Posted: 04 Aug 2010 11:35 PM PDT

Guest post from visionsofaffluence.com

If you want to be a successful trader then you are going to have to suffer. You will experience the highest highs and the lowest lows as you climb the mountain of trading success. On this journey there will be one skill that will be more valuable to you than all others, and that is the ability to learn from your mistakes. In order to succeed in trading you are going to have to analyze every trading decision that you make, and the best way to do that is through a trading journal.

Now if you are anything like me when I first started trading then you are probably thinking to yourself " a trading journal? I don't need that", but I assure you that keeping a journal will improve your trading dramatically. A journal will allow you to analyze every trade to determine what went right or wrong so that you can keep doing the good things and eliminate the bad. This is essential to your growth as a trader because after all if you don't know what's not working then how can you fix it?

Keeping a journal will be the simplest thing you do in your trading life because all you have to do is write down every trade that you take, why you took it, and the outcome. After that you should analyze each trade and over time patterns will emerge. You will notice behavioral tendencies that you repeat time and time again that hurt your trading as well as noticing things that work that you may not do as often as you should. Then its as simple as eliminating the actions that aren't working and doing more of what does. This is what makes a trading journal so powerful. A journal will show you things about yourself and you trading that will be difficult to realize otherwise. So if you are serious about being the best trader that you can be then put whatever notions you may have aside and start keeping a journal of your trades. You can thank me later.

If you want to discover what it takes to be able to trade for a living? Then visit visionsofaffluence.com

Want to see what other traders are doing in real accounts? Check out Currensee. It's free..

Forex Daily Outlook – August 5 2010

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 02:00 PM PDT

U.S. Unemployment Claims, Building Permits in Canada and the European Central Bank Interest Rate Announcement make the headlines. Here is an outlook on today’s market moving events.

In the US, Unemployment Claims predicted to decrease by 1000 compared to previous week reaching 456K.

More in the US, Natural Gas Storage has increased by 28B last week and is likely to continue with a similar rise.

In Canada, Building Permits forecasted 0.6% rise after an unexpected dip of 10.8% in May.

For more on USD/CAD, read the Canadian dollar forecast.

In Europe, European Central Bank Interest Rate Announcement may not yet be in a position to start raising rates despite of the positive outcome of the European banks stress tests, which for the time being have managed to calm investors' fears of contagion from the sovereign debt crisis in the Euro-zone.

More in Europe, German Factory Orders are expected to rise by 1.5% following the unpredicted decrease of 0.5% in May.

For more on the Euro, read the EUR/USD forecast and Casey Stubbs' latest analysis.

In Great Britain, Bank of England Interest Rate Announcement is not expected to make any changes to their current record low interest rate of 0.5%.
More in Great Britain, Asset Purchase Facility, measuring the total value of money the BOE will create and use to purchase assets in the open market is predicted to remain 200B.

Read more about the Pound in the GBP/USD forecast.

In Australia, AIG Construction Index based on a survey of about 120 construction companies reached 46.4 points and went below the 50 point line will hopefully rise again this month.

For more on the Aussie, read the AUD/USD forecast.

That’s it for today. Happy forex trading!

Want to see what other traders are doing in real accounts? Check out Currensee. It's free.

Video Midweek Update

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 12:50 PM PDT

In a midweek interview on Forex TV, I spoke with Julie Sinha about the current stabilization in price action, tension towards the Non-Farm Payrolls and potential breakouts in a selected currency pairs. Enjoy!

Want to see what other traders are doing in real accounts? Check out Currensee. It's free..