The epidemic of over-complicated forex trading…
The tendency of forex traders to over complicate how they think about and trade the market is also the very reason that most of them fail to make money on a consistent basis. This tendency is especially prevalent among beginning traders as they search hopelessly for that one “perfect” trading system that will make them rich over night. This on-going search for the one trading system that will bring instant success is something that many beginning traders spend immense amounts of time and money on, only to eventually realize that the particular system they are using was never really the problem.
So what is behind this natural urge to want to over complicate forex trading? The primary catalyst behind this behavior lies in the fact that to be a consistently profitable trader requires a disciplinary skill set that most aspiring traders simply do not posses yet or are not aware of. What it takes to become successful as a forex trader is also quite different from what is required to excel in other areas of life. For example, to become a successful doctor or an engineer you will need to make it through college and then continue to learn and stay current in your field. Typically success in high-level jobs such as these requires reading many complicated books and understanding very technically complicated concepts, so many people think that forex trading success should be similar.
No college degree required…
People naturally assume that becoming a consistently profitable trader must be difficult because success in most other fields is difficult, requiring years of study and schooling. This causes them to over-complicate something which really is technically very easy and does need to be approached from a complicated perspective. Because of the fact that the biggest part of becoming a successful forex trader is dependent on consistent self-discipline, adding more indicators to
your charts, spending more money, or similarly making your forex trading more complicated than it needs to be, will ultimately have no bearing on you becoming consistently profitable, in fact it will only likely inhibit this goal.
So the main factor that causes people to overlook simplicity in the forex market is the fact most novice traders do not realize that trading does not need to be technically complicated like success in most other fields. Success in the forex market is instead dependent upon having a unique perspective on the market that is born of simplicity, combined with the proper self-discipline to make sure you do not risk too much or over trade. Most aspiring traders do the opposite; they have very little self-discipline and are using a method that is built on complicated indicators or trading software that is simply unnecessary and confusing.
Implement simplicity…
So now that you know why many traders overlook simplicity in forex and what it really takes to become a consistently profitable trader, the next issue to discuss is what type of trading strategy is conducive to simple yet profitable forex trading. When it comes to forex trading strategies, there is simply nothing to be gained from adding copious amounts of indicators to your charts or using the latest and greatest piece of trading software. These analysis tools give you no advantage over the trader who has mastered the unique type of self-discipline it takes to become a consistently profitable trader.