The Forex Mindset: The Skills and Winning Attitude You Need for More Profitable Forex Trading - Hardcover

MARTINEZ

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071767347 ISBN 13: 9780071767347

Publisher: McGraw Hill, 2011

Synopsis

Jared Martinez traded the forex market for a decade through the 1980s and ’90s before he discovered that successful trading requires 10 percent skill and 90 percent emotional intelligence. He founded the Market Traders Institute on that underlying principle, and now MTI is the most established leader in forex education worldwide.

Jared is known as “FXCHIEF” in the industry, and now, in The Forex Mindset, he shares his secrets with you.

Leadership experts and corporate executives are just waking up to what the FXCHIEF has known for more than 15 years―emotional intelligence matters. With The Forex Mindset, you get up close and personal with greed and fear, the two leading forces in the market. Everyone gets in for greed, but without a healthy understanding of fear, you may be in for one of the worst journeys of your life. This performance-oriented guidebook features a potent synthesis of psychology and strategy that will exponentially increase your ability to acquire wealth as a trader.

Even veteran traders with bulletproof trading strategies are doomed to fail if they don’t know themselves. The Forex Mindset prepares you to be a successful trader by helping you identify your unique psychological strengths and weaknesses and how you naturally behave in times of financial crisis. With a newfound understanding of yourself, you can use this book to map out your own path to wealth by:

• Delving into human nature and market behavior
• Learning how to improve your emotional intelligence
• Doing what top traders do to control their emotions in trades and in times of crisis
• Implementing authoritative strategies for effective thinking in a state of fear

If you want to make a living from trading forex, apply the lessons in The Forex Mindset and you’re already 90 percent there!

About this title

About the Author

Jared F. Martinez is the founder of Market Traders Institute, Inc., the worldwide leader in forex education. Best known for trading Fibonacci movements in markets, he has trained more than 10,000 traders worldwide and is globally renowned in all trading arenas. Martinez is a contributor to FX Television, Stocks and Commodities, FXstreet.com, and Active Trader.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

THE FOREX MINDSET

The Skills and Winning Attitude You Need for MORE PROFITABLE FOREX TRADING

By Jared F. Martinez

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Jared Martinez
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-07-176734-7

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 GET EXCITED ABOUT TRADING
CHAPTER 2 FINDING A MENTOR IN TRADING AND IN LIFE
CHAPTER 3 GREED AND FEAR CONTROL THE MARKET
CHAPTER 4 ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE AT TRADING
CHAPTER 5 UNDERSTANDING HOW YOUR HEAD AND HEART WORK
CHAPTER 6 THE IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
CHAPTER 7 THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANGE
CHAPTER 8 CREATING A PERSONAL AND TRADER'S CONSTITUTION
CHAPTER 9 DEALING WITH FRUSTRATION AS YOU TRADE
CHAPTER 10 DEALING WITH ANGER AS YOU TRADE
CHAPTER 11 ALTER YOUR ATTITUDE, ALTER YOUR TRADING RESULTS
CHAPTER 12 LEARNING PATIENCE AND SELF-CONTROL TO AVOID TEMPTATION
CHAPTER 13 LISTENING WITH HUMILITY
CHAPTER 14 LEARN TO TRADE WITH CONFIDENCE
CHAPTER 15 PROTECT YOURSELF AT ALL TIMES
Conclusion: Follow Your Dreams and Persist Until You Succeed
Index

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

GET EXCITED ABOUT TRADING

You have a gold mine when you have a goal in mind.

More than likely, the reason you bought this book is because when you heard howthe Forex works, you started to dream about becoming a successful trader. Youwere excited about the prospects of how great it would be to succeed atsomething very few others have. There is nothing better than a dream to get youmotivated or on the road to success, but as with any dream, it is important tomaintain your sense of excitement. Nothing great happens unless you set a goalor start to dream. Think about it: most people are not in the habit of doingeither, and they instead simply exist, day-to-day, with no real quest forachievement. If you've lost excitement in your goals and dreams, it's time toreenergize and get it back, or find new ones to strive for.

To reach your fullest potential at anything, you need to get excited about whatyou are doing and where you are going. The majority of the world gets up day inand day out, going to work doing something they really don't enjoy or want todo. As Henry David Thoreau wrote in 1854, "The mass of men lead lives of quietdesperation." Are you one of the fortunate few who jump out of bed withexcitement ready to start your day and looking forward to all the opportunitiesfor success that will be knocking on your door? Or are you one of the masses whofall out of bed and begrudgingly get up to start another day of quietdesperation? Consider the following about people today:

• We have higher buildings and wider highways but shorter temperaments andnarrower points of view.

