Traders Resolution for 2015

As 2014 come to an end,  it’s an important time for a trader; it’s time for you to make an honest assessment of your trading performance over the last year. This is an excellent opportunity for you to learn and grow, both as a trader and a person.

Seriously, whether you’ve had a bad trading year, good one or somewhere in between, it’s time for an honest self-assessment of the things you did right and wrong over the course of the 2014. To be the trader you want to be, you’ll need to own up to the mistakes you’re making and figure out a way to avoid them moving forward. If you can’t be honest with yourself about your trading performance in 2014 and own up to the mistakes you committed, you stand little chance of turning the ship around in 2015.

If you’re ready to take an honest look at how you did this last year in the market and devise a plan of action to firm up your trading in 2015, then read on. If you are the type of trader with a big ego who doesn’t want to admit to your mistakes, then it’s best to stop here.

Stay away from market for few days

As a trader you always want to be in market  but if you want to improve your trading and go for next levels , Just stay away from market for few days.  Don’t look at your charts, don’t watch CNBC, and don’t do anything trading-related (besides reading and learning of course) for at least one full week. Typically, the  last trading week is very dull and lacks volumes so these should be used  to stop trading and just reflect on and assess your performance over the last year.

It is vitally important that you actually physically and mentally remove yourself from the market over this one or two week period, if you don’t, then this whole exercise I’m outlining here today won’t work you need a clean slate to start off 2015 the right way.

Make a ‘Positive and Negative’ list of your 2014 trading performance

During your time off from the market, I want you to sit down and write out a ‘Positive and Negative’ list of your trading performance over 2014. You may want to review your trading account history before doing this,but be honest.

This  list is basically a checklist of things you did right and wrong over the last year and if you do it honestly and correctly it should give you a nice list of what you need to change to improve your trading in 2015. Trading is all about learning and growing as both a trader and person, and if you’re not honest with yourself about mistakes you’ve made, you’re going to have a rough trading road ahead. Layout a new or amended trading plan for yourself for the New Year that addresses all the issues you faced in 2013.

Make a commitment to yourself for 2015

If you feel like 2014 was a failure, and you lost more money than you care to think about, then it’s time to take all that negative energy and turn it into something positive.

You need to make a commitment to yourself in 2015.

Commit to being the best trader you can be, to doing everything within your power to increase your chances of trading success.

Trading is the toughest profession in world and if you want to succed in this you need to give your best and  try your hardest. If you have been over-trading and risking too much and generally just not following your trading plan and gambling your money away all year in the market, you are not trying your hardest to be the best trader you can be.

Trading success is the end result of persistent discipline, and you owe it to yourself to prove to yourself that you can muster the inner determination and will power to stop making all the emotional trading mistakes you made in 2014. I firmly believe that just about anyone who wants to become a successful trader can do it if they want it bad enough. Most traders defeat themselves before they really ever have a chance to make a run in the market. You should use your self assessment  list that I described above to start a transformation in 2015

Transform yourself from an undisciplined gambler to a persistently disciplined and highly-skilled price action trader only YOU can dig deep within yourself and make this happen. So, ask yourself, “How bad do I want it?” and let your answer be the spark to fuel your commitment to disciplined trading for 2015.

Look for a fresh start and do not carry the baggage of past

Finally, as bad as you might think your trading performance was in 2014, you’re going to have try and forget about it and move on. There’s no sense in stewing over what’s already happened and what “might have been”, as long as you acknowledge the mistakes you made in 2014 and you’re actively attempting to correct them in 2015, you are on the right track. I know that many traders get depressed and frustrated after losing money in the market or blowing out their trading accounts, but if you want to become a successful trader you have to act and think like one, and there’s no room for negativity and self-pity in a successful trader’s mindset.

You need to use the start of the New Year as a spring board to proper trading. Understand however, that it will not necessarily be a quick and easy ‘road to riches’…you need to first develop the proper trading habits and focus on becoming a good trader, THEN the money will follow. Many traders have these failures because they are trying to “force” the trading success instead of putting in the effort to learn how to trade properly and develop their skills so that the success eventually comes naturally and so that it won’t be fleeting.

So many people start workout programs and join gyms the first month of the year, only to quit when it starts to get uncomfortable or they are late getting out of work one night. Similarly, many traders, if not most, throw all their preparation and planning out the window the first time they have to swallow a difficult loss. Those trades that stop you out by 1 or two 2 points  before swinging back in your favor can really knock the wind out of your ability to stay true to your trading plan and remain disciplined. But it is the very ability to stay the course even when you have tough losses that separates the pros from the amateurs. You cannot let every little hiccup derail your efforts to develop and maintain proper trading habits, keep that in mind as you begin 2014 with your clean trading slate.

Part of getting 2014 started with a clean trading slate, is trading with a clean and simple trading method like the price action strategy that I teach in my trading course. You cannot focus on remaining persistently disciplined in the market if you are constantly second-guessing your trading method or confused by all the indicators on your charts. Now is the time to start with a completely fresh trading mindset and price action trading is in my opinion the best method to assist you in cultivating and maintaining this mindset for 2015 and beyond.