A weird headline we know, but it’s often valuable to reverse engineer the goals we set for ourselves and plan ahead so that we can see the journey ahead of us end to end before stepping out onto the path and better prepare ourselves in advance. In this article we’ll break down what we refer to as “the uniform of failure” as a forex trader which essentially means what you should avoid doing if your goal is to become consistently profitable and eventually go on to acquire funded capital and to scale that capital and replace or supplement your job or business income.
What Is A Uniform Of Failure?
The dictionary definition of uniform reads “remaining the same in all cases and at all times; unchanging in form or character.” In this instance, the uniform of failure for forex traders is a series of decisions and actions that traders make throughout their trading journey that best sets them up to not achieve what they hope to achieve. We’ve seen this series of decisions and actions be made time and time again having now mentored well over 10,000 traders in the last 3 years. There is a very clear difference between those who succeed and those who fail in regard to the expectations they have and the choices they make as they progress along their trading journey.
Forex Traders From The Start
The way forex trading is marketed is both a blessing and a curse for beginner traders. Chances are, you got in the game because you saw other traders online trading large capital accounts, earning annual salaries in single trades, and flying around the world driving nice cars and staying in epic Airbnbs. Most of us are hooked by the lifestyle that trading appears to offer. The pro of this hook is that it gets you started, the con of this hook is how easy and fast those results appear to come. Trading is not easy. The process of getting to that end goal lifestyle is straightforward and simple, but it is far from easy. Where this marketing method has flaws is in setting up most traders to fail from the start because they come into learning with a false expectation that those results will come faster than they typically do. Like any skill set, trading the markets professionally and consistently profitably requires a great deal of dedication and practice over many months and often years.
The uniform of failure consists of an expectation that if results don’t come fast, that trading must not work and therefore they should quit and move onto something else that is easy and fast (which is never the case).
The way to approach trading and to avoid falling into the uniform of failure habits, is to set a healthy and realistic expectation for yourself from the beginning. Trading is not easy, it will take time to get great at, and adversity is to be expected. If you come into it with these realistic expectations, you’ll be able to keep at the process when the journey gets tough along the way, and you’ll know that this is just part of it. Living that dream lifestyle is absolutely real and many traders do live that life, but only those who kept at it despite that adversity. Don’t give up thinking you’re doing it wrong, seek help and keep pushing forward and you’ll inevitably reach your goals.
Forex Traders Going At It Alone
Another common challenge that a lot of traders put themselves through that they don’t have to put themselves through is going about learning how to trade all on their own. The fastest way to make your life harder than it needs to be is to try and learn how to do anything on your own, trading being no different. There are thousands of people out there who have already walked the path you’re trying to walk and who’ve made the mistakes, learned the lessons, who have the battle scars and stories to tell. One of the only, if not the only shortcut available to traders looking to shorten the learning curve is finding a mentor who’s successful and to learn from them directly.
Many traders have reported to us their struggles in attempting to learn how to trade by watching youtube videos, reading books, messing around on the charts themselves with demo accounts and small capital accounts. While this may be a good way to familiarize oneself with the charts and trading in general, it’ll only get you so far. The fastest way to get ahead when learning this skill set is to seek out someone who’s already successfully doing what you’re trying to do and to go learn from them on a 1-1 basis or in a group environment where the strategy, support and plan is already in place for you to utilize. Save yourself the headache and join a program that can help give you the boost you need to get into the game with an edge, faster.
Forex Traders On Impatience And Fighting With Themselves
The third and final major error we see traders making is letting impatience get the best of them. This goes in tandem with the first uniform of failure lesson of having improper expectations from the start. Impatience and resistance to where you are in your trading journey breeds frustration and doubt and eventually burnout if not properly addressed. It’s rarely adversity alone that causes us to quit, it’s most commonly a belief that things are taking too long or that we’re doing something wrong and so “what’s the point in carrying on” that has us desiring quitting.
Any time you catch yourself being impatient with where you’re at in your trading journey, believing you should be further along by now or that so many others are passing you and progressing faster than you, is a time where you need to stop and pull out a journal and reflect on your own progress. Sit down with yourself and actually focus on how much you’ve improved since you started out. Don’t focus on what’s wrong, focus on what’s better since day one of you starting out. Do not compare yourself to others and where they are or the results they are achieving, focus solely on you versus where you were yesterday, a week ago, a month ago, one year ago, and so on. All trading failures (quits) are failures in one’s ability to manage their mental state. If you can catch yourself whenever you’re feeling frustrated or doubtful, those are times to become mindful and to journal out your thoughts and seek help from those who are further along in the journey than you. Guaranteed those you look up to have been through the exact same hurdles and overcame them. If others can, you can, period.
Summarizing The Uniform Of Failure
In short, we’ve laid out a few of the common errors in judgement and practice that we’ve witnessed having now mentored well over 10,000 traders here at Phantom Trading. We share these lessons because early on in our own journeys we wish more people were speaking about topics like this. What to avoid, how to manage one’s mental state, how to get help when times get tough.
At Phantom, we go into topics like this in depth because we understand that so much of trading success is managing one’s mind and finding ways to refuel the flame when adversity strikes. If you’re seeking support and strategy to eventually realize consistent profitability, funded capital and prop firm payouts, consider joining us. We’re confident we’ll be able to help you realize those goals far faster and with less resistance than you would going it alone.
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Robert Castillo @coldwaterfx FX Trader & Analyst Writer & Editor
Rob is a funded trader from Toronto, Canada, and has been trading currencies, commodities, stocks, and cryptocurrencies for over 7 years. Outside of trading he enjoys making music, boxing, and riding his motorcycle.
