If you’ve spent any time at all reading up on buying and selling stocks, then you’ll know that it’s a viable way to earn extra money, or, maybe one day, make enough to retire early. Getting started with trading is easy; anyone with the desire and an internet connection can get involved. But being good enough to make money? That’s a different matter. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Trading is one of those things that there’s always room to improve, no matter how good you think you are. If you’ve just begun your trading journey, check out these tips to help you improve. Although I put most of my money in low cost index funds, I do keep some ‘mad money’ in stocks and enjoy the thrill of researching and trading.

Read Up

Being a good trader isn’t something you’re born with, it’s something you have to learn. If you want to get better at it, then you need to make it part of your reading routine. There are a million and one pieces of advice when it comes to making money on the stock market, but you won’t know them if you’re not reading up on it. Remember, as with most things in life, the more you know, the better your chances of success. If you don’t know where to begin, start with the best books about trading — they’ll point you in the right direction.

Take it Seriously

It would be nice if you could treat trading in much the same way as you treat a night in Vegas; let your emotions take hold and make quick decisions. If you do this, then you’re going to stay in the game for too long — and potentially blow all your winnings. One of the best ways to improve your trading game is to simply adopt a more serious mindset. If you’re able to treat it more like a business rather than a side-project, you’ll find it easier to make the types of rational decisions that lead to better results. Plus, if you treat as you would a business, rather than a bit of fun, you’ll be more willing to put in the hours needed to improve.

Find Your Strategy

What are you trying to achieve and how are you going to go about it? Your success will depend, in large part, on your ability to answer these two questions. Deciding what you’re trying to achieve (a retirement nest egg, supplement income, etc.) will be the fun part. Figuring out how you’re going to do it will be the challenge. Rather than having a whimsical approach, it’s best that you develop your own strategy, one that, ideally, yields small yet consistent results, rather than one that goes after a jackpot win (spoiler: it’s not going to happen). This will help take the emotion out of your trading. You’re no longer following your heart (or greed); you’re simply following a formula that works for you.

Get the Right Tools

The rise of information technology has been great for traders, and we’re now able to make better-informed decisions about where we should put our money. Programs such as MT4, which is available from  www.fpmarkets.com, allow Forex traders to watch the markets, get real-time quotes, and automate their trading. If you’re going to make your trading a success, you need to have the best modern tools at your disposal.

Be Wary of New Trends

It’s easy to get sucked into following a fad. Some people have trading success in one particular area, and then, for various reasons (sometimes to benefit themselves in one way or another), try to convince other people that it’s the right place to look for their own success. For starters, it’s important to always keep in mind that a person who had really hit upon something valuable wouldn’t go telling the world; they’d keep it for themselves. Second, while there are certain new developments that do last the distance, in some cases it’s just fad after fad after fad — you’ll just be chasing the chase, so to speak. It’s much better to do as we suggested earlier, and develop your own strategy.

Stay Up To Date

It is important to stay up to date with the latest growth sectors, approaches, and so on. While we discussed not following all the new trends, it’s important to stay on top of what’s going on. Whether it’s reading the news (CNBC is a favorite of mine), tuning into financial shows (I enjoy Jim Cramer’s Mad Money) or reading blogs, staying up to date can really help!

Control Your Emotions

Depending on how you approach the stock market, you’ll probably view it more as a gamble or more of a serious endeavor. If you want to gamble, head to the casinos, gambling in the stock market doesn’t end well. Often times what gets gamblers in trouble is their emotions. If you can learn to control your emotions, you’ll find that you’re able to make much better trading decisions. One way to go about this is to begin meditation. A lot of successful traders (and other successful people) swear by it, because it helps to clear their hand, and puts a buffer between their emotions and decision making.

Learn From Your Mistakes

No-one goes ends up as a successful investor without first making a few mistakes. The important thing isn’t whether you make them or not — it’s whether you learn from them. If you head down a road that leads nowhere, make sure you’re learning from them; it’ll prevent you from making the same mistakes in the future!

Conclusion

It’s always possible to get better at trading. If there’s one thing to take from these thoughts, it’s that you should be open to learning. No matter how much you think you’ve got things figured out, there is still plenty more than you can add to your knowledge bank.

Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links that may earn me a commission. I am recommending these companies based on my research and/or experience and truly think you would benefit from them, regardless of any commission I may earn.