• We spend more but enjoy less.

• We have bigger houses but smaller families.

• We have more commitments but less time.

• We have more knowledge but less judgment.

• We have more medicines but less health.

• We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values.

• We talk much, we love only a little, and we hate too much.

• We reached the moon and came back, but we find it troublesome to cross our ownstreet and meet our neighbors.

• We have conquered outer space, but not our inner space.

• We have higher income but fewer morals.

• We bring home two salaries but have more divorces.

• We have more liberty but less joy.

• We have more food but less nutrition.

• We have finer houses but more broken homes.

Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start now andmake a brand new ending:

• Don't wait for that special moment in time. Make it.

• Don't wait for the special road of opportunity to open up. Go create it.

• Don't wait for money to appear. Go earn it.

• Don't go for less. Go for the best.

• Don't back down. Go around.

• Don't close your eyes. Open your mind.

• Don't avoid or be afraid of failure. Learn to use it to your advantage.

• Don't fight your misfortune. Transform it, and make a fortune.

• Don't worry about your mistakes. Everyone makes them.

• Don't let how you feel make you forget what you deserve.

• Don't compare. Just be aware.

• Don't wait for love. Go find it, feel it, and give it.

• Don't run from what life has to offer.

Spread your wings—you have no idea how far you can truly fly when you havea dream or a goal!

Follow Your Dreams

There is nothing like a dream or a goal to get you excited and motivated aboutyour future. Dreams and goals are necessary in life, but as I say at thebeginning of every mentorship class I teach: "You cannot dream yourself into aposition of a successful trader. You must work your way into it. You must takeon the responsibility of your destination as I have done mine. You must believeyou can achieve it. The things we believe in will always happen, because it isthe belief in those things that will make it happen. Remember, if another personcan do it, you can do it."

You have to figure out the skills and disciplines needed to fulfill your dream.Then buckle down and do it, with the belief that whatever you expect, you willget. I have learned that a dream combined with an expectation and the courage topursue it make it a reality. The poorest of all people is not a person without acent, but a person without a dream!

When you are involved with doing what you dream about, something that trulyexcites you, you dig deep into your soul to bring out the very best you have tooffer the world. Usually we are so excited about our dream that we begin to telleveryone about it well before we figure out any details about how we are goingto accomplish it. Why? First, it's just no fun to dream alone. Second, when wedream alone, it's unlikely our dream will ever become a reality. When we dreamwith others, it's the beginning of a new life, a new road, a new future. Whenpeople vocalize their dreams, they provide an intimate look into their heart andcharacter. As long as we are still alive and breathing, we owe it to ourselvesto never give up chasing our dreams.

Continuing Your Education

Every dream is in the mind of the believer and in the hands of the doer.Learning to become a successful currency trader may be your dream, and to attainit you must learn the skills of a Forex trader. You better invest in youreducation about how this market works, because you will be put up against someof the brightest traders in the world. Learn the skills and traits of asuccessful trader and replicate them.

If you are not making the money in your life you always dreamed of, perhaps itis because you are locked into a series of unproductive work habits anddestructive mindsets. Maybe you have created a mental block inside you that hasstopped you from earning more than you think you are worth. If you want to earnmore than you are earning right now, you must upgrade your self-concept.

Now that you have found the Forex, you need to begin to identify all theknowledge you need to acquire to become a successful trader and begin to studyeverything necessary to achieve success as a trader. Knowing as much as you canis important, not because you will use all that information, but because it willgive you options.

It is imperative to be committed not only to continued education about your newventure that excites you but also to learning more about your emotions and howto control them instead of letting them control you. If you think your currenteducation is sufficient to take you where you need to go, you're wrong. Itdoesn't matter if you are starting a restaurant, a retail store, or aservice-based business, or if you are becoming a Forex trader: you are going upagainst some of the brightest people in the world. And if you think you can takethem on without any further education, guidance, or mentorship, then you will bein for the surprise of your life. Why? When a person with money goes up againsta person with education and experience, after everything is said and done, theperson with the education and experience will end up with the money and theperson who had the money will end up with the experience.

When we invest in ourselves, we create a lasting asset, as compared to investingin a couch, state-of-the-art stereo system, boat, or credit card debt frombuying more stuff, which are all depreciating assets. The average person spendsmore money on household furniture (a depreciating asset) than on education forwork, and then wonders why things aren't improving in his or her personal orfinancial work life.

