PipStop

I had a great conversation with Claude a trader who I have had longtime contact with.

He had come to the conclusion that individuals are doomed to fail in trading, and he's convinced that 90% of those that begin will fail. I obviously took quite a different stance, albeit one that has evolved over the past couple of years.

We both agreed that there is no singular solution that will deliver success to ALL traders. Yet we are barraged with one offer after another - especially in the wacky wild world of Forex trading (or so it seems) - of a solution that can cure your trading ills.

The problem is not these supposed solutions that are out there, but how potential traders might view them as the ONE for them.

In truth each individual trader is different. Unique. One might be a day trader, another a position trader. Then there are position traders who only like to trade the majors, then there are those position traders who are in love with strictly the yen. There are those who are single, with healthy risk captial, then there are those who want to walk away from their jobs at 45 and want to start trading full-time.

A traders profile is not one that should be dictated by anyone other than oneself. So why do so many wannabe traders settle for having someone's "system" shoved down their throat? No wonder there is a sense of disenfranchisement when it doesn't succeed for them. The outlook was wrong to begin with and expectations weren't managed properly.

To make a long story short, the evolution of Trading Post is that we have a foundational trading course that is nominally priced, but packs tremendous value. From there it is up to each trader to see what other advanced trading solutions (courses, analytics, analysis) fits their needs, as they create their own trading profile. 

A trader is not a robot and shouldn't be forced to walk the same path everyone else has walked. OK, so for the first little bit maybe - but after that it's like choosing your major at university then filling it with the 300 and 400 level classes you want to take.

I remember that process - and took some rather interesting courses due to my interest. So treat your trading with a similar type of commitment - and it is a commitment. Not meant for everyone - but meant for those who are willing to see success through.

And to get back to the original conversation where this all started. I do believe that individuals can succeed. I do believe that more than 10% of the population can be consistent traders.

When I started blogging here at PipStop it coincided with my blogging for other things. So now I have 7 or so various blogs which I update to varying degrees. Among them are a family blog, a restaurant review blog, a sports fan blog and a blog for a volunteer initiative I'm involved in.

Sure it all takes time, and I still don't have the perfect formula to juggle all perfectly, but I enjoy doing it all. The biggest reason, other than having a recorded history of my thoughts, is that it helps to clarify thoughts in my mind. It give me additional focus and when I look back on past posts I can see how not only my approach has changed but also my actions.

For any trader looking for introspection into themselves as a trader, maintaining a blog to journal experiences is a great way to grow. It instills discipline and helps to sharpen focus, as long as you're committed to it.

Two free services I'd recommend are:

1. Wordpress.com - The free file storage space they give you is now up to a whopping 3 GB, and it's got a great (meaning easy to use and robust) product, with a tremendous community behind it.

2. Blogger.com - It's no secret that I'm a Google fan - and it's not because I own the stock. Blogspot is easy to use and many, many casual bloggers use it.

What do I use? Well I'm in the midst of moving past the two solutions mentioned above and going with a Wordpress solution that I host myself.