by Forex Day Trader Gregor Anton – http://www.ForexCurrencyDayTrader.com

Last week I had some good trades and some bad. You will have losses. How you manage your money and minimize risk, and minimize losses will play a key role in becoming a successful Forex Trader.

Rather than looking at how to get the most profit and make more pips, lets focus on minimizing your Forex Trading Losses:

* No Trade = A Good Trade – I’ve been there too, it’s tempting to jump in and make a trade. Patience is key. Create a demo account and practice your hunches there. Only trade when you’re 100% sure all your trading conditions are met.

* Don’t Babysit Your Trade – Follow your trading plan, system, and strategy, and don’t change it mid-stream. Know your entry and exit condition and don’t babysit that trade. Everyone loves watching that green positive number get bigger and bigger, but don’t stress yourself out and watch it fluctuate or worse, go into negative red numbers. Follow your plan, set your stop losses and take profits. Set your alerts. Walk away or do something else.

* Don’t Get Greedy – Fear and Greed will get you every time. Greed is an emotion and you want to keep your cool and stay focused on practical trading. Emotional and impulse Trading is Gambling.

* Save Your Emotions – Relax and you’ll trade better. Even with the best of trading plans, systems, and strategies. And in my experience, especially with Forex Robots, Signals, and Alerts. Let your profits run, cut your losses, and be sure to stick to your system and strategy. Save the emotions for when you celebrate a good week!

* Measure Profit in Pips – I find focusing on pips rather than profit in $s is far better. $’s make it emotional, pips keep it strategic. If you’re not comfortable trading bigger lot sizes, don’t. The right money management and risk reward ratio is key too and surprise surprise will usually align nicely with your comfort zone.

* The Trend is Your Fairweather Friend – It will change and according to some, the Forex Market is Trending only 20% of the time. Don’t get me wrong, identifying the trend or lack of a trend, is important, you want to do so across multiple time frames. But don’t rely just on the trend, use indicators, trendlines, and pivot points.

* Set Goals – Know exactly how many pips you are targeting. How many good trades you’re going to stop at. How many bad trades you’re going to take before walking away. Everyone has bad days and what I do is go for a walk, eat some Ritter Sport chocolate, grab a Mocha at Waves Coffee, or change my scenery in some way that gets me away from Forex. Bottom line, have a plan, follow it, make sure it’s a Smart Plan. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timelined.

* Set Conditions – When are you going to enter a trade? Exit? What is your Stop Loss and Take Profit? What are the market conditions? Market hours? Will you carry over? Trade around news times?

* Economic Calendar – The Forex Market tends to become volatile around news times. This “noise” can really impact your trades. Some people stay away from news times. Others trade news times exclusively. Stay on top of Forex News by checking the Economic Calendar at least daily and figure out what kind of trader you are.

* Manage Your Money – Only Risk 5% at most. If you have multiple trades, the sum should be 5% or less. Some people like 3%.

* Know Your Risk / Reward – How many pips are you willing to risk to make your pips? You want to risk less than you are bound to make. I like to risk no more than I’m bound to make, better yet, I like to see twice as many pips as I’ve risked.

* Take a Forex Trading Course – Education is key. Education can be expensive, the alternative is far more costly. That one tip or strategy you learn can be the distinction that’ll change everything. There are many great trading courses out there, and there are many scams and hack-job courses too. Visit my site to find out who I swear by.

* Practice Practice Practice – Open a demo account, thoroughly test your system, plan, and strategy. And please don’t change it every day or hour and stop looking for that holy grail. Your demo account balance after 1 month of trading will give you a good indicator of how well you’ve done.

* Walking Away is the most important part of your day – We’ve all been there, a great trading day, week, or hour. x amount of successful trades, you’ve met your target and you’re excited. Do yourself a favour… Walk away. The markets are quick to turn and your profits can quickly disappear. Just walk away and continue on another day!

Want to find out more about Forex Day Trading, then visit Gregor Anton’s site on how to Minimize Your Forex Trading Losses.