It is widely known that about 95% of new forex traders will lose money and quit in the first 2 years, by eliminating these 3 basic mistakes you will be one step closer to success.

1. Trading Around News Events – Before considering a trade always look at the news events calendar and do not trade within 1/2 an hour of a major news event. You can look at the Forex Factory online news calendar, the major events are denoted with orange or red icons. Around these events the volatility greatly increases and the market tends to whipsaw, your position can be quickly stopped out. This is an important habit, if you’ve been trading for any length of time without checking for news you’ve likely been stopped out unnecessarily due to news events.

2. Overly Tight Stop Losses – A very common mistake that amateur traders make is using overly tight stops. Each currency pair needs some “room to breathe”. If your stops are too tight, you are at a great disadvantage. Always consider that you have to pay a spread to your broker. Let’s say that you are trading the Euro/Japan cross and your broker has a 4 pip spread. If you set a 20 pip stoploss and 20 pip take profit, due to the spread you effectively need 24 pips in your favor for a profit and you will be stopped out if the trade goes 16 pips against you. The Euro/Japan pair tends to have a greater volatility compared to most pairs. Unless you are very close to a major support/resistance area, this will not be enough breathing room.

3. Inconsistent Trade Strategy – To gain successfully with trading, you need to have a consistent strategy. There are many traders who will find a strategy that has a winning edge but end up losing because they are inconsistent. Imagine a trading system that has a history of winning 70% of trades, this means that over 100 trades you should win about 70. As long as the risk to reward ratio is even or in your favor this will be profitable. However, if after losing 5 trades in a row (which can happen) you decide to change part of the system you are no longer trading consistently. This is why it’s a good idea to trade on a demo or micro account for a couple months until you build up your confidence in the system. It’s easier to stay emotionally balanced and just take the losses when they don’t hurt your wallet.