So, it is a few days before a major holiday. You are a store owner. You’ve been open for nearly half the day and hardly anybody has walked into your store. What’s worse, of the few that have walked in, only two have purchased anything – and what they bought isn’t even enough to cover the cost of the electricity and the staff you have on hand.
So, what do you do? Do you shutter your business, fire your employees, and move on to something else?
Of course, you are likely thinking that would be a very stupid thing to do. It’s only temporary, you say. More customers will come in. Maybe just close up early today, and try again tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.There are ups and downs in any business. You can’t make a great profit every single day.
That’s the way a true professional, a business-person, looks at things.
Do YOU look at your forex trading like a business? Sadly, many people do not.
For instance, I can’t tell you how many people will have forced a trade during this week – one of the lightest liquidity weeks of the year – just because they WANT to trade. Nevermind the fact that the market (their customers) aren’t in the store – and definitely aren’t ready to buy. Wouldn’t that be like walking out onto the street in front of your business – and forcing people into your store against their will? How would that go over? Not so well, right?
Or, those folks that say, “but I need to make 30 pips per day today.” I am sure the business owner also need to make $300 USD today, but, again, sometimes it just doesn’t work that way. Today, you may lose money. Tomorrow, you may break even. The next trading day, you may sell that big, high-priced whatever to some out-of-town visitor to your store.
This reminds me of something I read not that long ago: “Keeping your money in cash (i.e. just sitting in your trading account) is sometimes the very best position you can take.”
Remember, it’s all about how much you have made over weeks, months, and years. It’s not how much you made today, yesterday, or tomorrow. I do think that is the hardest thing for folks that scalp the forex market to remember. Even though we are only in trades for mere seconds or minutes – we are watching our account grow over time. Looking at it any other way is, in my opinion, putting far too much pressure on you. Pressure is not good. Scalping in a relaxed, almost zen-like fashion is better. In fact, once you reach that level, you will have officially graduated to a professional business-person (forex trader).
So, tell me, do YOU view your forex scalping as a game…or a business? As we ready ourselves for 2012 in just a few days, really think about this.It could make all the difference in your trading.
Happy New Year!
-Scott
