whats the most important part of forex trading?

For me, risk management is the most important part of forex trading because it determines how long you will last as a forex trader.

A forex trader without risk management is like a boxer without a defence, you will eventually get dropped and knocked out.

Trading is a money management business. If you know how to lose without taking it too badly, then you can make money overtime.

The human desire to get back after a loss, and preserve your profits on a winning day for example are some things that will prevent a trader from making it.

To be honest, some of my biggest days have come from adding to a winning position. Of course it can fire back at you in a ranging market, but once in a while if you catch let's say any 2-3 hours of intraday trend & you have added to it, that's when you make the most money.

Same applies to swing trading as well.

a. Take losses after losses & see how it affects you. Are you able to take them well? Or do you push back?

b. How do you feel about losing an opportunity?

c. Do you add to your winning trades? Instead of adding to losers?

d. Are you able to wait patiently & do nothing, if it is not per your setup? Or do you try to chase it?

All these are simple things, but really hard to do with emotional & mental discipline.

i am so guilty of point d, i have difficulty waiting so I always chase meaningless trades

I think it is sub-consciously related to the fear of missing out.

If you miss out on a trade that you then see you would have been right had you taken it, this creates even more bad behavior.

You need to develop a state, where you are able to trade without fear or hesitation (I think Mark Douglas said it). And I've overtime found it to be very true.

Fear of being wrong, fear of missing out, fear of your winner turning into a loser & so on. You want to be able to trade without any of these fears. So, every trade is just a trade, and you are not expecting anything out of it, other than an outcome, which will be a win or a loss.

You don't know what it will be for any particular trade. Your job as a trader is to execute based on your set of rules without expecting anything from a trade.

In order to do develop the right habits

a. start by creating very rigid set of entry & exit rules, follow them exactly as they are.

Even if you believe sub-consciously that this trade might be a loser, but your rules say to enter, you must do it.

b. Take the next 20 trades exactly as per those set of rules. If you find yourself just wandering & breaking the rules, start again.

For most traders, 20 trades will re-enforce the discipline to do that same thing over & over.

Risk management is the major concept for me. It defines how long you will last in this industry. Trading is a game of probability and risk management is your only security.