Hi Traders!! Recently, we have experienced some of the most horrendous, horrific forex markets I have traded……..ever.

I have been flooded with a range of emails as a result.

Some people are now doubting their system(s), while others are doubting that forex is even a valid market to trade.

The emails though that touch me the most out of this recent slew, are people about to give up on trading altogether because of the recent struggles.

Most of these people in the latter group are new to trading, have heard great things about trading forex, and took the plunge. They are blaming themselves, the system, time of day they can trade, etc… for the shortcomings of a bad market.  Many think that their experience since starting trading is how the market is always, and their dreams of success seem to just vaporize in front of them along with their trading accounts.

Having said all of that, take a look at the following chart for the £/$USA. Even though many novice traders think that the markets have recently been terribly difficult to predict, that is clearly not the case IF you zoom out to longer time frames (in this case a daily chart) you can see that this currency pair has been in a clear uptrend going back over a year. A buy at each of the arrows would have netted you well over 1000 pips and it happened again a couple of days ago.

This move was forecast and analysed MONTHS ago by our own Marc Walton and is explained clearly in the Free ForexTraining Course that you can access by clicking on the link.

Trading Other Markets

What if you are still struggling with trading forex? Binary options is currently being pushed as the latest, greatest, easiest way to make money trading. Take my advice DO NOT GO THERE, its a mugs game.

The reality is that markets are absolutely cyclical, and have periods of greatness and periods of weakness.  Even with the best system, great money management, the support of a cast of mentors, certain markets will just simply not yield results worth trading.  Speaking to long-term successful professional traders has taught me that one of the biggest skills one can have to “make it” in this game is the ability to avoid trading bad markets.  Yes, sometimes the most profitable decision is simply walking away.

Well, then……….if you are spending so much time NOT trading forex, how do YOU make money???  Great question!!  Simple, I trade another market!

Yes, it’s a big world out there folks, and there are plenty of different instruments to trade, even within commodities.  I personally have been focusing much of my efforts in the gold market, while I await a “revival” of the forex markets.  And although I ALWAYS preach to specialize in one market, even one single pair when you are learning to trade, there WILL come a time where you simply cannot make consistent, reliable profits in any single market.  Although, that won’t last forever, it is impossible to tell exactly when your favorite instrument is going to get back on track and be tradeable.

Sure, we can distinguish bad markets from good ones, but we can NEVER predict when they will change from one phase to another (If anyone tells you they can PREDICT what the market will do, walk slowly away from them, and cover your ears.  They are either ignorant or lying to you.  Great traders are not fortune tellers, regardless of how their results or “calls” might seem like it).

So there comes a time in every traders journey, that it’s time to break out of what you are trading and start studying another market.  This comes with it’s own set of challenges, and although that fundamental skills are universal to all markets, each instrument always has its own “nuances” that have to be studied and “owned” before one can make consistent profits from them.  So here are some tips if you decide to check out another market:

Trading Other Markets

• Don’t Expect Overnight Success: Just as you had to spend lots of time learning how to trade in the first place, don’t expect to just jump into another market and make lots of money (although you COULD make money, but that might be a trap in and of itself). Take your time, get to know the market. It takes a bit of time before we see enough of anything new so that we start noticing rhythms, patterns, and the “flow” of how each market/instrument works.
• Observe and Report: When testing the waters in a new market, one should spend NO time trading, and ALL the time simply observing the new environment. This should be approached like a scientist would if they discovered a new species, or country. We want to learn as much as we can about the new market, and by taking pressure off of having to make great trades, we allow ourselves to keep our eyes and minds focused on learning, rather than doing.
• Clear Your Mind: Don’t come into a new market and slap a bunch of biases that carry over from an old market. For example, if you are coming from forex to say, gold, you wouldn’t want to use the same stops just because they worked in forex. Gold has a completely different level of volatility and price action, and requires a slightly different approach. By bringing rules and biases from one market to another, it is entirely possible to sabotage the operation from the start. Keep a completely open mind and learn what the new market/instrument is telling you, rather than trying to fit another market’s rules into the new one simply to save time. There is no sense in forcing the proverbial “square peg into a round hole.”
• Write It Down: It will be beneficial to write down your findings, start jotting down potential rules. Although there are some savants that can simply remember EVERYTHING they see/hear/experience, most of us can’t. There is wisdom in keeping great notes on your new adventure.
• Refine and Test: There is no reason to think the first time you look at something new you will know everything about it, and it is going to make your job so much harder if you are looking for the “perfect” set of rules/approaches in coming to a new market/instrument. If you start to see some patterns, although you aren’t getting the whole picture, this is definitely a place to start. As you continue to test your hypotheses about the new market, you can refine and adjust these rules/approaches until you are sure there is validity to them.

Then you test on demo, and when you have confidence, THEN and ONLY then should you apply real money to the new market. It has taken me almost a year to test, create and finally design my own winning system for trading gold- more on that in the coming weeks. If you would like to be notified when I post more on my gold trading sign up for the 100% free course, you will then automatically be placed on our newsletter list and that is where I will be able to help you: CLICK HERE To REGISTER 

You see, giving ourselves multiple markets to trade is the same reason we use multiple approaches/systems/tools in one market.  There is no one-sized-fits-all approach to any single market, and the same can be said about a traders approach to trading.  Learning a new market will enhance you psychologically, give you more trading opportunities and take the pressure of having to perform in a bad market when the conditions are not conducive to making consistent gains.

Omar Eltoukhy

Trading Other Markets