There is something common among successful traders. This is the fact that they all have their own unique trading strategies. Although it is okay to learn from others, it is not in your best interest to copy them blindly. You need to focus on finding your own success. Here’s why.
The most important reason why you should build your strategy is to tackle the issue of reliance on another trader’s strategy.
Here are 10 ways you can build your trading strategies:
1. Treat trading as a business
Some traders fall short here. You have to keep in mind that trading is a business and treat it as one. Buy books, Buy a charting program. Be intentional about growing your trading skills because whether or not your trade will be profitable is dependent on your skills. Write down plans that are flexible concerning market conditions and open to improvements as your skills improve and be sure to trade with a licensed broker like ECN forex broker
2. Skill Assessment
Here are a few questions to ask yourself: Have you tested your strategy on a demo account? Are you confident that it will work in live trading? Can you follow your strategy without hesitation? Assessing your skills is a great way to build your strategy. This will help you build and develop on failed trades.
3. Mental Preparation
Building your trading strategy is not always a bed of roses. There may be times when you’ll get frustrated and tired. You need to ensure that you are mentally prepared for the journey ahead. Also, avoid distractions. Distractions can be costly in a business.
4. Set Risk Levels
Your risk level should be dependent on how much loss you can tolerate. It should be around 1% to 5% of your portfolio.
5. Set Goals
This is very important when building a trading strategy. Setting realistic goals will help in giving you a sense of direction. You can set your risk/reward ratio at 1 to 3. Set weekly, monthly, and annual profit goals and reassess them frequently.
- Observe the market and factors that affect trade around the world.
- Trade Preparations:
Always set alerts for entry and exit signals and ensure they can be easily seen with a clear visual or detected with a sound.
- Set exit and entry rules.
- Keep excellent records and analyze previous performances.
- Lastly, assess what other traders have to say about already existing strategies.
If you are looking for a beginner-friendly platform to hone your strategies on, you can check out this fxtm review. You can also check out this post explaining what an ECN trading platform is and outlining some of the best ones.
Although it is absolutely fine to use other traders as sources of information, you eventually have to craft your own strategies. Try them and test them to the point where you can finally trust them. Other traders can help in;
- generating trading/stock ideas
- giving you insights concerning a trade
- giving you buy/sell updates or alerts
- confirming your ideas(validation).
Keep in mind though that the majority view is not always right. Their suggestions can however help greatly in improving your own ideas.