Traders in every walk of life face a constant temptation to go off on a quest to find the best way to trade. Binary options traders are no exception. When your trading method isn’t working that great, what do you do? Many traders automatically try to go back to the drawing board in hopes that they can find a better system which will never fail them. Seasoned traders refer to this as the quest for the holy grail of trading. The mythical holy grail is a cup which is said to deliver eternal life. The holy grail of trading is a mythical system that can deliver endless profits and perform perfectly, all of the time. And it will always be a myth, because there is no such thing as a perfect system.
| REVIEW | MIN DEPOSIT | AVG RETURNS | VISIT BROKER |
|---|---|---|---|
 | $10 | 80% | VISIT SITE |
 | $50 | 160% - 180% | VISIT SITE |
 | $250 | 95% | VISIT SITE |
 | $250 | 80% - 90% | VISIT SITE |
The sooner you accept this reality as a trader, the better. But what do you do once you realize that there is no holy grail of trading? If your system is not performing as well as you expect, do you go look for another one anyway? Or do you try to fix your existing system? If you are feeling helpless and are not sure where to begin, here are 5 steps for improving your trading right now.
- Simplify your trading.
- Look harder at context and market conditions.
- Learn why your system works.
- Learn more about yourself.
- Take a break.
Let’s look at each of these suggestions and why they may be more helpful than going on yet another quest for a nonexistent holy grail.
1. Simplify your trading.
How many indicators are on your charts right now? One, two? Five? Ten? More than ten? How many different types of trades do you take? How many different assets do you trade? How many different expiry lengths do you trade? How thin are you spreading yourself? All of these different factors are variables in your trading. The more variables you introduce, the more complicated your trading becomes, and the more chaos you introduce into an already chaotic process.
See what you can do to simplify your trading right now. Try cutting back to just a couple of your best performing assets, and try trading on just one timeframe. If you have a lot of clutter on your charts, try testing your system again using only a couple of the indicators. Get rid of those conflicting signals.
Heed these warnings before getting in too deep
2. Look harder at context and market conditions.
If your trading system worked fine before but it does not seem to be working fine now, it may be because something else has changed—for example the market conditions. If your system performed great in a trending market, it may not perform as well in a ranging market. Or perhaps the market is choppy and unpredictable right now, and very hard for anyone to profit from. Or maybe you have been trading during news report releases when you were not trading during those volatile report times in the past. Changes like this can be responsible for why you are struggling. Your system may work fine. You may simply not be using it at the right time in the right context.
3. Learn why your system works.
If you do not know why your system delivers results when it does, try not to be too ashamed; you certainly are not alone. A lot of traders have trading systems that work, but they may not know why they deliver, especially if they got the system from another trader instead of coming up with it on their own. You need to have at least a basic understanding of the underlying principles that drive your success. That way you are more likely to notice when something disrupts those principles. Knowing why your system works means you will be more likely to understand why it stops working if something goes wrong. http://www.binarytrading.org/coming-up-with-a-basic-binary-options-strategy/ will help you put together a “go to” strategy
4. Learn more about yourself.
While you will probably spend most of your actual time learning about strategies, indicators, news releases, and other technical and fundamental aspects of trading, you should never overlook the importance of trading psychology in your success. Now a few wise veteran traders have pointed out that there may be a holy grail of trading, but it is not an indicator, system, or method, but rather the time and energy you invest into getting to know yourself as a trader.
Click here to learn more about your character traits
Even an excellent, first-rate system can fail for a trader who is undisciplined, uses poor money management techniques, and otherwise fails at the day to day tasks of being a trader. That same system may work great for others, who know how to apply it properly. And if you use a system which does not suit your trading personality, even if you are a disciplined, efficient trader, you may not get the best results.
Get to know yourself and your needs. What kind of trading schedule is best for you? How disciplined are you? Are you good at managing your time and money? Do you get emotional while you are trading? Have you been compromising your success by trading emotionally instead of observing the rules of your system?
5. Take a break.
No trader seems to want to hear this one, but sometimes the best thing you can do right now to trade better is to take a break from trading. It may be a short break, only a few days, or it could be a longer break. Either way, it stops you from losing money while you figure out what is going on. You might even consider taking a break from that activity as well. You can gain perspective by spending time with other friends and traders, and by doing other activities which can re-focus your thoughts and help you to gather your energy after you have become discouraged.
You may very well find that the answer comes to you while you are doing something which is not related to trading at all. Or the market conditions may correct while you are away from your computer, and you may find that things work fine again once you come back. You also might look back at your trading journal after some time off and see things with a fresher perspective, and catch mistakes you have been making which were invisible to you when you were too close to the issue. The biggest lesson you can take away from all of this is that trading is harder than you thought it would be, and that is always going to be the case, for any trader. You need to learn how to deal with that so you can stay in the game!
After your break you may want to check out binary options brokers with a minimum deposit to start back up with!