it's been humming inside your head for a long time. Meanwhile, some limiting beliefs were installed inside you at a young age and they could have started from your family, your school or even your community. Some of these beliefs include:

I must work hard to make moneyTrading is difficultTime is moneyTechnical Analysis worksDreams are not practical

Jon probably had the idea that he is not destined to be wealthy repeated to him after several losses and, two years down the road, he has completely wired that belief into his conscious and subconscious mind.

Identify Limiting Beliefs

Just to be clear, finding the limiting belief might be more difficult than what I've presented in Jon's story because, more often than not, the limiting belief is the root cause of other trading issues. In other words, it is not the symptom and, hence, it is rarely obvious. For example, Jon's limiting belief could have stopped him from pulling the trigger (a.k.a. fear of trading) and Jon might perceive the problem as an emotional issue instead of an issue of beliefs.

Nonetheless, here is a quick formula that you might find useful when trying to find your limiting beliefs.

Step 1
Write down any goals that you are struggling to achieve. Example: I want to become a profitable trader.

Step 2
Write down the reason(s) that you can't achieve it. Example: I don't think I can do it.

Step 3
Kill those reasons:

Verifying that those limiting beliefs are baseless.Finding past examples in your life where you have achieved goals where you once thought you can't.

Example: Just because I've not done it before does not mean I can't do it. Or, I have successfully achieved X and Y goals in the past even though I thought I would surely fail before achieving it.

Note:

This is only meant to be a quick fix to minor or obvious limiting beliefs. If you struggle to find the root cause of your trading issues, do consider engaging a mentor or coach (especially one who specialises in trading psychology).

Conclusion
Limiting beliefs are probably one of the least obvious reasons why traders fail to become successful. Hence, I call them Silent Killers. However, even though they are not obvious, the impact of it on any single trader can be pretty significant.

With that, if you are struggling like Jon to become successful in trading, it might be worth considering and identifying any limiting beliefs that might be holding you back.

Thank you for reading and please feel free to post any questions at the bottom of this article.

If you like what you read, do visit us at TradeYourEdge.com

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4 Steps to Getting Money Work for You

One of the greatest benefits of trading the financial market is that there are so many ways to take money from the market. Some traders like being a scalper and cashing in via the tick charts. Others might even go to the extreme of slowly dripping money out of the market through the weekly and monthly charts.

Irrespective of how you trade the market, it is important to remember that, as a market trader, you want to free yourself from having to work for money. In other words, you want to let money work hard for you. However, before you get too excited, I just want to clarify that the term letting money work for you does not mean NOT doing anything and hoping that money will pop out from no where. Instead, it just represents the potential of allowing the financial market to help you build income while you spend time on other opportunities.

With that, I will be talking about the idea of letting money work for you and how to go about doing it.

1. Identify What the Other Opportunities Are

Before you decide to spend less time trading and more time on other opportunities, it is imperative to know what the opportunities are and that these opportunities (what ever they may be) are important to you too. Opportunities can vary and can be a personal thing, without getting into too much detail here are some examples of what I refer to as opportunities:

• Spending time with family and/or dear ones
• Identifying new money making opportunities
• Spending time with hobbies
• Travelling or volunteering
• Taking lessons on skills you've been dying to learn E.g. Cooking, Interior Design etc

As you can see, opportunities can be in the form of financial or non-financial activities. As mentioned, it is crucial that these activities are important to you because while you are not watching the market, you are losing small trading time that could help you make extra income. Hence, the opportunities must be worth your time. In other words, by combining the right opportunities and trading less, you are able to generate greater returns when compared to trading all the time.

Net Return = Opportunities + Trading (Less) > Trading (All the Time)

The formula above should be a good way to summarise my point. With that, our objective is to find the right opportunities so that we can get the formula working in our favour.

Another point to note is that the Net Return can be in tangible as well as intangibles forms. For example, by trading less and spending more time with family, you are a happier person.

2. Adjust Your End Goal

In everything you want to do, the most important aspect of it is to first identify the end goal. Without knowing where you want to go, you will struggle to see the road map. The chances are, before you read this article, you've already do a trading goal in mind (I hope). If you don't have one, then you might want to consider starting one. If do have one, then you will need re-adjust it to include your opportunities in there.

