Position Trader

Position trading is the longest term trading and can have trades that last for several months to several years!

This kind of trading is reserved for the ultra-patient traders, and requires a good understanding of the fundamentals.

Because position trading is held for so long, fundamental themes will be the predominant focus when analyzing the markets.

Fundamentals dictate the long term trends of currency pairs and it is important that you understand how economic data affects your countries and its future outlook.

Because of the lengthy holding time of your trades, your stop losses will be very large.

You must make sure you are well capitalized or you will most likely get margin called.

For an idea of how much money you should have in your trading account, check out our money management lesson.

Position trading also requires thick skin because it is almost guaranteed that your trades will go against you at one point or another.

These won't just be little retracements either.

You may experience huge swings and you must be ready and have absolute trust in your analysis in order to remain calm during these times.

You might be a position trader if:

You are an independent thinker. You have to be able to ignore popular opinion and make your own educated guesses as to where the market is going.

You have a great understanding of fundamentals and have good foresight into how they affect your currency pair in the long run.

You have thick skin and can weather any retracements you face.

You have enough capital to withstand several hundred pips if the market goes against you

You don't mind waiting for your grand reward. Long term trading can net you several hundred to several thousands of pips. If you get excited being up 50 pips and already want to exit your trade, consider moving to a shorter term trading style.

You are extremely patient and calm.

You might NOT be a position trader if:

You easily get swayed by popular opinions on the markets.

You don't have a good understanding of how fundamentals affect the markets in the long run.

You aren't patient. Even if you are somewhat patient, this still might not be the trading style for you. You have to be the ultimate zen master when it comes to being this kind of patient!

You don't have enough starting capital.

You don't like it when the market goes against you.

You like seeing your results fast. You may not mind waiting a few days, but several months or even years is just too long for you to wait.