Posted: June 29, 2009 | Categories: Steve Rising's Trading Success Series
I hear it all the time, it’s one of the biggest concerns most individuals have, when they look at not only getting involved in our forex training program, but also being able to trade the forex market, the first common concern is, “I just do not have the time right now.”
Often times we forget that everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. Enterprising people simply do more with their 24 hours, working not harder, but smarter. In other words, when we work to pursue a new objective or a new goal, we’re never going to find the time, we have to make the time. Enterprising people are those people disciplined and dedicated enough to seize opportunities that present themselves.
They’re never concerned with their current situation, what perceived struggles may occur, or potential obstacles, they just look at the present opportunity and then find ways to make time to make that opportunity happen. One of my favorite sayings is “Run the day, or it will run you.” And any time we pursue anything, we need to create a very planned, time managed process, and trading is no different.
So you have an interest in trading the forex market? However you feel you may not have the necessary time. Here are the two biggest myths about the amount of time it takes to learn and then actively trade the forex:
Myth #1: You Have To Spend Hours In Front Of Your Computer.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. First, trading is a very planned process. In fact, I discourage traders from spending countless hours in front of their computers because one of the key reasons that most individuals are inconsistent in the trading process is they spend too much time staring at the markets. They literally treat trading like it’s some form of video game.
So first keep in mind the forex is open 5 days a week 24 hours a day. So during this 24 hour day trading time, there are some specific wsindows where we know price action is more active, or market is more robust, or in effect there are more potential trading opportunities during these specific windows.
So first we can steer our attention to some very specific windows where we know there is a higher probability for good solid trading setups. So let me touch on those time windows. Now these are all based on east coast time, so given the geographic location or timezone that you live in, the afternoon for me could be the middle of the night for you or vise versa. But the first session we have is from 7am to 11am, once again east coast time. Then again from 1pm to 3pm. A very popular session for those that work a nine to five is the 7pm to 10pm, and then for those of you that are on the other side of the planet, the 3am to 5am session.
So key is here is first we know there are some specific windows where we can steer our attention to where we know markets are going to be more active or more robust. But secondly, the most important thing to remember, is trading is a very planned process. In fact, our number one cardinal rule is plan your trade and trade your plan. Trading is actually a misnomer. It’s kind of the spin that Hollywood puts on things that you’re going to be just actively staring at your computer and squeezing back all these trades and that’s just not the case. Good solid trading, as in anything that we pursue in life, requires a good solid plan behind it. In fact, we work off of a principle that I’m sure many of you are familiar with known as the 6 P’s: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. And the same holds true in trading. The benefit is, it’s a very managed process then.
So the scenario is as we go through and we first shortlist which currency pairs we want to focus on for that day, based on market conditions. And this is another area where a lot of times I see inconsistent in the trading process, is people focus on what they perceive as their favorite pair. I see it where many individuals steer their attention simply to the Euro dollar because the transaction costs are simply lower. When in fact there are many days where the Euro dollar has very tough conditions to trade. So the first thing is we shortlist which pairs we want to focus on for that day for the upcoming session, based on market conditions.
So it’s literally a 20 or 30 minute process that we can do prior to each one of these sessions and begin to create this framework of a trading plan. Once we then shortlist which pairs we want to focus on we evaluate those conditions, and then we can literally set an alarm to be notified by text message or email when price is in the vicinity we need it to be in, in relationship to the trading strategies that we teach here at The Trading Institute. We’re then notified, we can evaluate the condition or potential opportunity, and we can make a decision as to whether or not we want to take the trade. So once again, it’s a very planned process.
Myth #2: I Presently Work So I Cannot Pursue The Training Process
Well first, the foundation of our training program is we offer unlimited access. The primary reason we offer unlimited access is because it affords flexibility to the busy working individual. You can access our online training center seven days a week, 24 hours a day. This gives you unlimited access, which once again gives you flexibility, which means you can pursue the training at your own pace. Maybe one week it’s a couple hours a day, two days a week in the evening. Maybe the next week it’s just being able to look at it on the weekend. Maybe there’s a week where, based on your current commitments, you can’t focus on the market. And so you’re easing into the process. But once again, unlimited training affords flexibility, and it’s the primary reason why we offer unlimited access. So it allows you to pursue the training at your own pace.
What I find what happens though, is as the months tick by, and people start to become a little more versed in our trading methodology, the planning process, and evaluating and looking for trading setups, what happens is their passion for trading begins to grow, and they begin to be able to carve out and find more time, or make more time. Which typically happens in anything that we pursue as we begin to understand it and enjoy it, miraculously once again, that 24 hours a day, we find additional hours where we can pursue a new venue.
So imagine this scenario: You’re up and running. You create your plan at your convenience. Hours later, you receive a text message on your cell phone, or you’re alerted by your email that there’s a potentially money making opportunity coming online. So you go in log in to your online trading platform, you evaluate the situation, you set your trading order, and then 10-30 minutes later the trade is done and you’ve achieved your profit. Does not have to be a time intensive process. Let’s face it, in this day and age, everyone has access to the internet in some form or fashion throughout the day. So remember, we all have one thing in common: We all have a 24 hour day. All it takes is learning new ways to manage that time, create additional opportunities for ourselves. Any time we want to pursue a new objective, what we do is we have to just have a paradigm shift. We have to remember once again that we all have 24 hours in a day. It’s how we then readjust that period so that we can then make the time to pursue those new objectives and new goals.
To learn more about the planning process, and to learn more about our trading methodology, I encourage you to attend one of our free online seminars that we host typically twice a week. I also encourage you to thoroughly review our website. I want to thank you for this opportunity to review this and I look forward to working with you in the future. I’m Steve Rising with The Trading Institute, and once again, thank you for your time.