Your furniture can't make you more money and is not going to increase in value.But over time, investing more in yourself than in your furniture will allow youto buy all the furniture you desire for your house. Depreciating assets can't dothat.

Another problem we face in chasing dreams is learning to manage our wants versusour needs. We want a new car, but do we need a $100,000 car, when in reality wecan take the difference of perhaps a $30,000 car versus a $100,000 car andinvest in more education that perhaps will allow us to buy as many cars as wewant? We want a new boat, but we need more money in the bank to earn interest,which would enable our money to work for us so we can buy a new boat down theroad with the interest earned. Our thought processes about life and earningincome are all screwed up. Believe it or not, if our parents or caregivers wentthrough life with a mindset stemming from poverty or mediocrity, that likely hasrubbed off on us. The mindset passed on places us in a position to repeat theirbad habits and be just like them, living a life of managing their poverty ormediocrity and doing exactly what they did.

My focus has been to help traders break that spell. Market Traders Institute wascreated to teach the skills of successful Forex trading as well as the emotionalskills for success, enabling traders to have a quantum leap in performance. Asyou learn more about the Forex, pay attention to the details and train yourbrain to always pay attention to those details. Successful people are successfulfor several reasons. Primarily, they pay attention to details. If you want thedevil out of your daily work life, pay attention to the details. Choosing not topay attention to details will only slow you down and invite the devil into yourlife. Be wary of the person who doesn't notice the details or who gets annoyedwhen details slow them down. Success and excellence are found in payingattention to the details. So as you read this book, pay attention to thedetails. It will pay off in huge dividends.

Achieving Balance

Success at anything in life is not a fantasy, it is a formula. Learning how tobecome a successful trader is a formula, not a fantasy. Part of that formula isliving a balanced life. When it comes to trading, all the out-of-balance areasof our lives will have an enhanced effect on our trading.

After teaching people how to trade for more than 16 years, I have concluded thatto enjoy not only this life but the life of a trader, you must learn to achievebalance in seven major areas of your life:

• Self

• Significant other

• Spiritual

• Family

• Friends

• Work

• Community

I have learned that balance in our lives is a close relative to happiness, andif you are not happy trading, you won't be successful at trading. Many peopleunderestimate how closely tied these seven areas of balance are to our personalhappiness and to the success we ultimately enjoy in our professional lives. Itmay often seem that when one area of your life is out of balance, they all startto get out of balance.

I refer to it as our necessary balance in life. All aspects of our life areimportant and need to be looked at as a finely tuned, balanced engine. When allthe parts are working, the engine can perform at peak performance; however, ifparts start to break or wear down, the engine cannot reach peak performance.

Without balance, you can become overly consumed by a certain area of your life,neglecting your needed balance, and eventually frustrated that things are notgoing well in other areas, which will create bad attitudes and open the door tobecoming addicted to negative habits and actions. Like all addictions, theycause additional problems, and in the end you lose. Without self-balance, youbecome emotionally and physically sick, you lose sight of who you are, and youlose your identity. Without balance in your work, you lose your perspective andyour focus on the important aspects of your job, and you begin to perform atsubstandard levels, opening yourself up to potentially making less money or evenlosing your job. Without balance in your family, you can lose them. Withoutbalance with your significant other, you can lose him or her. If you lose yoursignificant other and your family, watch the effect it will have on your workenvironment. You see, who we are is not what we do to make a living. Who we areis a balance of our family, our work, and ourselves—in other words, allthe seven areas of our lives that complete our lives.

Any daily frustration that is created by one or more of these components beingout of balance will create negative emotional stress. Hold on to it long enough,and you will have created some serious destructive emotional baggage that slowlyturns into deep emotional scars and alters your outlook not only on life, but onjust about everything you get involved with, even trading.

When you hold on to unproductive emotional baggage from the past, regardless ofwhere it came from, it will stand in the way of your excitement and eventuallyin achieving the success at trading you are looking for. As a trader, you cannotafford to let that happen. Are you happy and content with where you are in theseven areas of your life that create balance and thus can now live a fulfilledlife? Or are you out of balance? If you are out of balance, what are you goingto do about it?

