Now is definitely the time to begin your planning
regarding how you’ll make 2009 better than 2008,
regardless of how this year has gone.
You DO want next year to be more profitable, yes?
The first step in being proactive about next year is
to get a clear picture of where you are right now and
also to review what you’ve done and not done that
has you in your current status.
Now the assessment of where you are now means
more than simply looking at your account balance
and your equity curve, although they are part of
the process.
Knowing your metrics is part of any successful
business, and for traders that means several key
performance indicators. Such metrics include:
- Percent of Winning Trades*
- Profit-to-Loss Ratio*
- Average Return per Trade*
- Return per Dollar Invested*
- Total number of trades placed
- Total number of winners
- Total net profits
- Total number of losers
- Total net losses
- Average Profit*
- Average Loss*
- Your longest winning streak & how much you made
- Your longest losing streak & how much you lost
- Your greatest drawdown*
- Your REAL Reward-to-risk ratios for winners, losers and overall
Ideally, you have been tracking these numbers for your trading
throughout the year on a monthly basis, plus keeping notes as
to what has transpired along the way that has affected the numbers.
Running and tracking your metrics is one of the most effective
and efficient ways to stay in the continuous improvement cycle,
and when it comes to making money, you definitely want to
always be making progress.
The reason that metrics are so powerful is that they give
perspective to what you’re doing and give you clear focus
as to what is working and what is not – in hard numbers,
not just opinion.
If you are running and tracking your metrics, then now is
a good time to review them so that you can be proactive
to make sure that 2009 sees greater profits and fewer
mistakes than 2008.
If you haven’t been measuring your trading performance
and tracking it, then now is a great time to start.
To make doing this quick and easy, use the Trading
Performance Analyzer, which was created specifically
for you for this purpose. You can check it out here,
http://insideouttrading.com/tpa/
Or simply click on the image to the right.
No matter what you’ve been doing or have going on right
now, this is one of the best practices to have as part of your
trading business and to have confidence in the future.
Cheers
Brian
P.S. If you’ve had challenges with discipline and/or confidence,
this will help tremendously with these two aspects of your trading
as well.