Trading Forex and combat are very similar in terms of the skills needed to succeed because trading is very much like war and only the fittest, smartest and strongest win. You are fighting numerous other traders in the market to make profits and you need to have the skills to adapt the their moves and the confidence and discipline to apply your trading edge to take money in the market
SAS Training
The SAS are prepared for any mission and the reason there so good is they spent time training and practising their art until they can take on as huge variety of fighting missions and have the confidence, discipline and belief they can complete what ever is asked of them.
Compare this to the average Forex trader and you will normally see, a complete lack of preparation for trading in the market. Most currency traders try and follow others and have no believe in their ability and a huge number of other traders simply don't have a trading plan they have confidence in. This lack of trading training, leaves them not only a strategy which is unlikely to work but they very often, don't have the correct mindset to trade Forex either which leads to a wipe out of equity.
If you are not prepared to learn a strategy and you don't deep down believe you are going to make money, you will never win. Combat is all about education. Learning, having flexible skills and having the correct mindset to apply them and this applies to both military combat and trading currencies.
Perseverance and Endurance
One of the key skills taught to the SAS is to be able to cover large distances with full kit and yomping is all about stamina, perseverence and endurance to keep going and not give up and in many ways trading currencies is similar – you need to persevere with your trading plan while you endure losses. Taking losses is part of Forex trading and the serious trader keeps his eyes firmly on the long term and simply endures through losses. He just keeps them small and keeps going until the target he has set is met which is profitable trades to cover the losses.
The problem with most traders is they expect quick or instant profits and most simply cannot endure losses or perseverance through periods of equity drawn down. They either quit, swap to another trading style or strategy or just decide to trade with no rules and the market takes there money. Forex trading success is long term and you need to persevere and endure short term pain, in the form of losses in order to achieve your ultimate goal of - long term profitability.
Patience
The SAS are to all about going in guns blazing - most of the missions require the patience to site in hostile areas and wait, for the right opportunity to strike and many missions will require them to wait for weeks on end, for the opportunity to strike.
Patience is a skill, we have discussed in many previous articles and it really is one of the keys to success. Most traders enter far to many trading signals in the market and this means, they simply end up taking risks they shouldn't and trading when the odds are not on their side. An SAS solider knows that patience, will save is life and allow him only to strike when the time is right. Of course, his life is on the line so patience is vital but in Forex trading money is risked so why risk it when the odds of winning are not good?
Be patient is one of the simplest but one of the most effective Forex trading tips of all - but one of the most vital. This is because by being patient, you end up taking less risk and trading for better rewards. It takes discipline, to be patient but if you learn the art of patience, you will not only reduce the time you spend on your trading plan, you also increase it's profit potential.
Discipline and Confidence
This is really related to previous trading tips – the SAS know what they have to do and they have skills their confident in discipline is ingrained in them to achieve their goal – nothing else matters but the ultimate aim of completing the mission, surviving and returning to base alive. Most traders cannot trade with discipline because they don't have confidence in what their doing. Not only do they not have the right Forex trading education, they also don't have the inner belief which comes from education and confidence, to trade with discipline.
This is an important point to stress – from the right education comes confidence and belief, to trade with discipline to achieve your overall goal of making money in the long term. If you have discipline, you will have the patience to, wait for the right opportunities and endure and persevere through the pain of losses and short term draw down periods to win long term.
Skills that Work Anywhere
Forex markets are in a constant state of change and cannot be predicted – they do what they want, when they want and there is nothing you can do about that but there is something you can do which can lead you to success which is – to use flexible trading rules that can adapt to the markets movements. If you have flexible rules, you can cope with unpredictable price movement and win.
The SAS are taught a huge range of skills which they can use for any mission be it observation close quarter combat or sniping from a distance and not only are they trained to fight any opponent, their taught to do it anywhere in the world – jungles, caves, cities, houses or mountains – it doesn't matter to them – they can fight opponents anywhere at any time. They have skills but they skills, are adapted to, who they face and where they face them. Now contrast this with most Forex traders:
Most think the market can be beaten by, static trading strategies and this is why Forex robot and Expert Advisor sales are so high but of course they all lose. The markets are human, they will always wrong foot a static trading system so to win you need to think and be flexible. Most currency traders don't want to think, they have no confidence to do so because they have no confidence in their skills. If they did have confidence in their skills, they would be able to adapt and have the belief they can but most don't and fail to make money.
Acting Alone
Sure the SAS work in teams - but every member has his role which he alone in and has to do. He can't blame anyone else, if he hasn't covered the flank for example and someone is killed – that was his responsibility and his alone. Also, the SAS very often have to act alone as forward observation and are on their own. No back up just them in hostile territory where they know, if they don't use their skills correctly they will be dead.
How many currency traders have the confidence to stand alone? Not many, most seek advice from brokers, forums or the news and think they will win but end up, seeing their trading capital wiped out. In Forex trading just like fighting, you can't rely on someone else – your on your own. This as we have stated earlier comes from training, confidence and discipline. If you seek trading advice from others, don't bother trading currency markets because you will lose – it's as simple as that.
One Aim Only – Complete the Mission
The SAS are not interested in glory or being to clever when their on a mission the aim is simple – do what you need to do and get back to base. Once the aim is achieved their aim is to get out of a combat mission and get back to safety. Forex traders though are different. Most want to prove how clever they are or smart and hang around in trades to long, brag in Forex forums, about their so called skills. They don’t focus on the aim of winning, their aim is to look clever and feel good about themselves and this arrogance sees them lose.
An SAS trooper focuses on the aim of the mission – personal glory or hanging around to show how good he is at fighting is not relevant, once the mission is achieved their gone. There is no ego involved but in Forex trading ego is for most traders and it causes them to hold losing trades to long and cut winners to soon and lose
Final Words
The SAS, are considered the best at what they do because not only do they have they been trained in a variety of skills to prepare them for the huge variety of missions they have to face but they also have total belief in there ability to execute the mission they have been assigned to.
In Forex trading you can learn skills and put together, a simple Currency trading strategy which can make profits but you also, have to apply it under the pressure of trading money. Trading currency markets is all about handling pressure - stress and a variety of other emotions and controlling them and this comes from inner belief.
After reading this article, you will realize that the key to success is a simple trading plan which you believe in and can therefore, apply it a disciplined fashion to help you achieve long term profits trading currencies.