Part of happiness is when what you think, how you feel, what you say, and whatyou do are all in harmony. The wealthiest traders I have met live a life inbalance and maintain the necessary harmony needed to become the successes theyare. They are usually very kind, generous, and fun, and maintain low profiles intheir personal lives. They were human before they became traders, and after all,they still are. Maybe they were somewhat lost before that little seed of atrader's dream was planted deep inside their heart. It was only when they hadthe courage to water and nurture that seed that this dream came to fruition.

Happiness in Managing Your Success

We are the most advanced and complex organisms on this planet; yet as we beginto work through life, many of us lose our way and begin to malfunction at anearly age, both emotionally and financially. Instead of becoming highlyproductive, fine-tuned, money-making (and saving) members of society, we startto live our lives just surviving, living paycheck to paycheck and struggling toget ahead. For some reason we become satisfied to just get by, beingunproductive or settling into either a life of poverty or mediocrity. When youlive a life of managing your poverty or mediocrity, you lose your direction andpurpose. We are here to reach our highest potential at whatever we do. Managingour poverty or mediocrity is not reaching our highest potential. Instead, weneed to manage our success.

Too often people attempt to live their lives backward; they try to have morethings, more status, more popularity, and more money to do more of what theywant so they will be happier. The way life really works is actually in thereverse. You must first be who you really are and then do what you need to do tohave what you really want.

I believe that to experience happiness, three key components need to be in play:

• Having something to do that we really enjoy

• Having someone you truly love to share your life

• Having something to always look forward to

Look at the three components of true earthly happiness: are you so excited withwhat you are doing during your 8 to 10 daily work hours that it is hard to stop?If not, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to keep on keeping on,until one day you look up and say, "Wow, where did my life go?"

I feel sorry for the person who gets up every day unexcited about his work. Notonly will he never be satisfied, but he may never achieve anything worthwhile. Ifeel even sorrier for any person who does not have a dream, because he has ahigh probability of arriving at retirement age flat broke. And there is nothinghappy about that!

Consider component number two for happiness: have you found someone to trulylove and share your life, good or bad? If not, why? When it comes time to learnto trade, it sure is comforting when you have a loving companion who believes inyou and will support you and your efforts. At the same time, I will tell you, itcan be hell if you are living with someone who won't support you or believe inyou.

And the last component: Do you get up every day having something to look forwardto in your daily or professional life? Do you look forward to going to work ordo you look at work as just a price you have to pay to enjoy a great weekend? Ifyou are going to survive as a trader, you need to jump out of bed with all theexcitement in the world, looking forward to making more money day in and day outtrading.

People are made so that whenever anything ignites their soul, theimpossibilities disappear.

For years I dreamed of being a father with lots of kids; today I have lots ofkids. Then I started dreaming about becoming a successful trader; and I became asuccessful trader. Then I dreamed about creating a worldwide company; today, Iam the founder of a worldwide company. I can honestly say my list goes on, butthis book is not about me—it's about you. So I ask the question: are youstill dreaming, or have your dreams all faded away? Trust me, 20 years from now,you will be more disappointed by the dreams you didn't chase than by the onesyou did chase. I am so grateful I have not stopped dreaming. The freedom todream participates in creating happiness. I have learned we are not here onearth for a long time, so we need to be here for a good time and be happy aboutit, regardless of the obstacles.

Conclusion

The majority of people in the world live in frustration because they cannotacquire the income needed during their work hours to pay for something to lookforward to at the end of the week, let alone something like a new car, a newhouse, an exotic vacation, a new boat, a second home on the beach, and so on.The primary reason they walk around frustrated is they get locked into asubconscious state of managing their poverty or mediocrity instead of success.

It is true that there is a lot of excitement, good and bad, in the journey oflife, the thrill of the chase, and in the achievement of goals or dreams;however, with a commitment to continued education about life and yourprofession, and your personal daily happiness, all that excitement is multiplieda hundredfold.

Learning to become a successful Forex trader can bring back the spark that canignite your dreams and begin to fund all those things you want to look forwardto. I hope you get into the habit of dreaming and setting goals. I hope thatwhatever dream you start to chase, it places you in a position to dig deep intoyour soul to bring out the very best in you, enabling you to ultimately achievethat dream.

That's why I propose that as of today—you find your dream, chase it, andlive it. We miss 100 percent of the shots we don't take. So I say, get excitedand go for it!

(Continues...)

(Continues...)

Excerpted from THE FOREX MINDSET by Jared F. Martinez. Copyright © 2011 by Jared Martinez. Excerpted by permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw Hill
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0071767347
• ISBN 13: 9780071767347
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224