First…

I honestly don’t care how much money you have in your portfolio. 
R1,000, R10,000 or R10,000,000? It’s irrelevant. 

Money should not tell you how well or bad you’re doing as a trader. 
Percentages should reveal that all. 

It’s all RELATIVE. 

And so, in this article, you’re going to go through a five signs checklist to see how well you’re doing as a trader. 

Sign #1:
You have a personal trading strategy

Do you know what:

• System you’re going to use to enter and exit your trades?

• Markets you’re going to choose? and

• Risk management principles you’re going to follow?

And have you found that system that matches your personality and time preferences?

If so… AWESOME! Tick it off the list.

If not, either you can find a million trading strategies to back test, forward test and real test and find what’s right for you on the internet.

WARNING: This can take a couple of years as it did for me from 2003 -2008.

Or you can adopt my trading strategy I’ve used for the last 19 years or rather book a 2 hour consultation with me so we can build your life trading strategy together.

Sign #2:
You’ve developed realistic trading goals

Once you’ve got your trading strategy in a bag, you should have all your goals written down.

Have you jotted down your trading strategy, stats, goals and expectations?

This is your game plan that you’ll need to follow when you trade. 
You need to see what kind of outcomes you’re going to have with your trading. 

•    How many trades will you take per year?
•    How many winners can you expect? 
•    How many losers will you take?
•    What is your win rate?
•    What % of your portfolio will you expect to achieve?

Sign #3:
You’ve experienced a bad trading patch

I feel this is the initiation side to getting to a higher level as a trader. 
When you have the strategy and goals in a bag, you’ve got to then put it all into play. 

And during this time, there’ll be once or twice a year a couple of weeks where you’ll go through a bunch of losing trades. 

If you have the right money management principles, you should be able to EASILY weather through this time. 

The markets move up and down and sideways… And during one of these periods, it will NOT fit well with your system. 

But let me tell you this, once you’ve gone through your drawdown period, and the markets become more favourable. 

It is the most exhilarating feeling, for your portfolio to make new highs once again. 

Go through this my friend, and you’ve ticked off another sign you’re doing GREAT. 

Sign #4:
You continue to EVOLVE 

Sure, the trading strategy might not change. 

The risk management side won’t change. 

But there are a few things that will change, that you’ll need to adapt into your trading. 

First, markets, stocks and currencies are unlisting and listing ALL the time. And your trading strategy requires a watch list that works best with your system. 

So, you have to evolve to dump and add markets into your watch list that complement your trading strategy. 

 You might also find a technique to increase your win rate and ride your winners up. 

If you can evolve as a trader, TICK it off the list. 

Sign #5:
You are INDEPENDENT

Do you care about your family, friends, pets and strangers opinions on the trades you take or have taken?

No? GOOD! 

Tick it off the list. 

Nobody in this world, can tell you what to is right to buy or sell according to the strategy you use. 

You have the stats, you have the goals and you have your game plan. 
That’s the only thing you need. 

FINAL WORDS

So how did you do?

I’d love to hear what your opinion about today’s article is by emailing me at timon@timonandmati.com. 

And if you find that you haven’t ticked off a couple of items, I’ll be more than happy to help you with a private consultation to build your forever income trading strategy. 

Those two hours of your life will make up for weeks and months or searching for what is best for you on the internet. 

Trade well and look after yourself,

Timon Rossolimos

Founder, MATI Trader