This may involve re-adjusting your trading system or trading rules. It can be challenging and that's fine. Take your time to do it but what ever you do, you must adjust it. Do not hope to trade less using the same rules or trading system and expect to achieve the same goals.

For some traders, they like the idea of letting money work for them but they neglect that, sometimes, they need to make certain sacrifices. If your opportunities are financially less rewarding, you need to ask yourself - is that OK? Will you be comfortable making less money but be happier? Alternatively, are you OK risking more per trade? These are some of the questions that you need to validate and be comfortable with when you re-adjust your goals. Again, you need to focus and remember that the net return will be greater then trading (all the time) in the longer term when adjusting your goals.

3. The Key Ingredients to Letting Money Work for You

When adjusting your goals, remember to include ingredients that will help you achieve your goals - these are just some suggestions and are not absolute rules. In my view, you will struggle to spend less time watching the market without the following ingredients. Without them, the chances are high that you will be building an active income instead of passive (or partially passive) income. Anyway, the ingredients are as follow:

- Using Orders

When entering the market, use Limit Orders, Stop Orders or Take Profit Orders. It does not matter which one you use, the key is to be able to enter the market without you having to watch the market actively.

- Improved Stop Loss Management

Since you will be spending less time in front of the market, you will need to place your stop orders where it will completely invalidate your trade. In other words, you might need a wider stop loss so that you will not get stop out by intraday volatility. For example, if you are a technical trader, you might consider placing your stops using daily charts instead of hourly charts.

- Routine

Pending on the type of trader you are and the system you use, having a good trading routine is crucial. By doing so, you can are actively managing your time between trading and non-trading activities. The advantage of that is that you are actively managing your time and balancing your priorities.

Disclaimer: In my view, these three ingredients are very useful for most trading systems. However, while I have traded many systems in the market, I have not traded all them. Hence, please be aware that these are just my view and there could be systems that I have not covered.

4. The Balancing Act

Now here comes the most important part of today's article.

After going through step 1-3, many traders become idealistic and make goals that are ambitious without realising the difference when spending less time trading. For example, traders who use to spend 4 hours trading will find it rather difficult when they shrink it to 30 mins a day. They are battling because they have moved outside their comfort zone and they are faced with uncertainties.

For others, they feel uncomfortable because they are stuck on to the belief that money doesn't come so easily. In their view, trading 30 mins a day will not lead them to same rewards unless they increase their risk per trade. Of course, that becomes a new issue which they are struggling to overcome.

In short, the chances are, you will end up in loop (between Step 1-3) when finding out the best way to let money work for you. You will reevaluate the benefits of the opportunities (identified in Step 1) and then readjust your end goals (in Step 2) countless number of times before you find the right balance.

With all honesty, making changes is normal and being outside your comfort zone is a good thing. However, make sure to be patient and make gradual changes (instead of leap changes). Believe in yourself and, before you know it, money will be working hard for you.

Conclusion

Letting money work for us is one of the greatest benefits of being a market trader, so make sure to take advantage of it. Trading 30 mins a day is only an extreme (but not impossible) example and you don't have to use that as your aim. Instead, find something that works for you and, more importantly, find something that will ensure that you'll remain profitable.

Thank you for reading and do send your feedback or questions via the comment box below.

If you like what you read, do visit us at TradeYourEdge.com

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Forex Investment: Provides Better Opportunities for Enhancing Liquid Assets

Looking for ways to diversify your portfolio? Then what could be a better choice than Forex investment. Forex( an abbreviated form of "foreign exchange" ) trading or investment is no longer limited to major banks or governmental institutions. Nowadays, such investments are encouraged from retail investors who have started venturing into this arena with the help of retail brokers. Today, as far as investment is concerned Forex is considered to be an uncomplicated, less demanding and a lucrative option.

The best part of the Forex investment scheme is that it provides retail investors with ample investment strategies to choose from. One such strategy is following the daily or weekly trend which gives them the freedom to trade as per their convenience without the need of keeping a constant eye on the market fluctuations. Investors can also choose for carry trading where they buy and hold a currency that has a higher interest rate against one that has lower interest rate. This helps to add money to their account even when trade is not rolling. However, there are few investors who believe in following an old fashioned approach known as fundamental trading where they give much preference to their understanding of the market rather than looking for signals in the chart.

