2Bull Forex Blog

As rewarding and as profitable as forex trading may be, there’s no denying that trading forex for a living can be extremely stressful. It can really get your heart racing at times, particularly if it’s your own money at stake, but nevertheless there are ways in which you can reduce your stress levels, as I’m about to discuss.

One way of doing so is to devise a form of trading which is automated to an extent and eliminates the need for you to make trading decisions yourself. A classic example would be a breakout system where your main job is to identify tight trading ranges. Then you just need to wait until the price moves outside of this range and trade in this direction, hoping it’s the start of a solid breakout and the price will subsequently move away from this range.

Breakout systems are very popular amongst forex traders and are definitely one way which you can trade without too much stress.

Another way of reducing your stress levels when trading forex markets is to stop scalping and placing very short-term trades as this form of trading is arguably the most stressful. Yes you can make big profits within just a few minutes but you can just as easily lose a lot of money as well, particularly when you get spikes in price which immediately takes out your stop loss. So scalping is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

Instead you should focus on longer term trading where you can take your time making trading decisions and have plenty of time to watch the markets and move your stop losses and limit prices as required.

Long term trading also enables you to test the idea of trading for a living whilst still keeping your present job. There’s nothing more stressful than trading knowing that your entire income depends on you making consistent profits, so by taking a longer term view you can trade knowing you have your main job, and therefore another regular income coming in, which reduces stress levels dramatically.

The final method you can use to eliminate stress (which is obviously not for everyone due to the high cost involved) is to devise your own trading robot which places trades for you, depending on certain criteria being met. This is very complex and definitely beyond most people but is one other option you could consider.

Anyway the main point to remember is that although forex trading can be a highly stressful profession, there are ways in which you can make regular profits without consistently being on the edge all the time, and at risk of having a heart attack.

If you want to enjoy currency trading success then this simple tip will help you. Most currency traders simply do one thing they shouldn’t and that’s why they lose - so here is the tip.

When trading in currencies always keep this point firmly in mind:

The amount you trade has no bearing on how much money you are going to make so cut your trading and focus on high odds trades and focus on high odds trades.

Most currency traders when they start want to trade and be in on the action - but this means they lose, as the high odds trades don’t come around very often.

I know traders who trade 6 - 10 times a year and make over 100% and others who trade all the time and make nothing.

Consider the vast number of traders who day trade and lose.

Why do they lose?

Because all short term moves are random. Sure they have clever systems and work hard but their not trading the odds and a long term trader will win hands down against them in terms of profit.

There is the view that the more effort you put in the more you get out and that’s true in many areas of life but not the forex markets.

In forex markets you get paid for being right and that’s it.

If you want to win, you have to trade the high odds trades - so what is a high odds trade?

The best way to look for a high odds trade is to look for areas of support and resistance the market considers valid - this means they have been tested several times and these tests have taken place in several different time frames - normally weeks or months apart.

When you look at these levels you are looking to go with breaks of support and resistance and go with the break.

It’s a fact that most of the big currency trends start from new market highs or lows and if you don’t go with these breaks you will miss some of the best trends.

Most traders can’t do this.

Their obsessed with getting in at a lower or better price and wait for the pullback.

It doesn’t come and they sit their waiting and wonder what might have been.

The above may sound a simple way to make money and it is - but most traders refuse to do it trade too often on trades with bad odds and lose.

Trading is an odds game and if you want to win you need to trade when the odds are in your favour it’s as simple as that.

I would say that you will get a trade like this in forex markets no more than once a month and you get about 10 - 12 really good breakouts a year. Learn to focus on these and you will be trading with the odds in your favour and load up the trade in terms of how much you risk.

Forex trading involves taking calculated risks at the right time and if you trade breakouts that are considered valid you are doing just that.

So if you want to enjoy currency trading success with your trading system trade the high odds breakouts.