Hey Guys,

Recently, We received an email from someone interested in really striking it rich in the foreign exchange market. He had all kinds of data for us, including how quickly he could turn his $10,000 into $100,000, if not more.

He said, “you know, I could easily see myself quitting my job in a few months.”

This new trader, who we’ll call Steve, has seen the bright lights of the foreign exchange market. Truly, there are riches to be had in the foreign exchange market, but there are riches to be lost, as well.

The reality is that Steve has done quite well, turning $10,000 into $20,000 within three months. We asked him how he did it, and from how he approached this question, we could tell that he knew what he was telling the truth.

“There are two things that I did to start making money,” Steve said, “Number 1, I focused on a time to trade, and only trade for one hour each day.”

He explained briefly that he trades for one hour during which the New York and London markets are open. This is most favorable to him, as is away from work at this time.

His second tip? Plan.

Steve knows the power of planning. Steve also knows the power of real planning – setting reasonable goals, making projections, and encouraging himself to reach his goals. He started by marking “100 pips per week” on a sheet of paper, then working his way down to build a real, formidable trading strategy.

Following a similar strategy that I recommend, using real money, Steve opened a $100 account and started trading. Along the way he would place trades according to his technical trading tools (with a few fundamentals mixed in).

Every two weeks he addresses problems with his strategy, noting that he keeps “a log to evaluate how I progress in the markets and throw out parts of the strategy that do not work.”

Pressing him for more, I asked, “So, does this mean that to win you first had to fail?”

He responded quickly, “Absolutely!”

Then, Steve reversed his perspective, “I mean, I wasn’t tracking my losses when I was losing the most, so I never figured out why and how I was losing money.”

Steve is on to something. It isn’t enough to trade, nor to study other people’s perspective on the foreign exchange market. You have to also evaluate your own strategy from time to time to turn weakness into profit.

How are you improving your strategy? Do you keep logs of your forex trades?

Steve does. And since then he’s grown his account by 100% in three months.