Take a moment to review your last year’s trading – it’s not just a question of profit.

All markets are risky because every trade placed on any market is a probabilistic bet. The key lies in managing the risk.

The reality is that every trader will run into a string of losing trades at some point. A long streak can undermine your confidence, which causes more problems because you need confidence to trade effectively.

To trade successfully you need confidence and discipline. Confidence comes from competence and believing in yourself. Here are some guidelines for building your confidence and competency as a trader.

Pattern recognition is fundamental to learning and understanding the world around us. But trading is about probabilities – believing that you can learn and predict the market obscures the probability.

In trading, find your own path, but always follow your rules. How do you set rules that let you develop your own trading game?

Trading is a mentally challenging activity, and traders must take care of their mental health just like athletes take care of their bodies.

Step back for a moment. Breathe. And don’t overcomplicate things. The primary purpose of a business is to make a profit, and calculating profit is pretty simple: Profit = Income － Expenses

It’s said that there are four stages of competence in developing any skill
• Unconscious incompetence
• Conscious incompetence
• Conscious competence
• Unconscious competence
Trading is no different and a trader’s equity curve over time will help identify their current competence category.