Forex Investment Resources and Tools

If you are a novice with little knowledge about the Forex market, then you can sharpen your skills with the help of various Forex investing tools available online. This will not only help in better understanding of the market but will also give you a clear picture and help you to get better returns on your investments.

In case you are unaware, let me tell you that there are three Forex resource indicators, RSI, MACD and Stochastic, that helps you to get a better picture of the over-bought and oversold market conditions. The indicators are also known as oscillators and are commonly seen at the bottom of the price chart. The maximum and minimum value is indicated by the back and forth motion of the indicator. For instance, when the indicator moves close to the upper extreme it indicates that over buying of a currency pair and vice versa. Such extreme situations indicate market vulnerability and demands immediate correction or reversal.

Why Choose Forex Over Other Investment Means?

Investment in Forex market is a much hassle free process as it allows investors to choose from limited currencies. This mainly consists of the British Pound, the Euro, the US Dollar, and the Japanese Yen. Here, unlike stock market you do not have to undergo extensive research before plunging into the actual investment. Moreover, the Forex market has sufficient volatility thereby providing enough trade opportunities. Therefore, a closer look at such market will show that a Forex trader is already busy studying the market and has initiated trading when the stock trader is looking for stock to trade.

Unlike stock market, the Forex market is independent of any particular location for trading to take place. Here, everything is managed electronically over the web thereby facilitating a global trade. The investors' only needs to have a web enabled device with a proper internet connection to study the markets from anywhere and from any location. Besides, the Forex market also operates 24 hours a day from 5:00 p.m. ET on Sunday until 4:00 p.m. ET Friday, thereby giving investors an extraordinary opportunity to trade as per their suitable schedule. How can one forget the leverage that this market brings in? Yes, it brings in outstanding returns as compared to mutual funds and stocks. And commissions are so low compared to the stock market that you can almost neglect the pinch on their pockets.

Forex investment requires patience, perseverance and the ability to learn from mistakes. The system can frustrate anyone easily, but he who holds onto it with a focused vision turns out to be the ultimate successor. It not only brings better investment opportunities but also enables one to make easy and fast money.

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Binary Options Demo Account

Opening a demo account dealing with binary options and with a trusted broker is an excellent method to learn the binary options market. If you are considering risking money to get into the binary options trading, first open a money-free trading account. Demos will teach you how to master your binary options and provides the option to broaden or expand the functionality of your account, start a broader account and use delayed starter options account.

To become successful and profitable, gain a mastery of online trading. If you are happy with the progress you make and find that you are confident in trading, partner with the companies you worked with using their free binary option demo accounts.

Play it Safe before You Invest

Demo accounts provide real life experiences in trading. You actively engage in trading in the current market. Learning about binary options includes experiencing the stock market, reading tables, and following trends. Develop your trading strategy without risking real money. These accounts offer resources for both the novice and the expert trader. Training gives accessibility to broker platforms where you can conduct no-risk trades. Learn how to use analysis tools, plus using platform features.

There are two types of these accounts. The most typical account is the standard free account that permits you access different trading platforms, educational materials and broker features. However, standard accounts do not enable simulated trading. You may want to invest in a demo account that offers the same educational materials of a standard account, but gives you the choice to take part in simulated binary options trading.

There are several brokers that offer demo accounts complete with the opportunity to participate in simulated trading. These brokers are also considered to be highly reputable and perhaps investment houses that you may want to partner with when you open a real trading account.

Broker Investment Houses

OptionFair provides a demo account that offers trading simulators used to experience real trading. This simulator provides trade types to be tested and instruction tools and resources. You have access to trading webinars and tutorials to enhance your learning curve.

Try out OptionBit a broker providing demo accounts with simulated trading inside an actual platform. There are e-Courses and training to those who have never traded. After learning on the demo account, OptionBit offers trading tutorials and a platform identical to the demo account.

A third option is Banc De Binary. Their account comprises of $50,000 in trading funds to be used in the simulated trade tutorial. You will need to establish a conventional account with a deposit of $250 before you have access to the account. This is a bit different than free binary options ones, but if you are serious about entering into binary options trading you will have a huge advantage over those who just use non-funded simulators.

Before entering into the world of binary options trading, use demo accounts that will introduce you into trading without taking risks. Take advantage of the learning techniques to gain a tremendous start in trading.

