The key which will unlock success of the type you have only ever wished for is already in your possession.

It’s YOU! You already have everything you need to be successful in trading the markets.

We are all created equal. The best, most successful traders in the world were not born with a special gene which allowed them to achieve their success. They do not posses psychic abilities which allow them to predict the course of the markets, nor were they bestowed with heavenly powers to influence markets’ movements.

Contrary to popular belief, they were neither born with a greater endowment of luck than the rest of us (although you may find that the more disciplined and knowledgeable you become, the luckier you will be!).

The financial markets provide us with one of the few places in the modern world where all participants are subject to the same laws and given an equal chance. Physical condition, intelligence, good looks and (one could argue) even money and power do not necessarily influence the degree of a trader’s success. They certainly don’t guarantee it anyway.

So what does? Given just how crazy markets can become, can one really guarantee anything when it comes to trading success?

Well, that all depends on what you’re hoping to achieve.

Perhaps your goal is to simply stop losing in the market. Perhaps your goal is to simply make consistent profits – regardless of their size. Maybe you’d not only like consistent profits, but enough profits to change your lifestyle – to perhaps replace the income from your current occupation.

Perhaps your goal is to make a massive wad of money in next-to-no-time and retire to a small island (which you own) in the Pacific, and lie on the beach sipping margaritas all day! Well, unfortunately this can’t be guaranteed. In fact it is highly unlikely and if happens to be your goal then you’ve come to the wrong place!

Whilst we claim that everyone already possesses this “key” to success, we concede that not everyone will be prepared to use it to unlock the success they desire.

To use the key, many will have:

• to do things that fly in the face of what they have been taught since they were born.
• to completely turn their values system when it comes to money, and many long-held views of right and wrong, on their head.
• to consider a new way of thinking in opposition to what most consider “common sense”.

This is why the key works. If everyone used the key, markets would collapse in on themselves. Everyone would be consistent winners. There would be no losers. This is not how the markets function! For every winner in the markets there has to be a loser. In this way, we say that trading is a “zero sum game” – the sum of the profits and losses always equals zero.

Whilst everyone possesses the key to success, unfortunately there are few who can actually allow themselves to use it. We need these people – they are the ones who will pay for our profits!

Carl has delivered presentations on trading and investing to over 20,000 people throughout Australia and New Zealand and has helped countless clients to improve their trading outcomes. He also writes the long running and popular ‘Terms of Trade’ column in the finance section of Melbourne’s Saturday Herald Sun newspaper.

Carl is currently the Head of Education at Australian Stock Report. Carl and his team teach technical analysis, money management, and trading psychology to intimate classes in a live trading environment. These workshops utilise strategies designed to take advantage of trading opportunities on all asset classes including equities, FX, commodities and indices.