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I used to spend almost the whole night watching YouTube videos trying to learn this and that and trading was not fun at all. It became this one thing that I so wanted to learn and master, but it was taking over my life in a very bad and overwhelming way. Most of the time I felt like I was suffering from some rare mental disorder *smiles, it wasn’t nice at all, not to mention emotionally draining and exhausting. I was also not a fun person to be around anymore.
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I would make a lot and lose it all again. Funding my account month after month was normal to me. When I started, I did not really have clear goals of where I wanted to take this trading thing. I was just excited to be one of the female traders and learning a new skill.
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Personality plays an important role in whatever we do
I believe that when choosing a career or business venture, one needs to consider his/her personality. I am naturally a very calm and a reserved woman. I love peace and quiet, I do not like noise and overcrowded places.
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I really enjoy being on my own. There I was trying to get into Forex trading and it took over my whole life. I am a wife and I have a son. Trading took me away from everything that matters to me. Because of the amount of work and efforts that I was putting into it, the long hours and staying up all night, friends and family members assumed that I was making a lot of money, and that alone added some pressure and I just had to keep up.
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The truth is, I was living a very stressful life hiding behind charts. Those charts are very attractive when you are still a newbie and the more lines I could draw on charts, the smarter I felt. where am I going with all this? I am trying to show you how important it is to consider our personalities in everything that we do because our personalities lead us to do things the way that we do them.
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How was my quality of life affected?
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I struggled to balance life and everything else. I loved trading and I knew that I could make money but it was just too much. I would stay up all night studying charts, I would be glued to my laptop the whole day watching over charts, it was emotionally draining for real.
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How do I trade now?
I am no longer consumed by charts and I sleep very well at night. If I happen to be up and trading at night, it is always by choice. I set up an alarm and wake up to trade then go back to sleep again, isn’t it lovely?
I can do my own trading, teach and coach 8-10 people every month, run this blog and still manage to take care of my other business, cook, sit with my family in the evenings and attend to social media and tons and tons of emails that I get daily. Life feels so normal
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I trade the economic news and I only use technical analysis to confirm my entries and exits. I am not saying other methods are bad, but probably bad for me, my personality, my lifestyle and my needs. This method that I use works better for me and what matters the most is that I am now trading less, living a normal and simple life but I make more money than I used to.
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I used to stay away from the markets during the high impact economic events until I learned how to trade them, (most traders still do, but the economic news are my bread and butter). I listen to what the market says and follow it where it goes. I strive to be on the right side of the markets by trading only after the daily speeches are released.
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Try something new
We usually shut down any ideas that are not popular or that are not “in your face” or when we do not understand how it’s done. I am loving this form of trading and I have no regrets. The economic news makes sense to me, knowing what moves the currencies make sense to me. I can trade and still find time to do everything else that matters to me, if I can learn how to bake a cake, my life will be complete *smiles.
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Benefits of how I tradeÂ
- My trading sessions are pre-planned, I do not do random trades, I wait for the market to decide, then follow.
- Emotions are far less than when I was consumed by charts.
- I do not worry about the quantity of trades, but the quality, therefore I do not trade 20 times a day.
- I make more money than I used to do before, and I actually keep what I make and it does get into my bank account.
- I have monthly targets which I break down into weekly and right down to daily, read more HERE.
- I can do other things that I enjoy, like cooking, Â and ooh well, I am about to learn how to bake a cake (sorry, I am too excited about that, I keep mentioning it).
- I can also get to spend time with my family and I am not always irritated ( I used to stress a lot, my son would even say that I control the mood in the house, he was joking but it was the sad truth).
- I do not miss my beauty sleep, not even by chance (unless I choose to)
- I spend less hours trading.