For more information, visit http://www.binaryoptionsexperts.com/affiliate where affiliate marketers are invited to sign up for a free account and get started marketing & making money right away! For help with your content and Internet marketing, visit this virtual assistants site.

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Abоut the Fоrеx Trading Guide

The Forex Trаdіng Guіdе is аn іnfоrmаtіvе site that provides many reviews оn different trаdіng рrоgrаmѕ. It also provides dеѕсrірtіоnѕ оf specific terms used іn thе market. Some оf the рrоgrаmѕ reviewed іnсludе thе LMT Forex Fоrmulа, Forex Confidante, Forex Ambuѕh 2.0, аnd Fоrеx Automoney. Sресіfіс terms that аrе dеfіnеd on thе ѕіtе іnсludе ECN Fоrеx brokers, Fоrеx орtіоn trаdіng, Sроt Fоrеx trаdіng, аnd fоrеіgn еxсhаngе rаtеѕ. The ѕіtе рrоvіdеѕ рrеvіеwѕ оf еасh article with lіnkѕ to the full articles rіght below thе previews.

Thе guіdе ѕіtе аllоwѕ уоu to ѕubmіt уоur еmаіl address in оrdеr tо rесеіvе uрdаtеѕ on thе ѕіtе. In rеturn, you wіll be registered fоr their nеxt free trаіnіng webinar, "Hоw Tо Sаfеlу Avеrаgе 5.7% Per Mоnth Trаdіng Onlу 10 Mіnutеѕ Per Night."

Thе guide provides many tutоrіаlѕ fоr you tо іmрrоvе уоur trаdіng ѕkіllѕ. These tutorials include аn оvеrvіеw оf the market, trаdіng systems, trаdіng ѕоftwаrе, аnd mоrе.

Nеw content іѕ соntіnuаllу аddеd tо the Forex Trаdіng Guide ѕіtе. Recently, аrtісlеѕ оn MеtаTrаdеr 4 Exреrt Advіѕоr Sсrірtѕ аnd automated trаdіng wеrе аddеd to thе ѕіtе.

The ѕіtе аlѕо рrоvіdеѕ you wіth frее еbооkѕ on lеаrnіng how tо trаdе іn the market. It рrоvіdеѕ you wіth several different systems tо try so thаt you can fіgurе оut whісh ѕуѕtеmѕ best fit your реrѕоnаl іnvеѕtmеnt strategy and gоаlѕ. Yоu will fіnd these lіnkѕ аlоng thе rіght side оf thе hоmе раgе.

Thе ѕіtе аlѕо lіѕtѕ аnd lіnkѕ the mоѕt popular trаdіng роѕtѕ along thе right-hand ѕіdе. This gіvеѕ easy ассеѕѕ tо thе mоѕt talked-about mаrkеt information оn the Wеb. Thе topics іnсludе сurrеnсу trading ѕtrаtеgіеѕ аnd ѕуѕtеmѕ, mаjоr pairs, a lіѕt of brоkеrѕ, аnd more.



Another uѕеful fеаturе of thіѕ ѕіtе is lіnkѕ tо popular ѕеаrсh terms аlѕо being lіѕtеd аlоng thе rіght-hаnd ѕіtе оf thе hоmе раgе. Thіѕ саn bе quіtе hеlрful fоr new trаdеrѕ to gain furthеr іnѕіght іntо whаt іt takes tо be ѕuссеѕѕful аt trаdіng іn thе market. Tеrmѕ such as "ѕсаlріng Forex tесhnіquеѕ," "Fоrеx аlgоrіthmіс trаdіng," аnd "Fоrеx рrісе dаtа" are lіnkеd hеrе ѕо thаt уоu can learn more аbоut thеѕе important tеrmѕ.

Thе mаіn goal оf thе guіdе ѕіtе is tо provide уоu wіth unbіаѕеd іnfоrmаtіоn on how tо ѕuссеѕѕfullу trаdе in thе mаrkеt. Unlіkе many оthеr ѕіtеѕ, the writers of thіѕ ѕіtе аrе not brоkеrѕ and аrе nоt іn the business of ѕеllіng trаіnіng courses оr рrоgrаmѕ. Thе іnfоrmаtіоn thеу рrоvіdе іѕ from thеіr оwn independent rеѕеаrсh аnd еxреrіеnсе іn thе mаrkеt. Thіѕ makes this site аn іnfоrmаtіvе and uѕеful one for trаdеrѕ.

