#177: The Danger of Complacency

by | May 9, 2016 | Weekly Trading Updates | 36 comments

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The Danger of Complacency

In this video:
00:23 – Complacency can damage you as a trader
00:50 – You won’t become an overnight expert
01.25 – Don’t run before you can walk
02:03 – Start small and treat it as a business
02:35 – Trading will not solve your financial issues
03:28 – Don’t expect to double your account in a few trades
03:55 – I offer consistency for members
04:35 – Good trading is methodical and boring
05:30 – We are not invincible
05:46 – 7th Birthday offer starts tomorrow

One of the biggest problems facing Forex traders is complacency, so let’s talk about that and more right now.

Hi, traders. It’s Andrew Mitchem here, the owner of The Forex Trading Coach. Today is Friday, the 6th of May.

Complacency can damage you as a trader

I want to talk about a big issue that faces so many Forex traders, and it’s all to do with complacency.

You see, the Forex market is the biggest and the most volatile market in the world, and you really do need to take some time to get a good understanding of how it works, how you operate as a trader, and how the market as a whole operates.

You won’t become an overnight expert

Because I find that so many people think that they’re suddenly going to become market experts after a few weeks or a few months. Unfortunately, that’s just not going to happen.

Think of it this way. You wouldn’t just walk into a brand new industry and walk into an office or a factory, and after few weeks, expect to be the manager, or expect to be a consultant, or expect to be an expert within that field. Trading Forex is absolutely no different. It takes time and you must learn to walk before you can run, and don’t jump in head first. Two of the most common phrases that we use, but it’s so applicable in trading.

Don’t run before you can walk

I’ll give you an example. Just this week, I had a phone call from a gentleman in the US who’s looking at taking my course, and he said to me, “Andrew, I’m looking at investing a vast amount of capital into a Forex trading account, and I’ve just come out towards retirement. I’m looking at selling some properties, selling some businesses, and I want to put a large amount of money into my trading account.”

I said, “Okay, that’s fine. Your account, your money, but tell me this. How long have you been trading?” He said, “Well, I haven’t really traded. I’m just new to trading, but it’s what I want to do.”

Start small and treat it as a business

I had to be really careful with him and said, “Look. That’s all great, but let’s start small. Let’s start on a demo account. Once you’ve proven to yourself you can make money on a demo account, then move to a very small live account, and then slowly build up that account from that.”

It’s really important that you do that and start small. Treat it as a business and just remember that if you’re at that stage, you are new to trading. It doesn’t matter how much money you might have to throw at it, but you’re still new to the industry, and it’s really important that you understand that, and you then take the opposite end of the scale.

Trading will not solve your financial issues

I get many emails from people saying, “Hey, Andrew. I don’t have the money to pay for your course,” or, “I’ve got a $100 account. That’s all I can afford, but how am I going to make some money on that? What money can I expect to make on that account?” With that type of person, you got to be really careful because you can’t expect to solve all your life’s financial problems just by becoming a Forex trader if all you can afford is $100, and so you have to be realistic and you think, “Well …” If you got $100, so let’s say you doubled that in 1 year, that’s a fantastic achievement to make a 100% return.

They go, “Oh, but I’ve only now got $200,” but I’m saying, “Well, yes, you do, but that’s only because you have $100 to start with.” The fact is you’ve doubled that account … It’s more important to double that account over time.

Don’t expect to double your account in a few trades

Don’t expect to suddenly double that account in one trading or in a week because that only is going to lead to one thing, and that’s failure ultimately, so it’s really important to have that understanding of this is a big market. You are a very small fish. We all are a very small fish within a massive market, and we need to have an understanding of how it works overall in order to become a profitable trader.

Now, for some people, they might like to join a course. They might like to have a mentor, and that’s one thing.

I offer consistency for members

There’s a course I offer to help people, and it’s very important from my point of view that I offer consistency, and so every day of the trading year, I place daily market analysis, daily trading suggestions, strength and weakness analysis for my members to go and access at the same time every single day. Every 2 weeks, I hold live trading room webinars, so people can jump on to those live trading rooms, and watch me trade on a live 6-figure account, and see all the trades I’m taking, good trades and bad trades. For me, the consistency is within my trading, and the consistency is what I offer people.

As a trader, you need to be consistent. To be perfectly honest, to be a good trader, it’s actually …

Good trading is methodical and boring

You need to have almost like a boring systematic approach. A lot of people think trading is going to be wow, fantastic, and lots of parties and cocktails, and making all this money, and all the excitement like you see on TV or the internet tries to tell you.

The reality is you need to be doing almost … Once you understand the system and the market, you need to be methodical, quite boring in your approach, and just do the same things all the time. If you see a great set-up, then take that set-up. If you don’t see a set-up, then don’t take anything. Don’t go inventing things, and so it’s been an understanding of how you are as a person, how you are as a trader, and how that fits into the overall market.

