How to Measure Your Trading and Investment Success

Many traders in the forex market gauge their investment progress based on the upsurge or plunge of their investments, along with their gains and losses. Admittedly, the charts can provide some information to the trader on how profitable or not an investment has become over a period, but that alone does not capture the total and true measure of the progress made over time.

To measure genuine success in the market, a trader needs the right information. It’s this information that pushes a trader up the profit ladder as well as brings to knowledge the areas where there are lapses so that improvements can be made.

Any regulated broker surely knows that their clients need access to this information, and that their clients should have access to these indicators so that they can track their progress. But unregulated broker companies may not be so willing to reveal such to their clients because they may intend to scam them. For instance, the chances of falling into a Pepperstone scam are almost zero because Pepperstone is adequately regulated. (other regulated brokers can be found on the MetaTrader4 brokers list).

So, let’s look at ways a trader can track trading and investment success and possibly make more profits.

It’s all about tracking percentages and ratios

Making a couple of dollar gains on the market is not a true measure of a wholly successful trading activity. It may sound ridiculous, but that’s about true to any trader with deep insight. It’s much more than just the dollars. It’s about plotting a personal comparison graph of earnings against the level of risk involved in that particular trading.

True gains can only be measured when this risk-reward comparison is done. Anything less than that, a trader could be living a pipe dream. For example, using 300 pips to make 100 pips appears like a gain at face level. But, it’s a worthless venture.

Knowing what data to track and tracking them

You have to know what data you intend to track per time depending on your personal goals. You can select a few days’ points for the sake of simplicity. You wouldn’t want to have a dozen you can’t follow up consistently on, would you?

Once you have chosen the data points to follow up on, you need to find an effective way to track them. This will make your activity and process more straightforward. One of the benefits of this is that it informs you straight on where you are doing successfully and where and when you are faltering and need to make improvements. You should know right away what you’re doing right and what can be improved.

Keeping track of the progress of your investment is very essential for a trader in the forex market. It helps you know when you are truly making gains, losses, or just stagnant. But more importantly, it keeps you on your toes when improvements are needed.