In this episode of Truth About FX, Walter talks about trading inconsistency and the dangers that could come along with it, how subconscious things affect your trading decisiveness, and the importance of knowing what you really want. He also touches on the psychological aspect of trading and shares some tips that can help you avoid inconsistency.

Download (Duration: 06:54/ 7.90 MB)

In This Episode:

01:09 – a roller coaster

02:25 – issues related to consistency

04:10 – subconscious

06:04 – not here for the money?

Tweetables:

Most traders are switching systems, that’s why they’re not consistent. [Click To Tweet].

Backtest to get your confidence up.  [Click To Tweet].

You really have to make sure that you understand what you’re after. [Click To Tweet].

 

Hugh: Hey, Walter. How’s it going?

Walter: Good, Hugh. How are you feeling?

Hugh: I’m pretty good. I heard you’re going in a vacation soon?

Walter: Yeah. I heard you’ve just got back from one. I’m pretty excited. It’s always good to refresh the batteries and even if you’re on a work holiday — which I’m not but — even if you’re in a work holiday, different environment, different people, it’s always good to have you know… I’m a big fan of even walking on the other side of the street just to mix it up. You know what I mean?

Hugh: Totally, awesome. Where are you headed?

Walter: I’m going to the Indian Ocean. I’m going to get into a boat and we’re going to go try and hunt down some waves for a couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to that.

Hugh: Today’s question is it comes from one of your readers and this guy has been attempting to trade for a couple of years now. It’s been a roller coaster, up and down. He wants some help but his biggest thing is that he’s not consistent.

He really wants to be a trader and he’s not just there for the money,  he loves to trade. What’s his next step?

Walter: Interesting. You can peel this like an onion. This question has got multiple layers. The most likely thing with consistency problems is that most traders are switching systems, that’s why they’re not consistent. They haven’t settled on one.

That can usually be alleviated by backtesting and doing your testing. As you know — and I know as you do, Hugh — when you  look at a system, you really dive into the testing of it to make sure that it fits the expectancy that you would want out of a trading system, for the equity curve, the number of trades and all that sort of thing.

Also, it doesn’t fit your lifestyle. Some people can’t trade the one-hour chart. They’ve had jobs and things like that. They’re probably better off sticking to the four hour, the daily or the weekly chart.

That’s the first thing. It’s really zeroing in on one that you really like and to get that confidence up, backtesting is the key. That’s the most likely thing.

Now, there are other issues that are related to consistency and they’re often related to the exit. What will typically happen is the trader test, let’s say that a trader goes through and backtest it, gets good numbers then what they’ll start doing is if they’...