Hello delegates.

It’s with pleasure that I will be writing this month’s letter. Over the years I have worked, met, seen, holidayed and chatted over drinks with many professional traders in the industry from Sydney to London, Monaco to Hong Kong and everything in between. What I have witnessed is that not only do we have the obvious in common, that is trading, but we all shared similar characteristics with each other and that it why we do what we do. From institutional banks to investment firms, to dealing nowadays with traders from education companies as well as hedge funds, I will reveal below a list of what I have discovered over the years of what makes us professional traders.

10 Characteristics of a Highly Successful Trader

Discipline is the key – Discipline needs to be exercised at times of trading. I find that people who are disciplined in their day to day life are far greater traders. If not the markets will charge you for discipline and there’s no refund for it.

Desire and drive More than average. We have the drive because we have a goal in place, or a cause, whichever word you prefer. Our target is set and we use trading to simply achieve that target. What is your target? Do you have one? The desire to accomplish this is so great that we won’t make any excuses or let anyone prevent us from achieving it.

Confidence We all knew that we would remain successful as long as we stuck to the plan. Confidence builds with experience and seeing the markets over and over, week in week out, year in year out, gives us the knowledge to hold in for a winning trade and get out early for a losing trade.

Hard work and study – You know what it takes to be successful. You understand that there will be certain hurtles that have to be overcome to progress. And after them lies the road to riches.

Balance – Being able to trade as well as having a life is important. Trading can be intense so having other stimulating activities will balance it out. Have time off and get a hobby. At the end of the day, didn’t you get into trading to have more time to do the things you want to do?

Patience – A professional trader will be quick to take losses and slow to make profits. Beginners take profits quickly because they’ve never had them before and fear losing them. Wealth isn’t built in a day or a week. It is slowly accumulated with consistent trading strategies.

Independence – To become a professional trader it is crucial that you must be able to think for yourself without being influenced by the media/news or others around you. A true trader can make key decisions by themselves and that can only be learnt over time with discipline.

Understanding that losing is part of the game. – Making mistakes is part of the game, just don’t make the same mistake over and over. You can only learn through your mistakes. Analyse them and identify what went wrong. You can only improve from there onwards.

We all love what we are doing. – It is simply a passion that we enjoy doing. We don’t consider this work. Just like having a passion for cars or shoes for females, trading the forex market is a passion that lies within.

Positive mental attitude – I personally believe that this pushed me to greater heights to continually succussed as a trader. To have a clear headspace and a ‘can do’ approach, this makes me work harder than ever and pushes me to new limits that I keep breaking. When a person discovers that their boundaries are just an illusion, they gain the ability to create whatever they envision.

How many of the characteristics are you? One, two, maybe all of them. I challenge you now for the next 10 days to show one of these characteristics per a day. One a day for the next ten days. It will reveal a lot about yourself as well as to help you to becoming the trader you want to become.