Types of Forex Brokers You Need to Know About

There are various types of Forex brokers available for you to choose from when you start Forex trading so it can be difficult to pick out the best one, especially if you are a beginner. They range from illegal trading floors to international award-winning Forex brokers that have direct access to the market. You may be one of the lucky ones that has been told which broker to use through your schooling or you may be a beginner that simply doesn't know where to even start searching. Whatever your situation, the list below will simplify and direct you towards various types of Forex brokers that are available to you:

Retail Forex brokers (market makers) - these are used the most, especially with new traders. Accounts can be easily created online and deposits as small as $100 can be made in order to start trading. The functionalities available are great and the process of trading is quite simple. Be advised to shop around and find out what each broker offers. This could be factors such as live support or instant buy/sell into the market; some could have a small delay depending on their market access which can be quite frustrating.

Institutional Forex brokers (market makers) - The sales angle these types of brokers use is their even more direct access to the market. Unfortunately, because of this feature they require large amounts of capital in order to start trading. Similarly to the above they are also perfect for beginners but because of the large capital requirement, they are usually side-lined until people acquire larger amounts of cash.

Institutional Forex brokers (non-market makers) - unless you are working in a bank you will not have access to these brokers. Large number if international banks trade in this manner where the access is direct to the interbank market.

Spread betters -these are currently only legal in a few countries - this does not include USA. The way in which they make money is different to the traditional manner. Instead of making money on their winnings, they make their money on the spread between two currencies. They usually also include the ability to trade other products like stocks, indices or commodities. As the trade you are putting is a bet in this instance your winnings are not taxable; if you have another form of employment.

The above list and explanations should give you a good idea about the different type of Forex brokers available for your perusal. Just remember to do your research and speak to a few brokers first; before you make a decision on which one to go with. You should probably review your account every year to see if better offers are available elsewhere to make your Forex trading cheaper.

For a comprehensive list go to our Forex brokers page. On the website you will also find everything you need to start your Forex trading career including our video blog where new strategies are shown every week.

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Social Investing: The New Face of Retail Investment

Social media is slowly changing many business and personal relationship landscapes in this age. The total membership of the three giants (Facebook, Google+ and Twitter) put together is close to 2 billion. Facebook has more than a billion members. Google+ boasts of 360 million users at the beginning of May 2013. Twitter is also reported to have about 500 million subscribers. There might be substantial common subscribers. Still, even a billion strong force is a powerful force to reckon with.

On the other hand market trading and retail investment is a huge market. It covers currency trading, equities and commodity trading. Currency trading has now grown to USD 4.3 trillion daily. This is almost 12 times that of the daily equity market size. The commodity market is much smaller in size but growing rapidly. The top 10 commodity markets did a business of USD 1.3 trillion in 2012. These figures give us an idea that retail trading is a huge market with serious loss and gain issues. Being a mass market there are lot of wealth generated or lost and fortunes impacted in minutes. Experience and knowledge about market and market sentiments are the key assets to perform in this market. The real time information directly from market and the expert updates from analysts and traders are inputs that help retail customers take a stand.

The three biggest impacts of social media in our daily lives have been - news, interaction and learning. Social media has brought news to the masses. Tweets from news agencies, directly from the scene of an event, are important source of news. Sharing being a very easy activity on social media, news gets re-circulated fast in the network. Sharing and other features have made interpersonal interaction almost effortless. People who have basic learning and knowledge capturing skills can benefit immensely from social media. Sharing and social exchange are important criteria for knowledge transfer. This is specially true for tacit knowledge transfer. Tacit knowledge is basically experience oriented. Something that is vital to do well in financial trading markets. The huge availability of information, some real time, is an additional advantage. The surge of social media has suddenly made it possible for novice traders to tap into the knowledge capital of the more experienced traders. This kind of knowledge sharing among the investing community brings in an overall maturity of the market. This way the market in turn behaves lore responsibly.

World wide investment in equities, currency and commodity are growing rapidly. Social media has enabled and empowered ambitious retail customers to experiment and invest more in these markets.

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