Have you ever wondered how to know whether you are progressing well as a trader or not? You are eager to know exactly how far you had come and grow as a trader. There is no other thing to measure your progress besides cultivating good trading habits and measuring your trading performance, or isn't? 

I have read a quote on the internet and I am eager to share with you:

Hard times create strong men.

Strong men creates good times.

Good times create weak men.

Weak men create hardtimes.

 

Hard times create strong men; good times create weak men

I found this quote meaningful and it applies to us both men & women in all aspects of life, including trading. Trading is a journey itself, if we handled & experienced it positively, we will grow as a trader. I sincerely believes every trader can make good money when market is in a good smooth trend. But let us be realistic and honest as there will be times the markets stuck in sideways trends.

[gallery type="slideshow" columns="2" size="large" ids="6999,7000"]

What you must do during hard times

It is unavoidable that the markets will stuck in a sideways trend. That is will be our "hard time" as traders. However, do not worry as there are things we can do during this period so we can become "strong".

Avoid market traps

There is a tendency that the smart monies and professional traders setting up market traps to lure unsuspecting traders in, especially during a sideways market. After all, the trading is a zero sum game. Smart monies and professional traders know the unsuspecting traders will be bored or frustrated of a sideways market and thus eager to trade on the breakout. Instead of rushing to make a trade, take this good opportunity to learn another aspect of trading, which is learn when to not to trade and learn how to identify market traps. Check out my article on market traps for more info. I am sure you will definitely grow as a trader, if you truly learn during these hard times.

Practice good risk management

If you are a swing trader or short term trader, it is unavoidable that you will get a lot of opposing trading signals in a short period of time. At one time you will get a long signal in your FCPO, another 30mins later or so, you will get another signal to short and later another signal to long it. While I am not a short term trader, I do believe that if you have a profitable short term trading strategy, you will experienced this and I roughly know how you felt.

During a sideways market, it is very important to have a strong risk management strategy. A good risk management strategy may tell you that you should be risking less than the usual amount of risk during a sideways trend. In addition, you should reduce the number of contracts traded during a sideways market. By doing so, your potential losses will be small and easily recoverable. So the next time you get whipped saw out of the market a few times during sideways market, you should immediately switch to your risk management strategy for a sideways market.

Trading is a journey

Trading is a life-altering journey and worth taking. I sincerely every trader will someday become a successful trader. All you need to do is to face the "hard times" with the right mindset. If you want to learn more advance techniques to improve your skill on analyzing FKLI, FCPO and other markets, feel free to check out our Intensive TFM Futures Program! 

Join our upcoming Futures Market Seminar in JB!

Click here for registration!

Do Like Our Facebook Page!