We are not invincible

Complacency is a big problem. As Forex traders, we all think we know everything when we know not much or emotions start coming in like fear or greed, or you think that just because you’ve taken a couple of good profitable trades, you’re invincible, and then of course, that’s going to hurt you also, so it’s a really important subject to get a grasp of and to understand.

7th Birthday offer starts tomorrow

I hope that helps you. If you are watching this video on the 9th of May, don’t forget that my 7th birthday special starts today or the 10th of May, depending on where you are in the world. It lasts for 77 hours. Jump on to that because it’s a deal like I’ve never done before in 7 years as a Forex coach, so I hope that also helps you if you’re interested in getting started with some tuition, and some mentorship, and my help.

Once again, this is Andrew Mitchem for The Forex Trading Coach. Have a fantastic weekend.

I look forward to talking more Forex with you this time next week.

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36 Comments

  1. Banglavai
    Banglavai on April 22, 2016 at 10:27 am

    Please Help Me , I am from bangladesh

    Reply
  2. Marina
    Marina on April 22, 2016 at 10:35 am

    Thank you, Andrew for everything you do to share what you know and help others become successful at forex trading.

    Question #1: Relatively experienced – trading off and on for about 8 years.
    Question #2: My biggest challenge is having the confidence and money to be able to make a decent living trading forex. I am worried that I don’t have enough capital to make a living doing forex trading. I also worry that this process will take 10 or more years.
    Question #3: If you can, please discuss or refer us to any videos/articles where you have talked about making a living doing forex trading, how long it took you, what it requires, etc. Thank you!

    Many blessings to you, Andrew. Thank you for being a generous teacher, and Happy Anniversary!

    Reply
    • Andrew Mitchem
      Andrew Mitchem on April 22, 2016 at 2:15 pm

      Hi Marina,
      I’m pleased to help you.
      It took me about 4 years before I felt really ready to trade for a living. Since then my trading style has remained almost the same through all market conditions. Keep in contact and mark 10th May on your calendar – more details soon. Andrew

      Reply
  3. Amr
    Amr on April 22, 2016 at 11:04 am

    1) I am trading for more than 3 years
    2) Money management and strategy automation is great challenge
    3) why you don’t provide a money management service PAAM ETC…?

    Reply
      • Amr
        Amr on April 22, 2016 at 3:48 pm

        Thanks Andrew for your reply.

        Why you don’t provide a charged money management service PAAM, etc… ?
        This at least can give us a push in our trading results.

        Waiting for your feedback

        Reply
  4. Ron
    Ron on April 22, 2016 at 11:58 am

    1. New trader
    2. Picking the right pair to trade, entry and exit points
    3. Teach me to fish, i.e. provide me with all the tools so that I can do this on my own, with consistent results

    Reply
  5. thevan
    thevan on April 22, 2016 at 1:36 pm

    1.New Trader
    2.No progress in trading ,10 wins/10 loss in week trade
    3.Any free source to get more info

    Reply
  6. Adrian Friday
    Adrian Friday on April 22, 2016 at 3:52 pm

    1. Experienced Trader
    2. Exiting trades! I can enter great setups but my exit timing is horrible.
    3. Help me adapt better to market changes so that I can be a full time trader and structure my trading business to lower taxes so that I can leave more for my kids.

    Reply
    • Andrew Mitchem
      Andrew Mitchem on April 25, 2016 at 3:55 pm

      Hi Adrian,

      Thanks for your feedback.
      Exiting is a hard part of trading. I usually have a fixed profit target and I can teach you those. Also consider a change in sentiment in the market as recognising this can also help you to exit.

      Regards,
      Andrew

      Reply
  7. Nisha Chaudhari
    Nisha Chaudhari on April 22, 2016 at 4:43 pm

    1. new trade
    2. how to enter and exist , stop loss take profit
    3.helping me how to predict market

    Reply
  8. GLYNN BURTON
    GLYNN BURTON on April 22, 2016 at 11:34 pm

    1. NEW TRADER. 2.FINDING A WINNING STRATEGY 3.REDUCE YOUR COURSE FEES AND MAKE IT PAYABLE MONTHLY.

    Reply
  9. rashid
    rashid on April 23, 2016 at 5:27 am

    1-experience trader 2-challenge is having the right strategy to trade, 3-your course fee is too high for me

    Reply
  10. Anuerin Diaz
    Anuerin Diaz on April 23, 2016 at 5:03 pm

    1 – New. Trading through simulation only.
    2. Getting the funding (even the $200 entry for most providers can be a challenge). Not clear yet on paybacks and local taxation rules. Unreliable internet connection. Time to review to come to a point that setups can be recognized in a 15-30 minute session.
    3. Cost of course is too high (see first challenge). Some of the tips are video specific while I mostly follow using the audio cast. Maybe a separate basics audio cast for the really newbies.

    Reply
  11. Jacqui Howe
    Jacqui Howe on April 23, 2016 at 6:43 pm

    1. New – Less than 6 mths on Live account with another trainer
    2. Insufficient knowledge/training and very low starting capital
    3. a) You can teach me to become a successful independent trader; b) could you offer a monthly payment plan for your course? Can’t manage a lump sum payment up front.

