1. Knowledge Deficiency � Most new forex traders do not take the time to learn what drives currency rates (primarily fundamentals). When some news or a statement is due out, they close out their positions and sit out the best trading opportunities; they are taught to only trade after the market calms down. So essentially they miss the whole move and then trade the random noise that follows a fundamental price move. Just think for a moment about technically trading the aftermath of a price move; there is no potential.
2. Overtrading - Trading often with tight stops and tiny profit targets will only make the broker rich. The desire to �just� make a few hundred dollars a day by locking in tiny profits whenever possible is a losing strategy.
3. Over leveraged - Leverage is a two way street. The brokers want you to use high leverage because that means more spread income because your position size determines the amount of spread income; the bigger the position, the more spread income the broker earns.
4. Relying on Others � Real traders play a lone hand; they make their own decisions and don�t rely on others to make their trading decisions for them; there is no halfway; either trade for yourself or have someone else trade for you.
5. Stop Losses � Putting tight stop losses with retail brokers is a recipe for disaster. When you put on a trade, commit to a reasonable stop loss limit that allows your trade a fair chance to develop.
6. Demo Accounts � Broker demo accounts are a shill game of sorts; they�re not as time sensitive as real accounts and therefore give the impression that time-sensitive trading systems, such as short-term moving average crossovers, can be a consistently profitable trade; once you start dealing with real money, reality is quick to set in.
7. Trading During Off Hours � Bank FX traders, option traders, and hedge funds have a huge advantage during off hours; they can push the currencies around when no volume is going through and the end game is new traders get fleeced trying to trade signals. There is only one signal during off hours � it is better to stay out.
8. Trading a Currency, Not a Pair � Being right about a currency is half a trade; success or failure depends upon being right about the second currency that makes up the pair.
9. No Trading Plan - "Make money" is not a trading plan. A trading plan is a blueprint for trading success; it spells out what you see your edge as being; if you don�t have an edge, you don�t have a plan, and likely you�ll wind up a statistic (part of the 95% of new traders that lose and quit).
10. Trading Against Prevailing Trend � There is a huge difference between buying cheaply on the way down and buying cheaply. What was a low price quickly becomes a high price when you�re trading against the trend.
11. Exiting Trades Poorly � If you put on a trade and it�s not working make sure you exit properly; don�t compound the damage. If you�re in a winning trade don�t talk yourself out of the position because you�re bored or want to relieve stress; stress is a natural part of trading, get used to it.
12. Trading Too Short-term � If you�re profit target is less than 20 points, don't do the trade; the spread you pay to enter the trade makes the odds way against you when you go for these tiny profits.
13. Picking Tops and Bottoms - Looking for bargains works well at the supermarket but not trading foreign exchange; try to trade in the direction the price is going and your results will improve.
14. Being Too Smart � The most successful traders I know are high school graduates. They keep it simple and don�t look beyond the obvious; their results are excellent.
15. Not Trading Around News Time � Most of the big moves occur around news time. The volume is high and the moves are real; there is no better time to trade fundamentally or technically than when news is released; this is when the real money adjusts their positions and as a result the prices changes reflect serious currency flow (compared to quiet times when bank traders rule the market with their customer order flow).
