By: Johnathon Fox
The month of August for most traders around the world was a very quiet one. Most currency pairs tended to range and bob up and down in the on spot. Markets that have very little volatility or in other words don’t move either higher or lower prove very difficult markets to make money on from any trading system. For a trader to make money it is best when volatility is high and markets are moving freely.
During the last month I have seen a lot of traders lose a lot of money. This is because they failed to adjust to the quiet conditions and they chased the market.
What is Chasing the Market?
Chasing the market is when traders just can’t help themselves entering trades even though they know full well the trade is not the best trade they could enter. Many traders have this weakness in their trading and it is just a matter of time before these traders take a serious hit to their account.
Let the Market Come to You
Professional traders all have one trait in common, and that is they never chase the market and trade just for the sake of it. Professional traders realise that there will always be more trades and they let the market come to them.
All professional traders have an edge that they use to identify trading opportunities in the market. For a professional trader their job is easy as they don’t enter the market and make a trade unless there is a very clear trade that meets their entry criteria.
The traders who lose money do the exact opposite to this. These traders just can’t get enough of trading and for them it verges on an addiction. Far from waiting for the market to come to them and form excellent setups to enter, the loosing trader’s jumps at any slight trading opportunity there may be and hopes for the best.
Perfect Your Strategy and then Make Money
To become a part of the special group of traders who consistently makes money you will have to make a few changes to your current trading approach. You first must select your trading strategy such as price action trading. Once you have selected your trading strategy you need to go about perfecting it. All this really entails is getting to know a few really good and reliable setups like the back of your hand. To make money in the forex markets you don’t need to know 100 entry signals. You only need 2 or 3 that your know and understand really well.
Once you are familiar and confident with your trading technique it is a matter of learning to sit on your hands and start to trade like a pro! Stop chasing the market and jumping at shadows. Instead only enter when the market is screaming at you with a really obvious sentry signal.
Don’t be sucked in like all the other traders losing money to the thought that more trades equals more money made. This is in fact the complete opposite to what works, and if you want to make money you need to start doing the exact opposite to what nearly all other traders are doing! If most other traders are losing money consistently you would be wise to stop listening to them and start doing things differently!