Articles by Bill McCready

To be a successful futures trader you have to master three essential elements: technique, psychology and money management. Mastery and balance of all three elements is vital to success. In this article, we're going to discuss the psychology that drives every great trader.

Get Your Head Into The Profit Zone

If you don't BELIEVE you will succeed, you won't. You have to believe in yourself and in your system or you're dead in the water before you even start the engine! Proper trading psychology is the key to success as a futures trader.

A number of qualities are necessary in order to become a successful futures trader. These characteristics can be your keys to success. Some are more crucial than others, but together they form an unbeatable -- and winning -- combination.

The Discipline of Excellence
Discipline is the primary key to successful futures trading. You must have the discipline to learn your system, study it daily and tweak it to perfection. You must have the discipline to keep a trading log that records your trades, as well as the market conditions, thought processes and external influences that affected each trade. Without such a log, you are doomed to repeat your mistakes, rather than learning from them.