The most successful floor traders are those that have the most experiance, this is no coincidence at all and should be a pointer for those who aspire to become a good trader. Trading can be likened to being a sportsman, such as a golf pro or tennis champion, you need to be trained and in good physical shape. Skills are needed which must be developed over time and practiced until they become 2nd nature. Here are some of the key skills that you must develop as a trader.

1. Always remember that Futures are no different to any other stock or option that you might trade, they will respond to the same laws of technical analysis including support and resistance, trendlines and price patterns. Become an expert in technical analysis, this is a lot easier than you think and is the easiest part of trading to master. The hardest part of becoming a good trader is learning how to master yourself.

2. This is a very basic point but is very important, always have your trading plan prepared before you enter a trade, never try and create it on the fly, you will be musch too emotional. make sure that you have both an entry and exit point in your plan.

3. The most important rule is to keep losses small, this is the single biggest mistake that amateurs make. You will have small winners, small losers and a few good big winners. The small wins and loses are a wash and the profits come from the good trades that you let run.

4. Over trading is a big mistake that a lot of amateurs make. Professionals tend to be more patient and wait for the better opportunities to come along, this is called cherry picking and takes both patience and discipline. These are essential skills that you must develop.

5. Keep both a daily and weekly log of all your trades. It is essential that you follow up with all your trades, both good and bad, to learn what your mistakes were. To become a very good trader it is simply a case of eliminating all your mistakes. This does not mean that you don’t have loses but it means that you followed your trading plan and kept your losses small.

6. Trading is a tiring activity, even if you are sitting down all day!. Don’t trade unless you are feeling both physically and mentally well, and are well prepared for the trading day ahead. Prepare for each day by 1st getting a good nights sleep, reviewing your trading plan, rules and charts before the market opens. It is also very important to be in the correct frame of mind, yiu must be confident in yourself and your plan if you are going to trade, otherwise don’t trade that day.

7. Paper trading is a good way to test out your trading system. Many people discount paper trading as not being realistic as when using real money because of the emotions involved. However here is one very important point to understand, if you cannot make money paper trading you absolutley will not do it with real money, the converse is not true however.