Every trader or anyone who has participated in the financial markets in one way or another knows that feeling one gets when you place your first trade. After that the trading bug bites you and you cannot walk away from that feeling at least until you really get to know what trading is all about.
After you make this conscious decision now, you are ready to be thrust into the toughest workplace in the world. The decision to trade mostly comes from a place of misinformation, and it is until you start when you realize how odious your task is, and here is where many people fall off the wagon.
Since you are not a trader yet but an aspiring one you will need to harness your skills and hone them over a period of time in order to be acclaimed as a trader. This process can only be achieved through a virtual medium since you cannot put your money at risk at first if you do not know what trading is all about.
This has given rise to the virtual traders; this group of hopeful individuals has made the industry more lucrative than it may appear. They have made trading look like a sort of secretive club where one needs to undergo a ritual to be accepted.
All these is not like it may seem because the virtual traders over amplify the markets and they make them seem like some sort of magic show where one can do less and get more within a short period of time.
The fact is as any newbie in any field there is that need to advertise your new found skills and the more you do it, the more alluring the field becomes.
Role of Industry Players to Virtual Traders
Apart from the over exuberance showcased in the financial markets the advertisements from the industry players have also helped the numbers of virtual traders grow rapidly.
The industry players lure their prey by promises of rich gains hiding the most important information in fine print. The yet to be traders get caught up in the hype and they open their wallets with their minds filled with hopes that their investments will soon gain them a new millionaire status.
This is just but a fallacy, the journey to being a trader is cut short after one is hit by the rude reality that more is needed and much more is even expected from them, one of those is a time which no newbie trader wants to part with.
The only way to get yourself a good start is by allowing yourself time as a virtual trader who is to develop into the trader you would like to become, once you are invested then and only then will you be able to make that step from a virtual trader to a trader.
Steps That Virtual Traders Go Through
Like any other career or profession, one has to grow through a process before becoming the best in that particular field. These steps are a note written on a rock, and you will have to go and check out which stage on the process you are at, rather they are psychological.
These steps will apply in any field but in the financial markets where your psychology plays a major role will determine whether you have progressed or stagnated.
The first step in the process is called unconscious incompetence; this stage is characterized by a lot of gambling tendencies, whereby the virtual trader is just trying out new approaches as they see from other advanced traders or their mentor and hope for the best.
They do not have a solid basis for their thought process rather they react to what they think is right or they see is right. After wandering in this stage, the virtual traders will realize that they have a lot to learn and they now know they are not competent enough to even trade and they will start to be consciously aware of their incompetence.
After this humbling experience, you are now ready to start to find your way in the markets you may have the toughest moments in your trading career at this stage because you will start to be aware of your weaknesses and by tackling them you become better.
As virtual traders now growing and learning you will have your light bulb moment; this moment is your eureka moment; this moment will define you as a trader and your trading career.
This is the moment when everything you have been working hard for falls into place, you understand why this makes sense and this does not and this will be the best feeling you will ever get as virtual traders.
The next phase is conscious competence when you know what you are supposed, and you go ahead and do it confidently there few mistakes here and there, but you spot them and resolve them fast.
The last phase is the unconscious competence where you just do what you are supposed to do effortlessly; trading your plan becomes second nature.
Things to Avoid as Virtual Traders
There are a lot of minefields to walk around as a trader and more so as virtual traders who are honing their skills to become good at this craft.
Before getting to the trader Promised Land of consistent profitability, you as a trader should know what to avoid and what to go for.
The virtual traders should restrain themselves from hoping from one strategy to another; this will only lengthen your learning curve, and more so you will end up wasting much needed time.
Focusing on a strategy and learning it inside out will give a sense of trust on it and thus you will not hesitate to act on it when it gives you a signal.
The next thing to avoid is your need to make money now, your ability as a trader can only be determined by how successfully you acted on your trading plan but not how much money you made.
So it is better to focus on improving your system, and that will increase your chance towards profitability.
