As a trader, you must have a plan. Without a plan, you can face lots of difficulties. Your strategy helps you to make an appropriate decision for your trading. The professional traders always maintain a strategy. If you think that the plan is not necessary for you or you can make a decision instantly based on the market condition, then this is your stupid thinking. This will reduce your capital excessively, and force you to leave the market in the middle of your career. There are many advantages of having a plan. Some are discussed here.
Learn Discipline
The strategy helps the traders to maintain their discipline in the trading. Sometimes, traders try to take quick decisions. If they have a plan, they execute their trade according to their plan. They set goals and try to stick with the strategy. If the condition of the market changes quickly, they try to follow their strategy what they made. The strategy is included different types of rules which allow traders to learn how to maintain discipline in the trading field. If you are able to follow the rules you have set properly, you will make good profits in the market.
Risk Management
If you are able to manage your risk properly, you will be an executive trader. Managing risk is not an easy task. Your strategy will help you to set your stop-loss and take profit properly. Stop-loss will help you to reduce your cost. In your plan, you have to include stop-loss. Make sure how much loss you can take in opposition to how much reward. If you have no plan, you can face a great loss. Professional traders maintain risk to reward ratio 1:2. Such as, if you set a stop-loss at $300, and set take profit at $600, your risk-reward ratio is 1:2. If you take high risk, without any planning. You might be left the market in the middle path because of unbound loss. The elite investors at Rakuten Securities Australia never trade with high risk. They always focus on low risk factor so that they can withstand few losing trades. Stop thinking about big profit and lower the risk in each trade.
Avoid Overtrading
In your plan, you need to decide how much trade you will do in a day. If you have no plan, you will want to make more trade with the hope of making money. The professional traders do not trade more than their plan. Firstly, you need to check your account balance, then mention in your plan about the amount of your everyday trading. Overtrading is a reason behind the losses. If you can able to stop your overtrading, you will be able to keep balance your expenditure and cost.
Capital Preservation
Your deposit will help you to trade for a long time. Your goal is specified in your strategy. Remember that your goal should not be making money in the market. Your foremost duty is to secure your capital. When you keep a record of your previous trading, you got the chance to find out your mistakes. Then, you make some changes to your plan, if it is necessary. Your updated plan will help you to decide how much trade you can do, how much loss you can take, and how much security you have. This information is very necessary to make a wise decision.
Self-Control
Your strategy will help you to learn how to control yourself. Remember that you cannot control the market. You have to control yourself. Sometimes, the traders decide some major decisions emotionally. This can cause a great loss. As a trader, you can see a losing streak, and a winning streak. After seeing the losing streak, do not be frustrated. On the other hand, after seeing a winning streak, do not be overconfident. Both of these are not good for your trading. The trading plan includes some psychological emulsions which will help you to think practically rather than emotionally.