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So, you’ve opened a live trading account and have some experience on the markets. Not long after, you start considering taking your trading hobby more seriously or, better yet—turning it into a full-time career. In this article, we’ll share the 5 main principles that all professionals follow and which will hopefully aid you on your journey to becoming a successful trader.
Principle #1: Don’t stop learning new skills
As we mentioned in “The 10 Commandments of Successful Trading”, the continuous strive towards self-betterment is a time-consuming, but nonetheless a key ingredient to your success.
Once you have mastered the knowledge found within our expansive “Education” section, we highly encourage you to continue acquiring new skills through various blogs, courses, webinars and any other useful (and well-curated!) content you happen to find online.
Principle #2: Ensure you have enough funds
In order to become a professional trader, most investment intermediaries will require you to:
– Own a sizable investment portfolio with a combined net worth of over €500 000
– Have concluded an average of 10 trades with significant volume for the past four quarters
– Have held or currently hold a responsible financial position for a year or more
As you can see, becoming a professional trader within the EU requires quite a bit of funds, which is why we suggest that you only trade with amounts that you can afford to lose.
Principle #3: Have a trading strategy in mind
Many traders spend hours on end jumping from one asset to another in the hopes of spotting the next winning trade or strategy. Instead of wasting all that precious time aimlessly clicking things on your screen, a much better way of doing things is to build a solid trading strategy.
Knowing exactly what price movements to look for and when to chase after a trade is what separates professional traders from aspiring amateurs. Seasoned experts strive to remain focused at all times and only follow events, price movements, and market trends that will benefit their specific strategy and help them identify buy or sell opportunities.
Principle #4: Distance yourself from your emotions
This rule applies to all traders regardless of their level of expertise. Should you win a trade, never allow your ego to take over the steering wheel as this could eventually cloud your judgement and lead to a series of bad decisions that you will later regret. And should you incur a loss, don’t lose faith in your skills or strategies and simply keep on trading! A true professional always knows that losses are inevitable and doesn’t take them personally.
Principle #5: Stick to the basics
Finally, every skilled professional infallibly follows these two key mantras come rain or flood:
1. A trade is just a trade and the end result carries no real importance.
2. The stop loss is the price you pay for backing out of a bad trade.
In conclusion
To become a professional trader, you have to think and act like one first. The good news is that you don’t need a humongous bank account nor expensive equipment to get started.
Analysing your trading behaviour on the go, thinking about what and how to change in your strategy to get more efficient results: these are the actions that will lead you to success.
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