Who is a Good Trader?
Many ask: how do you become a good, profitable trader? What tools and patterns do you need to know to succeed? But even experienced traders often forget that success is rarely about perfect market analysis - it’s about a certain internal state, without which proper trading is impossible.
A good trader succeeds not because he sees the market better than everyone else, but because he can adapt, control his emotions, follow a plan, and systematically analyze his own mistakes.
Trading and Your Mental State
Trading is directly connected to your psychological state. If something in life throws you off, illness, relationship stress, everyday pressures, don’t expect consistent results. Depression and anxiety will inevitably show up in your market decisions.
Failure also awaits those who bet everything and come to trading without a financial cushion. Many dream of replacing their job with trading, but don’t have enough capital to do it right. If you don’t have money for at least 2–3 years of rent and basic expenses, it’s better to postpone the idea of living off trading. Otherwise, the thought “I must earn this month” becomes a problem with every trade, and that kind of trading almost always ends in losses.
No tools will protect you from an unexpected correction like the recent one. Sure, proper risk management will save you from liquidation, but not from deep drawdowns. After those, it’s easy to lose control and make more mistakes that can wipe out your account.
Since trading is tied to your internal state, the ability to keep yourself together is needed outside the charts too. If you can’t maintain a routine, exercise, sleep, nutrition, what discipline in trades can we even talk about? Trading is about discipline, and discipline starts with taking care of yourself. If you can’t even maintain basic routines for long, don’t expect good results in anything else.
Trading Takes Time
Trading, like any skill, requires time. If you think you’ll read someone’s channel or watch a couple YouTube videos and start earning consistently, that’s an illusion. Even if you buy expensive education, you won’t become a good trader without maximum effort. Becoming an expert in any field takes time, but in trading especially, because beyond patterns, you have to work on yourself. If you’re not ready to learn every day for at least six months, sometimes a year, don’t start. So don’t quit your current job, even if you have a financial cushion. Start trading on the side. Yes, it takes longer, but you’ll know if this is for you or not.
Modern Crypto Trading
A good crypto trader is no longer just someone with indicators. He’s someone who adapted to current reality, which is directly tied to macro. You’ll need to dive into macroeconomics, understand how to trade events and headlines, recognize risk-on/risk-off modes in stock markets, spot correlations between crypto and other assets. And be ready to spend 6–8 hours a day reading, analyzing, and trading.
Don’t Cheap Out on Information
Cutting corners on information limits your results. You can’t be an expert in everything and rely on Telegram channels where admins regurgitate headlines and macro data. Often these channel admins make money from ads, not trading. Read experts with real results and serious track records. That’s why I spend about $500 monthly on Substack subscriptions, I honestly assess my macro skills and want to hear from people with 10+ more years of experience than I have.
Build Your Own System
A good trader won’t develop by relying on other people’s signals. This doesn’t mean isolation, I’m in two paid trading groups where people use similar approaches and have rich experience. You can learn there, discuss markets, share observations. As I said, trading is continuous learning. Especially valuable are opinions from specialists in Market Profile and Order Flow, since those two areas are worth deep study. But unsubscribe from useless chats. Don’t overload your brain with information noise and questionable ideas. This is especially critical for beginners, one stupid message can derail your own plan.
The Importance of Calm and Control
Most importantly - stay calm. Don’t chase trades just to be in the market. Learn to resist FOMO - it’s the biggest enemy of any trader. Don’t imitate others; everyone has their own system. Build yours and stick to it. Loss of control is the most dangerous mistake, almost inevitably leading to total loss. That’s why you need hobbies, time for family, exercise, walks—to cool down and think things through before making important decisions or processing previous losses.
Working With Losses
There’s one aspect almost nobody talks about, dealing with losses. Beginners are often promised the moon while the downside is kept silent. A good trader isn’t someone who always wins; it’s someone who knows how to handle losses. You need to approach defeats (and even wins) without excessive emotion, as part of the job. Don’t obsess over one trade; move to the next. If you feel your thoughts are clouding your focus, take an indefinite break. It’s better to rest for 2–3 days, collect yourself, and assess things clearly than to trade while depressed and compound your mistakes.
Conclusion
A good trader is someone who first builds a healthy lifestyle, knows how to work on himself, doesn’t shift responsibility, and gives maximum effort. If you truly want results, you’ll achieve them even if it takes over a year. The key is not to give up, constantly progress, and systematically analyze your mistakes.