Why 90% of Traders Fail To Make Profits? How to become part of remaining 10%?

I realized early on in my trading career that one of the most common characteristics in almost all successful traders I’d met was they are all very goal-oriented. In fact, I’m not sure if you realize it or not, but that’s when people are at their best.

People perform at their best when they have a goal clearly in their mind. That is the way the human mind works. When we have a goal clearly in our minds, our subconscious works very hard at helping us to achieve that goal. It does it quite automatically without having to fight using willpower. (This is something you’ll learn much more about when you start learning more about psycho-cybernetics.)

But there is one big catch. You may have a goal clearly in mind, but it must have three important characteristics:

1) Your goal must be realistic.

2) Your goal must be attainable.

3) Your goal must be measurable.

Your goal must be realistic. This means that your goal has to be something that is within your capabilities. Sure, it may be possible to make a million dollars your first year trading, but it’s probably not very realistic because it isn’t within your capabilities yet.

Your goal must be attainable. This is similar to a goal being realistic. Again, your goal must be within your capabilities. So, an example might be if you are trying to average 500-1000 a day with your trading. You have a much better chance of being able to reach that goal versus the goal to make a million dollars this year. Don’t get me wrong, if you are doing very well with your current goal, there’s no reason you can’t raise it somewhat. But you must start with a goal that is attainable and then you can build on it. I highly suggest starting with a small goal and moving up from there.

Your goal must be measurable. This is one I see people making a mistake about all the time. Everybody wants to get rich or make a fortune in the market. That seems to be everybody’s goal. But you know what, that isn’t really a goal. A goal must be measurable. You must be able to know when you’re far away, close, and when you’ve achieved your particular goal. If it’s not measurable, you won’t know when you’re there, and even worse, you won’t know how close you are to reaching your goal.

When I first started trading, I spent lots of time talking to different traders about how they were able to make money in the markets. It seemed liked the more I talked to different traders, the more their answers all sounded the same. Realistic, measurable goal-setting is extremely important to being successful in trading. In fact, just trying to make money each day (without a goal) is a road to failure. The more successful the trader I talked to, the more they would stress how important setting goals was to their success. But you even need to take it a step further. Not only do you need realistic, measurable goals, but you need to visualize yourself reaching those goals on a daily basis.

“Just as important as setting specific goals, you must visualize yourself successfully reaching those goals each and everyday. If you can’t see yourself in your mind’s eye as a success, there is no chance you will become successful. It just won’t happen!”

We will talk more about visualization techniques in a little while. But I hope you understand how important it is to have specific goals so you can see how your progress is going and quickly determine if things need to be changed.

I will tell you from first hand experience that when I’m trading well and making good money, it’s definitely because I’m totally focused on my specific goals. And, on the other hand, when I’m trading poorly, it’s because I’ve lost sight of my goal and I’m not seeing it clearly like I should be.

And you know what? It definitely shows up in my trading results every time. The more you practice realistic goal-setting, the easier it will get for you to do on a consistent basis. In Market Secrets, we teach BankNifty Option Trading. One of the lessons we focus more is to make 500-1000 a day for 2 weeks in a row. You might say 500 is not a lot of money to make in a single day, but the whole point is for the students to learn to have realistic, attainable goals that they can reach.

Once they reach the attainable goal, they can strive to have a somewhat larger goal. Just like anything, you’ll want to start small and slowly make your goal larger. By the way, most of our students are successful at getting through the 2 weeks of making 500-1000 each day. Once  they’ve gotten that goal, they are ready to move up to a slightly larger goal, of course, as long as it’s still measurable and realistic. Just like anything, it gets easier with repetition and practice.