“Survival of the fittest” has no better application than in trading, especially for individual traders.  It’s every-man-for-himself in the markets.  Either you show up with your A-game or you’re going to lose money in the markets.  Those that are ‘fit’ thrive, while those that aren’t struggle to survive.

Trading is highly competitive, with everyone fighting for every dollar flowing through the markets each day.  It’s certainly not easy and definitely not for the squeamish or weak-at-heart.   Those that trade careless or wreckless become prey for the better prepared.  Because of the dog-eat-dog nature of trading, it exemplifies the societal and free-market notion of “Survival of the Fittest.”

For individual traders, your trading business must be very fit, because of who you’re up against.  In addition to the all other individuals traders, many of whom are seasoned veterans, you also have the large corporations, institutional investors and international banks.  It’s almost like you’re David, up against all the other Davids plus a whole slew of Goliaths.

Being fit means more than having a reliable system, broker or signal service.  In order to survive and make a good living at trading requires that you approach your trading as the business that it is and have your business truly in order.  Businesses that aren’t treated as businesses fail in any industry, and it is especially true for your trading business.  Fail to treat your trading as the business that it is, and it will likely remain only a writeoff instead of an income source.

So how do you treat your trading as a business?

First thing to do is to recognize that trading IS a business.  Just because it’s only you and the markets doesn’t mean that it’s just something to do to make money.  Trading is a skilled, self-employed profession and NOT an entry-level occupation.  You must adopt the mindset of being in business, and put in place the systems and formalities if you want to have a truly reliable source of income.

Next is to approach it as you would if you were starting a business, including many of the same things that you’d do in any industry.  Some soul-searching to find the right strategy and markets to trade would be in order.  Next you’d need to make sure that you have the skill set to compete effectively in that industry in your chosen capacity.

The third step is to do some research to make sure that your business model is viable.  This means doing some research and analysis so that you can make reasonable projections and have faith that your expectations are realistic.

The final step is to put together an actual business plan for your trading business.  It can be very comprehensive and detailed or fairly concise and simple, but this act alone is one of the most beneficial actions a person can take when choosing to become a trader.  Sure, there’s money to be made in trading, but that can be said about almost any industry.  The ‘fit’ traders that approach the endeavor with a well-thought out business plan give themselves the best odds of surviving and enjoying all that the their business has to offer.

With the dog-eat-dog nature of trading where it’s essentially you against the world, you need every advantage you can get.  Get your trading business in order and make sure that you are among the fittest so that you will survive and thrive in the competitive world of trading.

For more info on how to make sure your trading business is fully ‘fit’, visit

http://insideouttrading.com/