Trading the financial markets including CFDs, FX and Futures profitably is hard but hopefully rewarding work. There are no guaranteed proven methods to assist investors. Many successful traders adopt a simple disciplined approach and stick to the 'Golden rules of trading'. The Golden rules of trading may seem easy to follow but in practice emotions when trading can run high. Remember to run your trading account like you would your own business, keep rational and by following the rules below hopefully you will keep profitable.

The rules we cover are:

• Have specific goals and objectives
• Be consistent and disciplined
• Let profits run
• Cut losses short
• Never add to a losing trade
• Don't take too much risk
• Only trade positive expectancy systems
• Minimize all trading business costs
• Be well educated
• Don't trade scared money

Have specific goals and objectives

Few things are more important to your trading success than having set (i.e. written) goals and objective for what you are aiming to achieve. It is amazing how often we hit our targets, meet our objectives, and reach our goals only when we articulate them and write them down.

For any business to be successful it must have measurable objectives that are actually achievable. In trading (obviously) the primary objective is to make money, but it is important to have other objectives that are not purely cash-related. We must always remember that reward and risk go hand-in-hand in trading and that we

Be consistent and disciplined

In order to realize the full potential of your trading systems it is critical that you take every trading entry, adjust every stop, and close out every trade as and when your system says you should do. This takes extreme confidence in your trading systems, good robust reliable technology, and the mental discipline to stick to your trading plan whatever happens (assuming it is complete). An underlying assumption about being consistent and disciplined is that you have a pre-defined plan for every situation you may face in your trading, so that you know how you are defining what being consistent is.

Your plan needs to include at least the following items:

• All your trading rules for entering, adding to, and exiting positions
• What you will do if your trading computer, internet connection, broker, power, telephone etc. fails
• What you will do if you are unable to trade
• What you will do if you lose X% of your account
• What you will do if all the markets are closed and you can't exit your positions

Unless you write the answers down to all these issues, you cannot be consistent and disciplined in your approach to trading and if you lose money you will not know whether it is because you didn't follow your plan, because your plan is incomplete, because your systems do not work, or simply because you are going through a losing period.

Let profits run

This simple rule is the key to being a successful trader. It is three simple words that are very hard to actually implement. When we get a profitable trade our natural fear of losing the unrealised gains kicks in and we truly want to close it out now and take the money. Most trading consists of long periods of small winners and losers followed by a few huge winners that make the difference between overall profitability and simply breaking even or losing due to trading costs(commissions, spread, and slippage).

The key to letting winning trades run is to have trailing stops that are outside the average daily range of the market so that they are not tight enough to get stopped out during 'normal' trading. This means being prepared to give up a significant portion of a winning trade's open profit and is the thing that makes this so hard to implement. Consider adding to clear winning trades if capital reserve allows and avoid stops that are too tight.

Cut losses short

This is the sister rule to the previous one, and is usually just as difficult to implement (although it is very easy to define). In the same way that profitability comes from a few large winning trades, capital preservation comes from avoiding the few large losers that the market will toss your way each year. Setting a maximum loss point before you enter the trade so you know before-hand approximately how much you are risking on this particular position is relatively straightforward. You simply need to have an exit price that says to you 'this trade is a loser and I will exit before it gets any bigger'. Due to gaps at the open, or limit moves in futures we can never be 100% certain that we can get out with our maximum loss, but simply having the rules, and always sticking to it will save us from the nasty trades that just keep on going and going against our position until we have lost more than many winning trades can make back.

If you have a losing position that is at you maximum loss point, just get out. Do not hope that it will turn around. Why risk any more money on this losing trade, when you could simply close it out (accept the loss) and move on. This will leave you in a much better place financially and mentally, than holding the position and hoping it will go back your way. Even if it did do this, the mental energy and negative feelings from holding the losing position are not worth it. Always stick to your rules and exit a position if it hits your stop point.

