The 5 Steps to becoming a trader

What level you are now on? Did you make it?

What level you are now on? Did you make it?

This old thread,


I hit 4 awhile ago going pretty well, went on holiday came back dropped to a 2, revamped how I trade back to a 3 but I'm approaching 4 again.

Then Xmas break and back to a 2 LOL

5's got to be 6months+ out!!

I'm in step 5, now beginning step 6.

Step 6

You follow your system consistently and growing your account exponentially without the excessive emotional response. You begin to withdraw from your profits to support your current lifestyle while still leaving some behind to accumulate through compounding.

You are now in the top 5%, 2%, or 1%. It doesn't matter, because at this point, you're no longer a part of the general public. You are in full control of your income and no longer subject to the job market.

You no longer subscribe to the routine of the 9-5. You begin to conjure up ideas on how to make your life more meaningful. Charity work? traveling? personal academic pursuits around the world? Whatever it is, you know well that you can bring your trading lifestyle with you wherever you go.

And soon you will realize that the goal is not to trade for money alone, but to trade to earn the privilege to live a fulfilling lifestyle.

Hmmm Role on Step 6, definately the best part is you can trade from anywhere you can get a okay ish internet connection, hell I have traded on a beach in spain ( I live in the UK ) from my phone.

a good article. i think i'm on the second step right now :-)

Step 2 but getting closer to Step 3

finally .....at stage 5.Thanks to FF community.

Godspeed to all.

Somewhere between 3 and 4 currently I think, climbing back up again, how high I get before I fall back to 1 we'll see.

Very nice article.

Many Forex brokers or websites trying to sell the idea that we can all become Traders of overnight without even knowing that is a PIP. The reality is that we all need to educate ourselves for the simple reason that education enriches us and gives us analytical tools that provide insight beyond that happens around us.

I dropped back to 2, lost confidence and some cash, but added some back and trading strongly with a new method, when I get the time I'll add.


Stage 4 baby!!!

Thread is funny. Like trying to rate one's own personality, I guarantee none of you can do it accurately - evidenced by the result of the poll in post #1 which is statistically absurd.

Your account balance is either higher than it was previously or it is lower, that is all that matters. Trying to measure yourself on some arbitrary scale with parameters that remain permanently invisible to 99% of participants is futile and pointless.

I read this 3 years ago and very well knew I was in step 2.

I hope I that I have hit a genuine aha moment. Will work on it.

Bumping as this is still a very nice read. Good luck to all of us..

Very nice thread. I am on step 2.

Can someone tell me what does the Actual, Forecast and Previous columns in the calendar menu mean?

Other times its in percentage and other times saying 200B for example

Step 1: Deposit money in trading account.
Step 2: Place some trades.

Thanks to the fellow trader who posted this thread. It was a very interesting read.

I started to learn about trading approx 5-6 years ago, I always had an interest of the markets, but didn't know how to access them, didn't know much about the TA/Candles, risk management and so on.... I did a trading course with who now is my mentor in 2010. From doing the course, to putting the learning together, then applying it to charts, hitting roadblocks (mental blocks because I didn't really believe it could work), looking for the "holy grail" (which never exists!), it has been a major roller coaster. What takes time is to really fully appreciate the learning, theory and how it all fits together, how the TA, Candle analysis, risk mgmt, how to read the bigger time frame's when you are day-trading, that was for me the hardest part of my journey. The mind games that came with it, nothing can prepare for you it, truly it can't no matter how many books you read.

But, as the fellow trader who posted this and reading his thoughts about the steps to become a successful trader, one thing came to mind that always stuck with me;

"The individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage.The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn."

For me, the key sentence here is the last bit. Wow, that truly is the biggest test that one is mentally challenged with him each and every time, that desire and stimulus to learn and learn, to keep moving forward despite the set backs.

It approx took me 3.5 years when I started to think I can do this trading everyday for a living. I almost quit many times when I was on steps 1 and 2, but couldn't find the drive to power through the transitional steps into 3. I am very happy that I persevered with trading, faced my inner demons head on and didn't back down to become what I think is, a successful trader, who does now for a living.

It is only in the last 2 years where I have seen really good gains and thought, now the dream can become a reality and I can do this for a profession.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the posts on here, they have been very insightful! Fellow traders, let's keep learning and always strive for progression!!!

Quite old thread. But you know what?
5 most dangerous step.
With confidence and an intuitive level begins to disappear vigilance.
Remember compared to driving a car?
There is the same problem. It seems that you are master, but without much caution you run the risk of "life" ...

It really doesn't have to be this way. Firstly forget about becoming rich quicky, it's trading not gambling, you're here for the long run.

Before trading live, learn proper money/risk management, it's much more important for your survival then anything else and then STICK to the MM RULES 100 % of the time.

Make sure that 3 % is maximum capital exposure on anyone trade and 6 % maximum exposure on all open positions. If you're a novice trader never risk more then 1 % on a single trade, 0.5 % exposure is even better (you would have to lose more than 200 consecutive trades, to ruin your account (less than 0.01% chance)).

And forget about living from your 10K trading account, 50K is minimum and only if you're exeptional trader (top 1 %), 100K is more reasonable, 200K is even better.

Those who mentioned #5 genuinely consider themselves Guru? ))
Really they exist?