    Reply
  12. Pete Thecurious
    Pete Thecurious on April 23, 2016 at 8:17 pm

    Hi Andrew, Congratulations on your “7 Years”
    1. Experienced
    2 Finding entries where and when prices will keep trending..
    3 Thanks anyway. You have already helped me by offering that free money/pip managing tool which I use very regularly.

    Reply
  13. Dan Krueger
    Dan Krueger on April 23, 2016 at 8:36 pm

    Who cares about Q# 1&2? Q #1 for me is time and money, and that is in your Q #3.

    After spending a lot of time for orientation in this FOREX arena I found out, that I could develop a profitable strategy by myself. In years, maybe. After some more research I found these “Mirror Traders”. Looks like some guys did all the work I could take advantage from. I as a German living in Germany am with FXCM, they offer “Mirror Trading”, with Tradency, MyFXbook, ROBOX and stuff. Interesting, but not convincing somehow, too many varibles. As well as on eToro and stuff.

    Now Q#4 is, how much % you make with trading or selling courses, 99/1 or 1/99? Actually I don’t care, if your trades are profitable. Maybe you make more money selling your courses than with trading, who cares. As long as your TRADING SYSTEM AND CONCEPT is profitable.

    So: “What do you feel I can do to help give back to you and to help you as a trader?”
    Simple as this: let me follow your trading (Mirrortrading or whatever) by a reasonable whatever PROFITABLE percentage, and I will buy anything and everything you offer from the profit I will make.

    Reply
    • Andrew Mitchem
      Andrew Mitchem on April 25, 2016 at 3:41 pm

      Hi Dan,
      That is very interesting that you are asking for a trade copier service from me. I have been trialing this with a few of my clients for the past few months. It’s not at a stage to take to the public quite yet but when it’s ready, I’ll certainly let you know. Thanks for the suggestion.
      Regards,
      Andrew

      Reply
      • Dan Krueger
        Dan Krueger on April 25, 2016 at 9:22 pm

        Tanks for your nice response!

        Please update your progresses on your blog so we know what we are waiting for. Even when your trade copier service is not ready yet, can you let us know a bit about the conditions already?

        Reply
  14. Bernie Massey
    Bernie Massey on April 24, 2016 at 8:50 am

    1. Yes been at it for more than 5 years. Trade manually as well as develop EA’s
    2. Developing a consistently profitable system. Regularly get great wins inline with weekly historic market behaviors but when things change as they do get annoying loses which undermine the wins. How to manage these transitions has eluded me to this point.
    3. Talking to other profitable experienced traders like yourself to analysis their strategies to develop something for the common good.

    Reply
    • Andrew Mitchem
      Andrew Mitchem on April 25, 2016 at 3:39 pm

      Hi Bernie,
      To help prevent the losing trades eating into your gains, I’d suggest you use this tool https://theforextradingcoach.com/free-forex-tool.html
      Have a reward:risk on each trade that is around 1.5:1 or greater – sometime I have trades up to a 4:1 R:R or more.
      You’d find the live webinars that I hold with my coaching clients useful as on those sessions I trade and talk about what’s happening in the market right at that time.
      Regards,
      Andrew

      Reply
  15. Donald Martin
    Donald Martin on April 24, 2016 at 11:05 pm

    1 Experienced
    2 Scanning the 28 pairs to see which pairs are trending at that time.
    3 Finding a good momentum indicator.

    Reply
    • Andrew Mitchem
      Andrew Mitchem on April 25, 2016 at 3:36 pm

      Hi Donald,
      I prefer to look at which currencies and which pairs are likely to move for the day and then focus mostly on those pairs and in that anticipated direction. This will cut down the number of pairs you need to look at each day.
      Regards,
      Andrew

      Reply
  16. ahmed
    ahmed on April 25, 2016 at 4:25 am

    1/ I’m a failed over six month trader.
    2/ Most strategies work fine in hind sight but when it comes to real time nothing works for me.
    3/ The price tag of your course is not affordable to most burnt traders like my self with small trading accounts

    Reply
    • Andrew Mitchem
      Andrew Mitchem on April 25, 2016 at 3:35 pm

      Hi Ahmed,
      Thanks for your feedback. You are correct, most strategies only work in hindsight. That’s why looking for a trade at the completion of a candle is such a good way to trade, see here https://theforextradingcoach.com/andrew-mitchem.html
      Keep a look out on 10th May for my birthday sale – I think you’ll love what I’m putting together.
      Regards,
      Andrew

      Reply
  17. Phil
    Phil on April 25, 2016 at 10:06 pm

    1. I have 30 years trading experience, but only 2 years with fx
    2. Setting SL’s has been my problem
    3. Analyzing my trading mistakes

    Reply

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. The Danger of Complacency | theforextradingcoachblog - […] In this video: 00:23 – Complacency can damage you as a trader 00:50 – You won’t become an overnight…
  2. Daily Currency Strength and Weakness 9th May 2016 - […] “The Danger of Complacency” […]

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