This Question is asked over and over and over again by many, many men and women. The solution is:”Yes, it’s possible!”
And, better yet, you can do it.
Sometimes people do not believe me when I say that they can become Successful, full-time traders, but it is true. And I will prove it to you at this time.
Trading for a Living
Before we begin, I want you to ask yourself one very important Question:”How much is’a living? ”’ lots of men and women wan to not be’rich,’ but they don’t measure what’rich’ means to them. Ar e you ‘rich’ if you have one million dollars?
Maybe so, but if you told Donald Trump that he had one million dollars In his bank account, he would wonder what had happened to the rest of his cash. He would be furious!
One million dollars to Donald Trump equals broke!
Within the past couple of years, I have taught countless people how to Earn money with trading.
I have educated people in nations where $2,000 Enables You to live like a king in a 6,000 square foot mansion with a butler, a gardener, and a cook.
And I have educated people who live in California, where they have to create At least $20,000 just to cover their mortgage, their utility bills, and gasoline for their cars.
I have taught musicians who wanted to make $5,000 per month, which is Twice as much as they’ve made throughout their entire career.
And I have taught business executives and successful business owners, who Needed at least $50,000 a month to keep their current lifestyle.
As you can see, “making a living” Is a really broad term.
Since I do not want to get into a deep conversation About”how much money is an adequate living for you,” let us just assume that you’d be quite happy if you’re earning $150,000 per year, and let us say that you’re making this money with your trading. Does that seem reasonable?
Let’s break it down: $150,000 annually will be $12,500 per month, or, If you would like, $3,000 a week. This is assuming that you’re taking two weeks of holiday each year.
IMPORTANT: Do not set daily goals when you exchange. To be able to make money, two conditions have to be fulfilled:
1.) YOU Have to be prepared to trade.
2.) THE MARKET has to be prepared to be traded.
There’ll be days when You Aren’t in the best (sickness, psychological Stress, no time due to an emergency, etc.), and there’ll be days when the industry isn’t ready to be traded (e.g. vacations, such as the days before and after holidays, days before a significant news release, such as the Federal announcement regarding rates of interest or the unemployment re-port, etc.).
Have a Look at the next chart. The markets were available the day after Thanksgiving and on Dec 24th and 26th, but there was hardly anyone trading, which you can see reflected in the volume bars. It is the same between the Remaining days after Christmas and through New Year’s Day in 2008. Although the markets were available, the quantity was very thin. During these kinds of low-volume days, markets can be easily manipulate and may behave very erratic, so it would be best to keep away from trading.
And that is why you shouldn’t set daily targets in you r trading: these Goals will make you trade on days when both of the earlier mentioned states — you AND the marketplace being prepared — are NOT fulfilled.
It is important to start small and establish a weekly goal for Just ONE contract, or 100 shares. This target should be LOW, really low, so it is not hard for you to reach it. Consider high-jumping: you train with a pub that’s only 3 feet high. It’s easy to jump. Then, as soon as you handle three toes, you raise the bar .
So as to trade successfully, you should not raise the bar too high too fast. Put it in a level which you can manage each and every time. You may always increase it at a later date, as soon as you’ve proven that you can fulfill your goal consistently.
Example:
In the first four weeks of your trading, you could set your weekly Target at $100 each contract. This might sound too simple for you, but bear in mind that 90% of traders lose money in the markets. When it is possible to earn $100 per contract you can begin”raising t he pub.” Try $150 per contract each week. Raise the bar over and over, but ensure you’re still comfortable in attaining your targets.
When day trading futures, options, or forex, you can use leverage and Trade multiple contracts on a fairly modest account. If you’re considering trading the futures market, then it is easy to find a broker who will allow you to trade 1 contract of any futures instrument that is out there — E-mini S&P, E-mini Russell, currency futures, interest rates, commodities, etc. — on a $2,000 account.
After awhile, you could raise the bar to $300 per contract each week. So, If you wish to make $3,000 a week, then you will need to exchange ten con-tracts. The same applies to stock trading: if it is possible to earn $300 a week trading 100 shares, then you will need to trade 1,000 shares to be able to earn $3,000 a week.
Now, you might not have enough money on your trading account To trade at these increments, but do not worry — we’ ll get there.
The key component to trading success is using a sound trading strategy that produces consistent profits. If you’re able to make money day trading one contract or 100 shares of stock, then it’s possible to make money day trading ten trades or 1,000 shares of stock.
