Whether you have traded in some other market before or you are completely new to the idea of trading, I don’t want you walking in with rose-colored spectacles. Above all other things, traders need to be reality-oriented when it comes to their trading efforts.

According to statistics widely circulated on the web and accepted by most people as truthful, over 90% of individual traders fail to succeed in their trading. The most recent statistics I saw on this indicated that 1% of traders were “wildly successful,” 4% were successful, meaning that they made a respectable living, a good salary replacement, nothing too fancy, 5% of traders just about broke-even, a few months up, a few months down, a treadmill, 36% quit trading and the remaining 54% were losing, many losing far more than they should have lost and replenishing their accounts up to three times before finally falling into the 36% that quit and there is always a new crop of eager-beaver, bright eyed and bushy-tailed amateurs just awakening to the fact that money can be made trading storming the gates to replace them. It’s a vicious circle and a sad one.

I do not tell you this to discourage you. On the contrary, I want to encourage you. I want to see those figures lowered. There is no excuse for such a high failure rate. It doesn’t have to happen to you but you will have to pay your dues. The only way to learn is by doing and even trading in a demo account only teaches you the basics of technique. Because no real money is at stake, the real psychological pressures that will weigh on you the first time you put real money at stake are completely absent and people can do wonderfully in demo accounts only to fail dismally the minute they attempt to trade with real money.

So listen up and listen with both ears if you are seriously considering taking a flyer at trading because what I am about to tell you is the gospel truth and it will astonish you. Success in trading has almost nothing to do with technique or systems or methods. Success in trading is almost completely governed by developing the psychological characteristics that are essential to it. I know that sounds incredible but it’s true and you can take it from me or you can sail ahead thinking that all you need is a good method or system or approach and learn it the hard way. Do yourself a HUGE favor and listen to me. A losing trader will lose with a winning system or approach every single time and good systems and approaches are all over the place, many of them absolutely free.

Don’t get hypnotized by charts and indicators or expensive softwares or all kinds of get rich quick schemes. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. Charts can only do three things: Go up, go down or move sideways. Any good trading approach will suffice. Trading is a game of numbers, of statistics. You need to take a sufficient number of trades to produce a statistically significant sample so you can see what the real winning percentage of your method is. It’s exactly like most sports: Success is not measured by whether or not you fail but by how relatively little you fail compared to other people. In American baseball, for example, a batter who can hit .300 can command a hefty salary with any major league team and that means he makes out 7 out of 10 times he comes to the plate! Same with pitchers. Tiger Woods doesn’t win every tournament he enters nor does he birdie every hole he plays. You will have losing trades. YOU WILL HAVE LOSING TRADES. Get comfortable with that from the beginning.

You need to learn to think like a professional trader. You need to take your business as seriously as you take any other business you are in. You need to be determined, focused and positive. You must conquer fear and greed, the trader’s two greatest enemies. You must cultivate courage, discipline and patience. Then, you have a chance to win. Otherwise, do yourself a big favor and save your time and money. Trading is not for you. Not in the Forex, not anywhere.

If you are willing to accept these ground rules, you could enter upon the most exciting and rewarding journey of your lifetime.

Trading is a spiritual discipline.