Never add to a losing trade

One of the few trade management rules that we can state we never break is 'Never add to a losing trade'. Trades are split into winners and losers, and if a trade is a loser, the chances of it turning right around and becoming a winner are too small to risk more money on. If indeed it is a winner disguised as a loser, why not wait until it shows it's true colors (and becomes a winner)before you add to it. If you do this you will notice that nearly always the trade ends up hitting your stop loss and does not look back. Sometimes the trade turns around before it hits your stop and becomes a winner and you can count yourself very fortunate. Sometimes the trade hits your stop loss and then turns around and becomes a winner and you can count yourself unlucky. Whatever the result, it is never worth adding to a loser, hoping that it will become a winner. The odds of success are just too low to risk more capital in addition to the initial risk.

Don't take too much risk

One of the most devastating mistakes any trader can make is risking too much of their capital on a single trade. One thing is certain in trading and that is if you lose all your capital you are out of the game. Why risk so much you could be prevented from continuing? There is a saying in poker than going all-in (risking all your chips) works every time but once. This is true of trading.

If you risk all your account on every trade it only takes one loser to wipe you out (and no trading method is 100% accurate), so you will be out of the game at some point - it is only a question of time.

CFDs, FX and futures are all traded on margin, your CFD provider may only require 5% initial margin to cover a position but its wise to leave some slack on your account to avoid immediate margin calls if the trade goes against you. If you are worried about the size of a trade then it is too big and you should reduce the size immediately. Remember that longevity is the key to making money by trading - slowly over a long time with minimal risk, is always preferable to rapidly with too much risk.

Only trade positive expectancy systems

If you have a positive expectancy trading system, the only factors that determine how much money you will make per year are the number of trades the system generates, how much capital you allocate to the system, and how accurately you implement the trading signals. If you do not know whether your trading system is positive expectancy then why are you trading it? Expectancy is calculated using the profit or loss on each trade (net of trading implementation costs) divided by the initial risk (using your stop loss) and then taking the average of this number of a series of trades. Systems that have positive expectancy will make money on average and those with negative expectancy will lose money.

Successful traders only trade systems where the odds of success are in their favor (i.e. the system is positive expectancy) so they know that making money is the result of accurately implementing the system and not just pure luck.

Minimize all trading business costs

Some trading systems have only marginal profitability, and trading implementation costs (commission, spread, and slippage) can be the difference between profitability and making a loss. With the easy availability of modern electronic brokers, and fully-automated trade processing and execution, it is definitely worthwhile looking for a very low cost way to implement your trading system. High commission, wide spreads, and large amount of slippage can be reduced considerably simply by carefully choosing a broker (see our provider comparisons and reviews). This can be the difference between a system (especially a high frequency one) being usable or not. Paying too much for trade implementation is an avoidable way to lose money.

Be educated

In order to compete at the highest level in the trading business and be one of the few truly successful participants you must be well-educated about what you are doing. This does not mean having a degree from a well-respected university - the market doesn't care where you were educated.

Being well-educated means that you have thoroughly researched and tested your trading ideas and know why your trading system worked in the past and is continuing to work now. It means understanding all the technology and applications that your system needs to perform accurately. It means understanding your goal and objectives and how trading will achieve these. It means understanding yourself and how your personality affects your results. It means understanding the markets and instruments you trade. In order to succeed you really need to become an expert in your own trading business to understand how it all fits together, when it is broken, and how it can be improved. As with all worthwhile endeavors, this takes commitment, hard work, dedication, and more hard work.

Don't trade scared money

No one ever made any money trading when they had to do it to pay the mortgage at the end of the month. Having a requirement to make X dollars per month or you will be financially in trouble is the best way I know to completely mess up all trading discipline, rules, objectives, and leads quickly to disaster.

Trading is about taking a reasonable risk in order to achieve a good reward. The markets and how and when they give up their profits is not under your control. Do not trade if you need the money to pay bills. Do not trade if your business and personal expenses are not covered by another income stream or cash reserve. This will only lead to additional unmanageable stress and be very detrimental to your trading performance.

Take a break

The last rule may not seem obvious, but always take a trading holiday. This could mean a 2 week beach break or simply avoiding the markets for a few days to take a breather. The market will still be there on your return and you should be recharged from the break.

Summary

We have covered the rules that we believe should never be broken in trading. If you work on never breaking them, your trading style should improve dramatically.

Good luck in your trading.