Ideally, to achieve your weekly goal, you’ll have a high average gain per trade. The typical profit must be at least 50% greater than your average loss, rather even two times as high.
Among the approaches that I use and teach to my students calls for a Profit goal of $300 per contract along with a stop loss of $200 per contract. You’ll discover that the profit goal is higher than the stop loss. That is the beauty of it: all you need is just one internet winning trade, and you’re going to have achieved your weekly objective of earning $300 per contract.
So if you are lucky, you can achieve your weekly profit goal on Monday morning with the initial trade.
However, what if you lose?
As everyone in trading understands, losses are a part of the business, and you Can’t prevent them. If that’s something you’ve trouble accepting, then you need ton’t be trading. However, there is a enormous difference between losing large on a regular basis and losing little in a controlled trading program. You already know that you ought to keep your losses small; the secret is to keep them smaller your average wins.
Let us go back to the situation I said before: you have a trading Strategy that generates $300 in profits for each win and costs you $200 for each loss. But if your weekly objective is $300, and if your initial trade was a reduction of $200, then you want to create two winning trades to reach your weekly profit objective.
Let me take this a little farther and really break it down for you: You have dropped $200 on your one losing trade, and you earn $600 on both winning trades ($300 each). Your net profit = $400. Goal achieved. Now, STOP TRADING. Otherwise, you will end up giving back the money you just made to the markets. Lock in your gains!
Needless to say, you are not always guaranteed per week with just 1 loss. Let’s Look at a week which starts off with three losses. With three losses, you’re currently down $600 ($200 each). So you would have to have three wins which bring about $900 ($300 each). Subtract the $600 you lost on the losing transactions in the $900 you won on the winning trades, and your resulting net gain is $300. Goal achieved. Stop trading.
“Wait a minute — you are saying that I’ll achieve my goals using a Winning proportion of just 50%?“
YES! That is exactly what I’m saying! Read the example above you Dropped $600 on three losing trades, made $900 on three winning trades, and came out with a net profit of $300. This means you could select a losing trade each time and STILL reach your weekly profit objectives!
I want to stress this point again, because most traders fail this Important notion of setting weekly targets. They define daily objectives, which make an enormous psychological strain, and they then exchange markets when they should not, and they shed.
So let us just assume for a moment that you do wind up achieving an actual Winning percentage of just 50%. Now, when you begin trading on Monday morning, what are your odds of having a winning trade? 50%! You have a one in two chance of fulfilling your weekly profit target in only one single trade!
So Should You achieve your weekly profit target on the first trade Monday morning, what next?
Stop trading for this week! Just enjoy life! It Does not get any better than that.
Bear in mind, you will need to stick with your trading strategy and your weekly aim. Do NOT enter into a different trade as soon as you’ve already achieved your weekly target; the possibility your second trade might be a losing trade is too good, and you would be giving your cash and profits back to the marketplace. Over trading and greediness are a dealer’s downfall, so resist them and stick with your strategies.
Now, you know that you can achieve your weekly gain target with a Winning percentage of just 50%. Throughout the course of the book, I will enable you to have a much sharper edge in your trading, developing a trading strategy with a much greater winning percentage.
A Quick Recap:
The first step towards financial success is to specify your weekly profit target. Next, you want to discover a dependable, straightforward trading strategy which can allow you to realize your profit goal. When you enter a trade along with your trade strikes either your profit goal OR your stop loss, depart that trade instantly. Stick with your trading strategies and strategies until you attain your weekly profit target, then give yourself a break until next week.
If you will think back to the situation I gave at the beginning of the Section, so as to earn $150,000 per year — assuming that a 50-wee k year and 2 weeks of vacation — you would want to make $3,000 per w eek. In a $300 profit per transaction, it follows that you would have to exchange ten trades (or 1,000 shares). Naturally, this case can be applied to different quantities. If you wanted to earn $225,000 annually with a weekly profit goal of $300 per contract, by way of instance, then you would need to exchange 15 contracts (or 1,500 stocks ), etc, etc.
If you do not have a trading account that let’s you exchange the amount of Contracts or shares that I am talking about yet, then now is the best time to begin building it. Bear in mind, be patient with your trading, be smart, be slow, and be steady. Trading success does not happen overnight, but with the correct strategies and construction, you can attain profitable re-sults in a far shorter time period than you could have thought possible.
Plan your transactions and trade your plan. THAT’S how successful traders make cash.