- In the beginning of the week, I always know the currencies that I would be trading the whole week. I check my weekly economic calendar and do my weekly trading schedule every Sunday and know my 3 W’s (what, why, when)
- I get time to check up on my mentees on a daily basis and also plan our trading sessions and trade together during news release (1-2 times a day ) depending on our economic calendar. Our sessions take about an hour or so, making it possible for people who are at work to manage. Sometimes we don’t trade on a specific day and it’s still OK not to trade 5 days a week, remember it’s quality over quantity.
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Remember it is all about your needs, your lifestyle and most importantly your personality. If you are trading already and it feels like you are not the same person that you were before you started trading, you are constantly worried and you do not have time to do anything else, your life is now all about charts and markets, it is about time you change how you do it.
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Trading should not be a stressful event, if you feel that you are like me, maybe you need to explore this method, but learn first. Thank you for stopping by and kindly share this post with your peers.
Great article. Its outright true. Most of us, we are still battling to stop shedding blood, sweat and tears, just to make profits. Spending every opportune time on charts. sometimes loose all the day’s profits. Would like to know how you conqured and will contact through yo e’mail.
Hi
I looked at my lifestyle, and it was not working well for me to be consumed by charts, things started to change only when I shifted my focus to learning more about what really moves this market, that is how I started to trade the way that I do now, I only trade after daily speeches and use technical analysis to confirm my entries and exits, in short I analyse fundamentally and execute technically.
Ntombi how I wish I had found out about you earlier.You always add some light in me whenever i read your articles. Hope to be one of your students soon.keep up the good work.You inspire me unlike some “gurus” out there who don’t share knowledge but only displays some fansy Lifestyle.
Hi Frieda
I know how you feel right now, thank you for reading. I decided to start this blog so that I can try and share practical tips, experience and also knowledge that can add value to my readers and fellow traders.
Still on training and thanks to have come across this post
Hi
Thank you for your comment, good luck on your trading venture.
Always spot on… blew 2 accounts already 2nd one was blaming the GBP but after reading this I think it’s only fair to blame my self. Really want to explore your trading method. Thank you sisi
Good day
Thank you for reading and for your comment, It is also encouraging to have some kind of a feedback like yours. It makes me to see that my stories do go a long way and I should not stop to post. I always strive to be on the right side of the markets by not trading prior to any daily speech. I has been good. We (me and my mentees) can go from the first day of the month to the last day of the month without taking any bad trade or loss.
Dear Ntombi
I have been following your blog for quite some time now. You are a true inspiration to me and others who have given up hope of finding a job. I have even opened a demo account to practice before taking the plunge. The economic news you always refer to, where and how does one access these?
Hi Malebo
Thank you for your comment. I appreciate your positive feedback. You can subscribe to this blog for weekly economic news. You can also find them on forexfactory, investing.com, fxstreet and many other sites. Just Google them. But I rely mostly on Forexfactory.
Hi, Ntombi
Thank you for this, very informative and will definately help us begginers…. love it
Hi Thembi
You are most welcome, thank you for stopping by
Hi, thanks for the article. But having evolved from a trader who always found trading profitably very difficult at first, to what i am now, a consistently profitable trader who now find it very difficult to loose, I would to say that setting daily targets is not always practical. The markets can only give you so much when it chooses to, not necessarily always. However weekly target ranges are possible, if not monthly, because some days as well as weeks are more or less profitable than others.
Hi Moreblessing
By setting daily, weekly or even monthly targets does not in anyway mean you are getting it. You can reach it, make less or exceed it. I understand that we do not create our own trading opportunities in the markets, therefore we cannot guarantee ourselves any daily targets. I also understand that there might not even be any opportunities some days. I have explained that clearly on the post about how I set my daily targets that is hyperlinked to this one (I think you did not read it). Kindly read it here: https://learnfxtrading.net/much-can-make-forex-trading/. I have been setting these targets for a few years now and it’s been working perfectly (by working perfectly, I do not imply that I have been reaching them all the time).Thank you for stopping by. All the best in your trading.
How i wish i could trade the way u do and hopefully one day i will.
So who taught you to trade fundamentals