There are a vast amount of pathways around whilst learning to become a professional trader, as well as many skills that a candidate must have to excel in a high-stress, highly-competitive field. When it comes to financial firms recruiting for trading positions, they aspire to look for people with degrees in math, engineering, and hard sciences rather than simply those with finance backgrounds.

With this, there comes different trading jobs, many of which require customer-facing communication skills as much as chart savvy. That said, we’ll look at some of the skills that are required of all traders.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. developing ones self into a trader requires a background in math, engineering, or hard science, rather than just finance or business.
2. Traders need research and analytical skills to monitor broad economic factors and day-to-day chart patterns that impact financial markets.
3. The ability to focus and concentrate, particularly in a chaotic, fast-moving environment, is an underappreciated but crucial skill for traders.
4. Self-control is crucial, as well as the ability to regulate emotions despite developments that could be upsetting.
5. Accurate record-keeping is important for trader accountability and for learning and improving.

Analytical Skill

The ultimate skill every trader needs is the ability to analyze data quickly. There is a huge amount of maths involved within trading, however it is represented through charts with indicators and patterns from technical analysis. Consequently, traders need to develop their analytical skills so they can recognize trends and trends in the charts.

Research

Traders need to have a healthy thirst for information and a desire to find all the relevant data that impacts the securities they trade. Many traders create calendars of economic releases and set announcements that have measurable effects on the financial markets. By being on top of these information sources, traders are able to react to new information as the market is still digesting it.

Focus

Focus is a key skill and it increases the more traders exercise it. Because there is so much financial information out there, traders need to be able to hone in on the important, actionable data that will affect their trades.

Some traders also focus on the types of securities they trade so they can deepen their understanding of a specific sector, industry or currency to the point where it becomes a competitive advantage against less specialized traders.

Most of the required skills are learned, and with a bit of effort, traders can improve their analytical capacity, research abilities, focus, control and record keeping.

Control

Hand in hand with focus is control and, specifically, self-control. A trader needs to be able to control their emotions and stick to a trading plan and strategy. This is especially important in managing risk by using stop losses or taking profits at set points.

Many strategies are designed so the trader loses a little in bad trades and systematically gains more on good trades. When traders start to get emotional about their trades—good or bad—strategy goes out the window.

Record Keeping

One of the most important keys to trading is record keeping. If a trader records the results of his or her trades diligently, then improving is simply a matter of testing and tweaking strategies to find a successful one. It is hard to show real progress if you aren’t keeping accurate records.