New Year is here! Year 2015 was the most difficult year I’ve experienced in my trading career. For example, years 2007 to 2014 were easy for those who cut their losses, ran their profits and employed sensible position sizing methods.

In the year 2015, the months of January, February, March, April and December were good, while the rest of the months were extremely difficult. Most market wizards posted losses for the year, though their investors know that it’s normal to have a losing year, for a winning year is in the offing. Certain market wizards announced profits – big or small. Many unknown private traders also made decent profits last year, and I personally witnessed some accounts histories. Needless to say, majority of traders didn’t’ make profits last year.

It’s difficult to keep one’s chin up when the going is tough, but that was what I did last year. The going was tough for several months, but I nearly met my annual target. I’m thankful for what the market gave me, though it was a bit below my annual target. I’m convinced that this year would be better than last year. So, be prepared to take advantage of great movements in the markets.

Reactions from Traders (2015)

As you know, I’ve been writing helpful trading articles to help traders in the areas of strategies development, trading insights and mindset, risk control, money management, traders’ bios, market analyses, etc. Some people found my articles very useful for their trading. Nevertheless, certain people were busy leaving negative comments, discouraging others and using put-downs while they’d little to do in helping traders who desperately needed help. I’d like to remind you that there’ll be people who’ll criticize you no matter what you do. 

What someone finds useless can be indispensable to other people.

Below are some of the comments from those who read my articles last year. The comments were taken from those who sent me personal messages, not from those who simply replied to my posts.  

Reactions from Traders (2015)

“Wow! Amazing articles. Thank you so much.” – V. R.

“Dear Analyst, I was very interested to read your excellent article on this forum… Thank you very much for sharing your very interesting article. Yours sincerely.” - I. M.

“Thank you so much for … the article.” – T. T.

“I read your post, really good job and I agree.” – H. Rob

“Hi Analyst. I enjoyed your article of June 2015.” – K. J.

“Over all I am sorry to say I was disappointed with some contents of the articles, as I was expecting to learn some useful concrete facts on trading strategies/methods. I found the content of the 'Lessons', is too generalized and found little to apply to my own day to day trading.

The theme of not giving up when things have not gone well provided so degree of solace but this alone is not a technique to improve one’s trading strategy and I would have liked to have had more information on how these super traders have achieved their success, i.e. what markets, instruments, stop loss use, market entry/exit  points. Perhaps you could recommend further reading to such needs. Yours sincerely.” - P. B.

“Hi Analyst, I appreciate your prompt reply and thanks for the links you've included. Yes please give us articles on trading strategies. Such publications would be probably sought after by newbies trying to make headway as traders. Good luck” – L. C.

“Hi my name is Danny. I read your articles in some magazines recently and was very excited about your articles.  I'm interested in learning more about your systems. I'm just in importance of a position size and I'm looking to do a swing trade using the daily charts.  Are there any tips or advice you can give me? I too am a student of van Tharp institute! Thank you.”  – D. C.

“Hi Analyst. This was very informative! I had been contemplating about opening up my own trading accounts because I am interested in speculation but I realized things are not the same ( I was trading in a friends' account and she had been losing a lot) . So she wanted me to trade for her and my winning has been 70% but I feel like I am gambling, luck eventually runs out. There is no finesse to it and even though you try your technical analysis no one can predict a price movement in the next 30 seconds. Thanks for the read! Warm regards.” – Z. A.

“Hi Mr. Analyst. I am a newbie in Forex and follow your analysis quite regularly and find it very educative. May I kindly request you to send me some analyses for the major currency pairs which shall enable me to perform better in my trades? I will be ever obliged if I can be in your group.” – H. D.

Conclusion

You can’t get an answer unless you ask a question. I really appreciate those who sent me messages, both positive and negative.  Traders who are commended for their creativity and perseverance rather than simply for their talents come to realize a vital truth – that acquiring trading skills require patience and effort. They know they put in the work needed to achieve desired result… Even when they come up short, they don’t view themselves as failures, but as learners. You can’t win all the battles in the markets, but it’s great to know you’ve fought in good faith.

I assure you that I’m going to post superb trading articles this year, which would really help you achieve your aim to become a persistently winning trader. Just watch out for them.

May you have a fulfilled and prosperous trading year.

I’d like to conclude this article with the quote below:

“I don’t have any daily/weekly/monthly goals anymore.  All I look at is what I achieved over a year. Why? Simply because I realized it’s almost impossible to reach a monthly goal on a persistent basis. The markets might give you a hard time for months, and then you make it all within a month or two.  It’s better to not care for short-term results, which is difficult but possible, if you keep the long-term in perspective.”– Marco Mayer

Source: www.tallinex.com