I believe the reason that the majority of beginners who wish to start Forex trading online end up as losers can be walked back to the ease at which this "business" can be started.

It is the work of just a few minutes to open an account with your Forex broker, and in many cases you can be trading that very same day.

Contrast this speed of launch with the incredible complexities of starting a business in the "real world"...

There will be licenses to get...

Lease agreements to sign for your storefront...

Employees to find and hire and train...Etc.!

Because it is so easy to begin a trading business, and takes such a small amount of startup capital, most beginning Forex traders don't give this business the respect it deserves.

If you were to meet someone knew at a cocktail party, one of the most likely topics of conversation would be what do you do for a living.

You know who you are, and what your job description is...

You know what your job entails, what you're good at, and what areas of your work your trying to develop...

The answers to these questions come instantly, since you know intimately all the aspects of your "business plan".

As a speaker, educator, and consultant to the active trader community for the last 20 years, I have had the great opportunity to work with thousands of individuals on developing their business plan for trading.

I am continually amazed at how few have ever even considered this to be important much less a CRITICAL aspect of their success!

They tend to exhibit a single minded focus "digging for gold" as they build their skill set of trade selection and execution, and fail to realize that without a comprehensive business structure and trading plan, their chances for long-term success are almost nil!

Think of a trading plan as a scrimmage match for a professional sports team.

It is a chance to try out scenarios and work out solutions to problems at your leisure.

A properly prepared football team can execute highly sophisticated plays on command because they spent the time needed during practice to build these skills.

Most importantly, these plays will hold up under periods of extreme stress as they have been practiced over and over.

A properly constructed trading plan will have nearly every aspect of trade election and management predefined.

What I help a client build a trading plan, the goal is to make it so incredibly simple and clear that any clerk on a trade desk could execute the trades for the client.

I strongly believe, and my experience backs this up that genius and brilliance in the Forex trading world are valuable during the time when you are developing an analysis methodology, but have little value once the plan is in its implementation phase.

At that point, discipline, attention to detail, and patience are much more valuable...

Here are some bullet points you need to cover in your trading plan in order to increase your chances of success as you learn Forex trading (Or really trading in any asset class)...

• What is the criteria that will trigger my entry signal?
• What is the criteria that will trigger my exit signal with profits?
• What is the criteria that will tell you it is time to take a loss and move on to the next trade?
• What is the criteria that will halt my trading and forced me to reassess my edge during a period of market confusion or chaos?
• What levels of loss will trigger my risk management protocols during periods of chaos such as our recent historic financial meltdown.
• How will I define when a trade has a high enough probability to be of interest?
• How will I define which trades have the largest dollar profit potential when comparing multiple setups?

These are just a few of the questions the need to be answered when building a robust trading plan for any market. If this article has provoked even a little bit of thought into this important topic, then your chances for success as a Forex trader have been greatly increased!

By taking the time to build a trading plan and define your Forex trading strategy or analysis methodology, you'll be avoiding the single greatest reason why I believe the majority of Forex traders lose money and fail!