Be Yourself

The following "Be Yourself" advice was given by Sam Shenker (technical current analyst from FXCM) in the latest trader's corner section which forms part of his routine daily commentary column:

As a trader I have learned never to envy anyone's profits and never to brag about my own. Most common mistake made by novice traders is to pay attention to someone else's profits instead of his or her own P/L and by doing so a trader becomes a danger to him or herself, because if another trader is doing better, that where greed takes over the trader and he or she feels compelled to catch up. As trader tries to match someone else's profits, he or she will start taking unnecessary risks with trades, too much size and overtrading as the most common one's and as number of mistakes mount due to the loss of self-control and trader simply "blows up" the account due to greed and completion. In order to become successful a trader must understand that the only profit and loss he or she must be concerned with are the one in his or her account, not someone else. Someone else's profits should not be a source of envy, because that leads to greed and competition, and that in turn leads to ruin, instead pay attention to your own account and P/L and you will be successful.

REMEMBER A TRADER WHO PAYS ATTENTION TO SOMEONE ELSE'S PROFITS WILL NEVER RECOVER FROM HIS OR HER OWN LOSSES.

A piece of advice which I couldn't agree more. View more of his latest daily FX column. You can follow up his previous postings by using the previous link at the bottom of the page.