Successfull forex traders

Would you like to enjoy the lifestyle of successful forex traders? If you were to split foreign exchange traders into two groups – the successful and the less than successful – could you identify those characteristics which separate the two groups?

It does not really matter what we do in life, which includes foreign exchange trading, but, whatever we do, one thing that will have more affect on our success than anything else we do will be setting goals.

It is a simple fact that the human mind works best when it is given a roadmap to follow and, by setting a goal, you start building your roadmap by clearly defining the end point of your journey. However fixing a destination is not sufficient and you will also need to define the route which you are going to follow to get to your destination. Here is an example.

Suppose you decide you want to build a fortune as a foreign exchange trader, and who doesn't after all! This in itself is not however much help as any goal which you set needs to be measurable, otherwise you have no way of knowing whether you have reached it. So, at this point, you need to be clear about exactly what you mean by a 'fortune'.

Let us assume therefore you set a goal of making $1,000,000 in the next twelve months. Now you have a clearly defined destination. The next problem however is that, since you are almost certainly new to the world of foreign exchange trading, are still learning the ropes and possibly have limited capital to invest at this point, making $1,000,000 in the next twelve months is possibly an unrealistic goal.

As well as being measurable, goals also have to be realistic. It does not matter what goal you set for yourself in foreign exchange trading, but it must be within your reach. There is no point in deciding that you are going to win Wimbledon if you have never even picked up a tennis racket.

So, instead of aiming for $1,000,000 let us set a far more realistic target of say $120,000. Having done this, we then need to split this figure up into marker posts which we can put onto our roadmap and we can do this by looking at our target on a monthly instead of a yearly basis. This gives us a dozen $10,000 markers. However, if we continue along these lines we can then break our goal down further into weekly markers of $2,500.

At this point we have got something which we are able to examine against our current and recent experience and it is a fairly simple matter to see whether or not this figure is possible. Is it possible, against the background of your current experience, to make $2,500 trading foreign currencies in the coming week?

Your goals must be measurable and realistic, but they must also be attainable. It is one thing to set a realistic goal, but you also need to have the right tools, in the right place at the right time if you are going to reach that goal. If you are currently making $750 a week then you probably won't convert this into $2,500 overnight so, in this instance, your goal is unattainable and you will need to go back to the beginning and start all over again.

But, if $2,500 is feasible, then there is one additional step that needs to be taken before you are ready to head off on your journey. This final step is to paint a picture in your mind's eye of your destination.

Although you have set a goal of making $120,000 in the next twelve months, the money itself is of course not really what you are aiming for, but it is what you can do with the money which is important. So, having got your $120,000 what do you intend to do with it? If you want to buy yourself a new sports car then paint a picture in your mind's eye of driving into the sunset with the roof down and then you really have got a goal.

If you want to achieve success in foreign exchange trading then you have to set yourself a goal which is measurable, realistic and attainable and than paint a picture of your goal in your mind's eye. If you do this you will be amazed at how easy a matter it is to get to your destination.