When a trader enters forex trading, they make a lot of mistakes before getting on the right track. These very mistakes can make or break you.

To make sure your career doesn’t die because of a simple error, we are naming some common mistakes that end up killing trading careers.

1. Paying Too Much Attention to the Trends

It is good to tune into the latest trends and developments, but if you focus too much on the news and what other traders see, you won’t make an impact. In order to be successful, you have to find a strategy that works for you. Perform your own analysis and find something you feel confident in.

No one knows what the market will do next. So it will be better if you focus on what you know, what you tried and tested. Find something that works for you.

Don’t let the crowd make you lose direction. There will be news stories every hour; you can’t follow everyone.

For example, following current trends of British pound is smart, but if you log into every British Pound sterling GBP news outlook and forecast you will lose track of other currencies. This may kill your career.

Moreover, the news isn’t always trustworthy, and you can’t map your whole plan around it. Don’t make this news and trends the only key component of drafting a plan. Have confidence in your own analysis and strategy.

2. Lack of Planning

When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. This is most true in forex trading. Most beginners don’t have a plan when starting out.  Without a clear vision, you put your goals at risk. You start trading with your emotions instead of analysis.

This is a recipe for disaster. Don’t be over-optimistic because you will lose hope after continuous failures, especially when starting your forex career. So, do your homework and come up with a plan.

Once you made a plan, make sure you stick with it. Another common problem starters have they are not disciplined enough to follow it.

Lack of disciple gets you in trouble because you let your emotions take over. This is a common mistake which makes your loss exceeds your gains.

3. Over Doing Things

A word of advice before you enter the Forex Market, never risk more than you can afford to lose with a single trade.  Beginners believe everything they will touch will turn to gold. This is the reason they overtrade their account size or use too much leverage.

The pioneers never risk more than 1-2% of their equity with a single trade.

High stake trading doesn’t always work. If you take a huge risk, you will end up losing your market. Even if your reasons are good, high stake trade makes you run out of business.

4. Not Cutting Loses

To Win, you need to place calculated trades and control yours loses. Using 1-2% of your equity is an effective way to keep yourself from running out of business.

Don’t enter too manage trades to average down because the market will work against you. This way, you will still get wiped out.

If you want to bet higher, risk 6-10% of your equity. If you invest heavily, your equity gets a high exposure, and the risk of losing is mitigated.

So instead of risking one major risk, create a diversified portfolio of investment. Limit the risk with diversification and low exposure to a particular market.

It’s also important to connect your account with copy trading platform. This will help you to copy the strategies of other successful traders and cut down your losses.

5. Failing to Bank Gains

One of the worst ways to make money with Forex trading is holding out for too long. If you do this, your once prolific trade will lose value. So, bank the profit once your target is achieved. To improve your chances of success, learn more about trail stops.

Trail Stopping is when a stop loss automatically follows the price movement by a set number of pips and percentage of gains.

As the price gets higher, so does the stop. When you close half of position, the trailing stop allows a better return, especially in a strong market before the reversal.

6. Averaging Down Too Often

You need to make your mind how much you want to risk on a trade and stick with your plan. If you don’t have much experience with forex trading, you will fall to the temptation to buy or sell more when a trade goes south.

This averages your loss. If the market turns around, it means you can control the loss or leave with a profit.

The issue with this approach is once you double a losing trade, you lose control of your money, and the results are devastating.