One Saturday morning, half-way through my final year in high school, I found myself in the living room face first in the middle of the floor.

Why the living room? When the majority of my time was spent in my bedroom, door closed, staring at my computer screen… and why face first?

Today was different from the rest. I was preparing for the toughest event life could throw at me (or so I thought at the time)… bootcamp.

But you ask, what does the living room and me being face-first have to do with you gaining massive amounts of wealth, trading? Everything, dear friend!

You see, had it not been for me spending time drilling myself with rigorous sets of pushups, sit-ups and other training, I wouldn’t have been able to build stamina.

Without stamina, jogging an extra half-mile or mile on the weekends would have fed me, single-handedly to the drill sergeants, for lunch. They would have tossed my ass off of the base or sent me back to remedial training… you didn’t want either of these options. No freakin’ way!

Building stamina as a trader is the exact same way. And how do you become a badass trader pushing mad pips up and down your chart without breaking a sweat? You betcha, from a small account and going slowly.

But how slowly are we talkin’ Zane? (I hear you. Plus, I’m psychic and know you’ve just asked me that question… right?) Not as slowly as you think.

When you learned how to walk, your little legs were wobbly, perhaps you were in a play pin (had a boundary) or guard-rails. Your guardian smartly wanted to protect you from seriously hurting yourself until you built up enough stamina (and skill of course) to walk with ease.

What is stamina? It’s the ability to sustain prolonged physical or mental effort. In your case, you’ll want to include two more words, emotional effort. Trading successfully depends upon your consistent ability to sustain prolonged mental and emotional effort.

It will feel like an effort for a while. The volatility alone can, if untrained, make you feel as if you’re one second away from being hauled off to an asylum. Scary stuff indeed.

To avoid such a frightening event, there are only 3 key concepts you’ll navigate (use or work with) to escape falling flat on your face (in the middle of your living room floor) from mental and emotional exhaustion.

Three Keys To Stamina: Risk, Time and Signals…

In future articles, we’ll look at each of these three concepts in greater detail. For now, let’s focus on only what you need to know so that you’ll get start making progress right away. In the future, when you return, you’ll learn the more about these 3 components. Deal?

Risk:

Your progress will be directly proportional to how you handle risk; will you risk 2%, 20% or 50% of your capital per trade? If you’ve said “hmm… 50% seems about right”, exit this site now.

You need to know what’s REALLY at risk when you trade. So, what is it for you? Is it the money you fear you’ll loose? For example, if you’ve said, “OK, Zane. I’m willing to risk $500 to grow my account.” I’ll say, “Fine. But what are you actually risking? Is it the $500, your reputation if you fail or “loose” all of your money? Or, is it something else?”.

See? A risk can be transformed into its opposite, a guarantee. Therefore, by stacking the odds in your favor, I’ll help you reduce your perceived risk and move you closer to removing risk. With fewer risks, going slowing with a small account can be a faster way to build your trading stamina in time.

Time:

Will each trade last for a few minutes, hours or days? How much time will you spend learning and growing your account? Do you plan to trade for the next 5 years, until you reach a specific net worth, or until you’re no longer able to physically trade? Sorting out the answers to these questions catapultes you into another realm.

Signals:

What signals will you look for to enter and exit your trades? When will you know you’re ready to use your own cash?

Time: To live, to trade, to grow yourself, family (friends) and your wealth/value. You’ll only be on this planet this go around for a specific length of time. We’ll need to find the “right time” to trade and to reinvest your earnings (future articles and a course are coming).

Signals: You’ll need key signals to understand when to enter and exit your trades. And a signal to ‘confirm’ when you’re ready (enough) to trade with live funds.

Let’s combine these to create a plan that will work for you. Use this until you’re consistently getting results, then modify it, if necessary.

Here’s the plan I’d use if I were starting with $500.00 in a forex trading account:

1. Risk: Set your leverage settings to one of the lowest ratios. I still have my ratio at 20:1, you may choose 10:1 or no leverage. Part of the reason we choose to trade currencies are due to having leverage. It’s a bonus. Start at 10:1 or 20:1. Clients and students alike are grateful for this advise and have thanked the universe for following it.
2. Time: This will vary based on the season and politics. That stated, right now my best trades continue to develop in under 16 hours. From the time I see my enter signal and then the exit bell tolls less than 16 hours have lapsed.
3. Signals: That brings us to signals. For now, use an 5 & 12 period EMA crossover on the 4 hour time frame as an entry and exit signal. It’s easy and will allow you to have consistent results. Not all of your trades will be winners, but you’ll win more and that’s the key.

Let’s take a look at a few examples to see how it’s done…

An enter signal:

Your signal to enter your next trade isn’t only the 5 & 12 EMA crossover. That’s just the beginning. Your next crossover is like the guy who yells “… Runners, on your marks, get set…” before the cap gun fires in the air. You’ll know it’s “GO!” time when price returns near or back to this area (which could take a few seconds or a few days).

Here’s my most recent example:

To summarize:

Your small account helps you take “risks”, in our case high probability trades, with confidence while the skates are low. As you continue to use this trading method, growing your account along the way, you’ll increase the value of the pips you place on each trade.

For instance, you’ve practiced this method in a demo account and notice for the past 3 weeks you’ve been profitable. You may feel comfortable, at this stage, to trade with ‘real’ money and decide to deposit $500.00 into a trading account.

With this $500.00 account, set your leverage to the lowest the trading platform offers (don’t worry this is temporary… more on this in future articles and in my course). The place one trade, two max, for .10/pips. After opening and closing your trades, track your returns. Over the next 3-4 weeks you’ll verify your average earnings.

Your average loot you generate will help you make smarter decisions. You can now decide how much you’ll want to invest for per trade. Each trade matters. Decide how much draw down you’ll withstand ahead of time. Although, if you’re following the above method, you’ll receive a signal when price is about to change direction.

That’s it, for now.

The stamina you’re going to build will allow you to walk boldly ahead. Soon, you’ll walk faster and faster until before you know it, you’re sprinting at full speed — winning the race of your life.

Traders… On your marks… Get set… GO!!

p.s. I smashed bootcamp and won an award for physical fitness excellence. You’ve got this!