5 Habits Of Successful Traders

Get a pen and paper and write these five habits down.

Each habit you have, write down a 1 and each habit you don’t have write a 0.

Sum up the points at the end and you’ll know where you are, what you have to do to improve and whether you have the trading edge to be successful.

HABIT #1:
Courage

You need the courage to follow these basic steps.

#1: Open a trading account

#2: Deposit money in your trading account

#3: Adopt a trading strategy

#4: Take the trades that line up

#5: Follow your strategy (with the winners and losers)

Have the courage to do that today or have done it?

Mark 1 for YES

Mark 0 if you’re not ready…

HABIT #2:
Persistence

I’ve said this before…

Trading is a forever business…

It’s easy once you get it right. The hard part after a while is keeping persistent.

Do you have the PERSISTENCE to:

#1: Trade for a few minutes every week?

#2: Look for trading setups?

#3: Follow a proven trading strategy without changing the rules?

#4: Not give up on a trading strategy after a losing streak?

#5: Not go against a strategy after during a winning streak?

 

Mark 1 for YES

Mark 0 if you’re not ready…

HABIT #3:
Save Money

Look.

The more money you have in your trading account, the faster it will grow.

If you think R5,000 or R10,000 is all you need to retire in a few years – it’s time to wake up!

Every month, I deposit around 5% -10% of my savings into trading…

Now I know not everyone can deposit such a large portion of their savings in trading as they have other capital allocations to their portfolio…

Well, what ever you can deposit per month comfortably is better than nothing.

This will help you to grow your trading account at a faster rate.

Mark 1 for YES – I have the habit to save money per month.

Mark 0 if you’re not ready…

HABIT #4:
Evolve

The markets are constantly going through change.

In just a span of 20 years there have been a multitude of trading instruments.

For example:
Shares – warrants – Futures – Binary Options – ETFs and CFDs.

We’ve also seen a plethora of different markets including

Equities – Indices – commodities – currencies and Crypto-currencies

And as a trader, it’s our job to keep learning and evolving with the markets…

Do you have the habit to adapt to change and learn throughout your trading career? Mark 1

Not ready for change? Mark 0

Habit #5:
INDEPENDENCE

Once you have everything you need to succeed as a trader, it’s all on you.

You should not have anyone to hold your hand, influence your decisions or tell you what to do.

When you are sitting by your laptop or device – No one should be able to change your mind including from:

• Friends
• Family
• Mentors
• Your conscience
• Bloomberg
• Spouse and kids

If you think you have a good level of independence, mark 1.

If you’re not ready for being independent mark 0.

Final Thoughts

The points where you marked 1 – Great keep at it and remember your strengths…

The points where you marked 0 – It’s ok… Every successful trader started with doubts and weaknesses.

The only difference is, here at MATI Trader it’s our passion to help you fast-track your successful trading career with these free articles, the MATI Trader System Programme and the Premium MATI Trader Service…

2% Rule - CFDs versus Spread Trading

How To Enter Your CFD And Spread Trade With The 2% Rule  This is vital. Print or save this email as a consistent guide for your trading. Every time you take a trade, you’ll need to know how much money you’d like to risk. Most professional traders in this world and myself follow a similar money management principle, which you can adopt today. I call it… The 2% Trading Risk Rule  The rule is very easy to understand. Whether you trade using CFDs or Spread Betting, the rule is the same. Never risk more than 2% of your portfolio on any one trade. It’s one rule that you can use whether you have a R1,000 account or a R10,000,000 account. You see, trading is a forever business. This means, as a trader you should risk as little of your portfolio as possible in order to stay in the game longer. We’ll now go straight into how you to enter your CFDs and Spread Betting trades using the 2% rule.    How to enter your CFD trade using the 2% Rule Here are the specifics for the trade CFD of the underlying Company: TIM Ltd CFDs Portfolio value: R100,000  2% Max risk per CFD trade: R2,000 Entry price: R400.00 Stop loss price: R380.00 To calculate the no. of CFDs you’ll buy per trade, you’ll need the: ~ Max risk per trade ~ Entry Price and ~ Stop loss price Next, you’ll need to follow two steps: Step #1:  Calculate the risk in trade The ‘risk in trade’ is the price difference between where you enter and where your stop loss is: Risk in trade = (Entry price – Stop loss price)                      = (R400 – R380)                      = R20  Step #2:  Calculate the no. of CFDs to buy No. of CFDs to buy = (2% Risk ÷ Risk in trade)                                 = (R2,000 ÷ R20)                                 = 100 CFDs In your platform you’ll type in 100 TIM CFDs to buy, place your entry price at R400 and your stop loss price at R380 to risk only 2% of your portfolio. Note:  1 CFD         = 1 Share exposure             100 CFDs   = 100 Shares exposure How to enter your Spread Trade using the 2% Rule With spread trading you trade on a ‘value per 1 point’ basis. You’ll choose either: R0.01, R0.10, R1 or any other amount per 1 cent movement in the underlying market. If you choose R0.10 value per 1 cent movement, for every 10 cents the market moves against or for you, you’ll lose or gain 100 cents (10 cents value per point X 10 cents movement). Here are the specifics for the spread trade. Contract of the underlying Company: TIM Ltd Portfolio value: R100,000 2% Max risk per Spread trade: 200,000c (R2,000) Entry price: 40,000c (R400.00) Stop loss price: 38,000c (R380.00) To calculate the ‘Value Per Point’ to enter your long (buy) trade, you’ll need the: ~ Max risk per trade ~ Entry Price ~ Stop loss price Next, you’ll need to follow two steps:

Step #1:  Calculate the risk in trade Risk in trade = (Entry price – Stop loss price)                      = (40,000c – R38,000c)                      = 2,000c (R20.00)  Step #2:  Value per 1 cent movement  Value per 1 cent movement = (2% Risk ÷ Risk in trade)                                              = (200,000c ÷ 2,000c)                                              = 100c (R1.00) This means, with a ‘Value per point of 100c’ every 1 cent the TIM Ltd share price moves, you’ll make or lose 100 cents. Every 2,000c the market moves, you’ll make or lose 200,000c or R2,000 of your portfolio (100c Value per 1 cent movement X 2,000c movement). Note:  1 Cent per 1 cent movement =  1 Share exposure            100 Cents per 1 cent movement = 100 Shares exposure Heads up for your free calculator on Wednesday On Wednesday I’ll be sending you a FREE a 2% Risk Trading CFD and Spread Trading calculator you can use, for every time you take a trade. Make sure you save us to your address book to avoid missing out on this important email… Let me know if you found this article helpful by emailing Timon@TimonAndMATI.com Please make sure, you’re up to date with the previous derivatives articles as you’ll need them for the next lesson. Click on the links below now to catch up… READ NOW: What are derivatives & why are they a revolution?  READ NOW: How Gearing Works With CFDs Versus Spread Trading READ NOW: Explained: CFDs versus Spread Trading WATCH NOW: How to relate gearing to buying a house (Go to 8:00minutes to watch)