The following are some of the common ” I should have … ” syndrome.

I should have gone short when I wanted to. My analysis was correct that the market was topping.

I should have gone long when I wanted to. My analysis was correct that the market was bottoming.

I should have used a stop loss …

I should have added few more contracts to my position …

I should have done what my charts indicated …

I should have listened to the rumors …

I should have gone golfing …

Be honest to yourself and admit if any of these in their stated form or in other variations happened to you before …

Hindsight is easy , correct ?

Trading is a psychological game. After all the research and back testing is done , and , after all the trading systems have had their turn at bat and after all the market experts have given their forecasts , the fact remains that what traders actually do in comparison to what they should do are two very different things.

Many traders are overloaded with …

I love watching Formula One racing. This is the highest class of Grand Prix racing , I guess. The ” formula ” in the name is a set of rules which all racing participants and cars must meet.

I am trying to relate Formula One or F1 , to our trading world. That is right - we have Rules to follow in trading too. We set our own trading rules. We need only One Formula ( correct one ) to be successful in trading.

I am not sure how many of my fellow traders would agree or disagree with me …

Trading is all about focus. We cannot do anything well without being totally focused. Focus means you must first get rid of distractions , and annoyances to your goal or lifestyle. Then you need to continually define and redefine your formula so that you can work on focus to and fro for that formula.

As traders this means we need to identify what our personal market focus is. We need to define what our formula is …

There is no shame in not trading when you should not be trading. This concept is one that you should cozy up to if your objective is to reach the next level of trading mastery and success. We have ups days and downs days , as far as level of energy and personal emotion goes. There are many traders who are convinced that they can trade regardless of how they feel. Those traders who have the discipline to take themselves out of the game when they are not up to par have fewer days they have to do so because they figure out ways to prevent occurrences.

The shame is in doing something that you are not prepared to do while putting yourself and your capital at risk. The best way to insure that you answer the question of whether or not you should trade today is to be disciplined. The routines of self-discipline that address your physical and emotional well being are your best defense against bad trading days. They are also the means to insure that you follow …

I spoke with one of the traders who read my trading blog. It was a good communication and also served as a reminder for me to stay focused in what I am currently trading. This trader was talking about few markets that he wanted to trade …

I tried doing the same idea when I first started my trading journey. Later I realized that each market had its own “personality” which is shaped , to a great extent , not only by the inherent characteristics of the market , but by the combined personalities and mass psychology of the major players who were involved in the market , both from the speculative as well as the hedge standpoint.

Staying focused and seeing the markets and ourselves from the psychological point of view is the key to success in trading. We have lots to learn about our own psychology as a trader.

I am sure most of us had came across what we once thought was a “perfect system”. Every trading seminar we attended , or every …

Almost everyone who gets involved in trading does so with the objective of making money. Most people also have the dream of becoming such a great trader that they can purchase or have anything their heart desires. Some of these folks dream of managing money and collecting 20% of the profits on hundreds of millions of bucks of capital. Others dream of breaking Larry Williams’ record of turning ten thousands into over one million in twelve months. Still others dream of taking their small amount of capital and , over the years , turning it into tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars. Sounds familiar ? You could also be one of those dreamers , like me before …

Whatever the dreams , the question becomes : What separate those who reach that dream from those who fail ? Believe it or not , it is the same thing that separates the successful people from the masses in other fields. The successful ones have a plan for success and they follow it. Another …

Online trading attracts us with the promise of financial freedom. If you can trade , you can live and work anywhere in the world. You have no boss to answer to , no necessity to answer to customer complaints , and no reports to write. Isn’t that wonderful ?

If you are currently employed , think of this … Are you making a living out of your job , or are you making a dying ?

Consider the average working class , the alarm clock rings at 6:30am and our working man is up and running. Shower and wash up. Dress up in your professional attire or overalls. Breakfast if there is time , otherwise grab your laptop carrying case and join the rush hour and traffic jam. This is a daily punishment for the working people , unless you commute by helicopter , if you are the CEO of a large corporation.

On the job from nine to five - deal with the boss , deal with colleagues , and exercise a little bit of office politics , if necessary. Deal …

Another sign that the Forex market has come of age is that everyone’s talking about it - investors , financial gurus , and world leaders.

Warren Buffet , , whose Berkshire Hathaway fund has realized an average 22 percent increase in book value annually since 1965 , announced in his 2003 letter to shareholders that he had , for the first time , entered the foreign exchange market on a large scale in 2002 and that he had increased his position in 2003.

Buffet attributed his move to the alarming increase in U.S. trade and government deficits. Buffet , one of the most successful investors in history , knows that weakness in the U.S. dollar could undermine the billions of dollars worth of assets he owns. ” I feel more comfortable owning foreign exchange contracts that are at least a partial offset to that position, ” he concluded.

In 2003 , Morgan Stanley told its clients that they should take advantage of stock opportunities in Japan and Europe. The firm took that position because it believes stocks …

When Foreign Exchange was deregulated in 1997 , independent traders finally had access to the biggest trading market of the world - forex. But to win profits at this game you have to go up in line with the biggest financial institutions of the global economy. These big guys - we call them Big Dogs …

Unlike other traded markets , the Forex market has no physical location and no central exchange. There are no pit traders to gun your stops , and no insiders to step on your toes. But it is a huge arena with huge players ! It operates through a global network of national banks , commercial banks , global corporations and individuals trading one currency for another. The lack of a physical exchange enables the Forex market to operate around the clock , spanning the world from one major financial center to the next.

The Forex market is driven by real need and real economic forces between countries and the economic sectors of the world. National banks act to protect …

Money has been around in one form or another since ancient times , during which money changers exchanged coins from one culture to another. However , during the middle ages , the demand for another form of currency other than coins emerged as the method of choice. The Babylonians are credited with the first use of paper bills and receipts. These paper bills represented transferable third-party payments of funds , making foreign currency exchange trading ( also known as Forex or FX ) much easier for merchants and traders.

From the infantile stages of foreign currency exchange during the Middle Ages to World War 1 , the Forex Markets were relatively stable and without much speculative activity. After the war , the Forex Markets became very volatile and speculative activity increased tremendously.

From 1931 until 1973 , the Forex Market went through a series of changes - many of which have paved the way for the road ahead. The Forex Market , as we know it today , originated in 1973. Today , everyone is talking …

In my previous post , I quoted this :

” The first rule of trading is to survive ; the second rule is that all rules can be broken if that supports the first rule. ”

The Stock Market is a complex environment. Market condition changes every second , sometimes you know the reason , sometimes you don’t. Trading systems and trading rules are meant to guide us during our execution of trades.

Trading Rules are not carved on solid rock. At times we need to review and edit some of the rules that do not work anymore.

I would like to quote a driving example here …

Imagine if you are driving along the road and an oncoming truck is heading towards you in your lane , do you stay in that lane or swerve across to the empty lane ( assuming no vehicles there ) where you are not supposed to be ? The rules are clear , you are not supposed to be over there in the wrong lane. The system says not to do it , but reality …