From the outside, trading and forex look like a pretty green field, full of people getting rich, and everything going really well. When we delve deeper into it though and actually start trading ourselves, we find that there are a number of different problems, problems that a lot of traders experience on a daily basis, problems that pretty much every trader goes through. These problems are easy to get into and easy to fall into their pitfalls, but there are ways to avoid them or to at least reduce the effects that they have on your trading and your accounts. Today we are going to be looking at some of the most common problems that many traders go through.
1) A Lack of Training
Anyone that trades without knowledge and experience can easily blow an account, or even multiple accounts if they do not learn from their experiences. Trading without the required knowledge and without any idea of what it is that you are doing is a recipe for disaster, yet it is something that a lot of people do and will continue to do so. When we trade without proper learning we are pretty much just guessing at what the markets may do. In fact, it could even be compared to simple gambling.
If you are planning on trading, then you need to put in the time and effort that it takes to learn the basics. Learn about different strategies, learn about risk management, and learn about how the markets move and are affected by things like the news. If you do these basic things, you will have a much better understanding of what it is that you are doing which will help you to develop a better trading ability and also to keep your accounts and capital safe from silly mistakes of simply not knowing what you are doing.
2) Using Emotions
We all have emotions. They are powerful things, they can make us happy, sad, or even do stupid things, and when we trade without our motions we are often doing just that, stupid things. Two of the most powerful yet damaging emotions that we can have when trading are greed and overconfidence. They often come from different events, greed when we lose and overconfidence when we profit. They both, however, have the same effect on us, as they cause us to throw out our trading strategies and our risk management and then they cause us to place trades that we know we shouldn’t. Either too large for our account or without doing the proper analysis, this can lead to larger losses or even a completely blown account.
If we get to a point where we can feel our emotions coming up or even getting the better of us, it is important that we do something about it. It can be as simple as walking away, taking a step back from your trading terminal, and going out, having something to eat, just doing something that has nothing to do with trading at all. This is the best way to clear your mind. You could even try talking to someone about it, often we can get more rational by talking to someone else rather than just thinking about it ourselves. Once you have cleared your mind you will come back refreshed, with a clear view of what is going on, allowing you to better follow your plans and to place much better trades again.
3) News Events
News events happen. There are calendars out there that will tell you what news events are coming up as well as the potential impact that they could have on the markets and which currencies it may affect. What they do not tell you though, is about the sneaky news events that are not on there. They come out of the blue, maybe something has just been developed or announced or there is a natural disaster somewhere in the world. These sorts of events cannot be predicted, they cannot be on any calendar and when they do happen, they often cause the markets to jump about in very unpredictable ways. They can be a real pain, as you could have just done a lot of analysis, put on the perfect trade, and then BANG, an unknown news event comes out and the markets fly in the wrong direction. We have all experienced it and most traders will in the future too, there is nothing we can do about it but to manage the trades that are affected.
4) Unpredictable Results
We mentioned the news events just above, but there is another side to them, even the news events on the economic calendars can play with us. If there is a positive result then the expected movement in the markets would be up. However, there are times when the markets just do not see to follow what the results would expect. Even things like the Non-Farms Payroll news events, which is historically one of the ones that can influence the markets the most can go a bit funny. There have been times where it is very positive, yet the markets moved down. For those following the news, a buy would have been placed but then the markets went down which would cause a loss as well as a lot of confusion, so the markets simply cannot be predicted even when all the indicators are there.
5) Dodgy Brokers
Unfortunately, when it comes to money, any form of money, there will be people out there that will do what they can to get as much money out of you as they can. From the outside they look like any other broker, offering some great features and trading conditions, but once you have deposited your money, it is very unlikely that you will be able to take any of it out. They will take it and even try and convince you to put more in, either way, your money will be gone. You can try and avoid this happening to you by checking reviews, going for the bigger named brokers, or by using brokers that you know people who already use them and have successfully withdrawn money from them. Choosing the right broker is important, so make sure you take your time to choose the right one for you.
Those are just some of the issues that many traders experience. In fact, many of them every single trader will experience at one point or another in their trading career. We can do what we can to try and reduce the effects that they are going to have on us and our accounts, but for many of them they are out of cour control and we will experience them at one point or another. There are of course a lot of other problems out there, but with every single problem, there will be solutions, or at least a way of reducing the impact that they are having on our trades and accounts.
