Statistics and society may predict, but you alone determine whether you will succeed or fail. You alone are in control; take responsibility for your performance and your life. There are always tremendous opportunities in the markets. It is not what happens; it is what you do with what happens that makes the difference between profit and loss.

Most traders move from trading method to trading method, over time, until they find one that suits them one that is comfortable to run, and tests well first by back-testing, and then by real testing.

Some traders never stop looking for the right way to trade. THAT is a problem. There are many ways to trade that can generate nice profits over time. To settle on a right way for you to trade:

First, you have to believe in the process which leads to the generation of your entry signals. Does that process make sense to you?

Maybe youre a visual sort of person and you are drawn to Candlestick charting. Take the time to understand why the patters mean reversal and not just accept the picture. Go deep.

Choose a guru to follow. Maybe you learn best from mentoring. Choose wisely.

Second, choose a method you decide to go with, back-test it. In todays modern world of software, theres no excuse not to run all the back data you can through your method and see what the results would have been.

Third, THINK about the process you are choosing and why its right for you. THINK about the results you get from your back-testing and your real-time testing of your system.

Fourth, BE A MACHINE (DONT THINK) when you are trading your method.

This is why I am a huge proponent of mental training for traders. Unless you can control yourself, you can never control your trading. In order to control yourself and your emotions, you have to believe totally in the way you trade. Do the work. Think. Then dont think.

Joe Ross
Trading Educators Inc

Joe Ross

Joe Ross has been trading for more than 47 years, and is a well known Master Trader. He has survived all the up and downs of the markets because of his adaptable trading style, using a low-risk approach that produces consistent profits.

Joe is the creator of the Ross hook, and has set new standards for low-risk trading with his concept of "The Law of Charts?." Joe was a private trader for most of his life, but a serious health situation in the mid 80's caused him shift his focus and he decided to share his knowledge. After his recovery, he founded Trading Educators in 1988 to teach aspiring traders how to make profits using his trading approach.

He has written eleven major books on trading. All of them have become classics and have been translated into many different languages.

Joe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of California at Los Angeles. He did his Masters work in Computer Sciences at the George Washington University extension in Norfolk, Virginia.

Joe still tutors, teaches, writes, and trades regularly. Joe is still an active and integral part of Trading Educators. He is the primary author of the company's newsletters "Chart Scan" and "Traders Notebook" and the host of the free Tuesday chat.