It is no coincidence that the most successful floor traders are in general those with the most experience. This is because I believe that trading is essential a skill based activity which requires both practice and experience. There are many similarities between very competitive skill based sports, like golf or tennis, and trading. Here are 7 of the key skills that you must develop as a trader.

1. Always remember that Futures are no different to any other stock or option that you might trade, they will respond to the same laws of technical analysis including support and resistance, trendlines and price patterns. Become an expert in technical analysis, this is a lot easier than you think and is the easiest part of trading to master. The hardest part of becoming a good trader is learning how to master yourself.

2. This is a very basic point but is very important, always have your trading plan prepared before you enter a trade, never try and create it on the fly, you will be musch too emotional. make sure that you have both an entry and exit point in your plan.

3. The most important rule is to keep losses small, this is the single biggest mistake that amateurs make. You will have small winners, small losers and a few good big winners. The small wins and loses are a wash and the profits come from the good trades that you let run.

4. Professional traders tend to be more patient than amateurs and wait for the market to come to them, amateurs on the other hand tend to over trade, which is a big mistake. Learn to be patient and cherry the best opportunities, this requires both patience and discipline but they are skills that can be easily mastered.

5. Keep both a daily and weekly log of all your trades. It is essential that you follow up with all your trades, both good and bad, to learn what your mistakes were. To become a very good trader it is simply a case of eliminating all your mistakes. This does not mean that you don’t have loses but it means that you followed your trading plan and kept your losses small.

6. Prepare for each trading day by getting a good nights sleep. In the morning before the market opens review your rules, charts and trading plan. You must be focused on the plan and not get distracted by other things that maybe going on in your life. Make sure that you are mentality prepared for the trading day ahead by being confident in both your self and your trading plan and rules.

7. If you are new to trading futures take the time to paper trade until you are very confident that you are going to make money. You will know when you are ready because you will start to hate paper trading knowing that you could be making real cash profits on a consistent basis.