One phenomenon that derails amateur forex traders time and time again is method complexity syndrome. They research a trading method, get it and the minute they receive it, they jump ahead to what they consider to be’the guts’ of the technique. In doing so, they absolutely ignore all of the other aspects of trading, including risk management, discipline, and psychology.

They get into the’guts’ of the strategy only searching for that large, mysterious, slap-your-forehead, jaw-dropping’secret’ that will suddenly unlock the puzzles of the forex universe and make them Master and commander of every currency exchange pair. All too often, they find themselves completely disappointed or the’guts’ reveal something they’d already heard about ( but had not practiced ). Amateur traders will then dismiss the strategy as ‘too simple’.

Or, the amateur trader will look for that complex formula, cryptic mixture of indicators and all too frequently what they really discover is a collection of straightforward indicators working together in an uncommon way, and they are saying,’Well I could have done that!’ – and they become disappointed or frustrated, because they wrongly think that any strategy MUST BE complicated, it can’t possible be SIMPLE! So, they postpone the strategy or return it and whinge that it’s’not complicated’ enough.

This is a major mistake – as the beginner trader will then repeat this error technique after method and they may never make the effort to learn and understand the full process of trading.

Don’t make this mistake. Understand that most trading methods out there are not complicated. They weave a smaller set of rules together in a straightforward manner ( straightforward enough that anybody can apply them ) but apply them in a rare way. Complicated systems are for computer geeks and enormous banks – if you can’t understand something, you can’t probably apply it.

Never skip ahead when learning a tough new technique for trading forex. Make certain you learn the setup, entry and exit rules ( which should exist ) ; that you learn how to defend your trade with stops ; and you learn the way to apply your method on a timely basis ( be it hourly, daily or weekly ) to get the maximum out of the strategy and to learn how all facets of what you learn work cooperatively to make you a better trader.

Remember, simple but tough – using some indicators or rules applied in a non-textbook approach – is the key to getting an edge in the markets.