So you have made the decision that you want to be a trader. Where do you start and is there some structure you need to follow to give you the maximum chance of success?

Nobody can guarantee success of course but you can move yourself much nearer that goal by adopting what I term the three S's, Strategy, Setup and Strength. All three are intertwined and rely on each other for support in your quest to become a successful trader.

Strategy - What system, what edge, what objectives?

The first thing to remember is that the most important factor in success is you! Don't believe by getting the latest and greatest things you will automatically guarantee success. Make it clear from the start what your objective is and when you will review it. It is also important to understand where your edge lies, what will make you pick successful trades above other people? You also need to decide what your particular style will be.

People who make good short term traders are often people who can make decisions quickly without having to rely upon additional opinion or feel the pang of uncertainty. Short term traders often have a fairly mechanical trading strategy at their core one that requires simple execution. Thought provoking musings are not welcome in this arena and neither are distractions. You will probably need to remain intensely focused during your trading sessions so items such as a separate study or area where you can shut out any outside distractions are essential.

Perhaps looking for more general price movements should be your style? If so then you should be happy to sit with open positions for longer time periods. When positions for these types of traders do not immediately work out they tend not to fret as they have already worked out their optimum exit position in the market and will manage their position based on that. Styles such as swing trading are less frantic than short term trading such as scalping but require a more intuitive approach.

Setup - What you need to do it.

Once you have decided on what basis you will trade, you need to ensure you have the right set up to execute against that. By setup I mean two key things. First, your trading hardware and software, but also the amount and type of money you have available to trade.

It is important to know how much starting capital you are you going to use and how will you deploy it. The old adage is only 'play' with money you can afford to lose. That is correct but you will need enough to make it worth your while. Also doing imaginary or paper trades is nothing like doing the real thing so make sure you have a sufficient level of capital to practice with that ensures the weight of your decisions will be felt. That is what it is like in the real world. Make sure you don't commit so much that it stops you from performing well or creates the potential for an unbearable loss. On the other hand losing runs are inevitable so ensure that your total trading capital and average capital per trade is set at a sensible level or else that inevitable losing run will wipe you out.

The equipment you use should also be appropriate for your style and level of market risk. Standard equipment is normally defined as a modern personal computer with plenty of speed and storage capacity. Most modern PC's are plenty able to cope with the demands of most software but a lot do not come supplied with that pre-requisite for trading the dual or quad headed graphics card. These graphics cards enable you to have a screen the size of a small planet by spreading your PC desktop across more than one screen. This means you can have your trading software on one screen and price information on another and move seamlessly between them. Optionally you could have email or some other application running while you keep an eye on the market.

Just stopping at a good computer is not enough and you need to ensure that you have a high speed internet connection. If you are investing a serious amount of money in the market it is worth making sure you have plenty of redundancy in your system also. Most serious traders have an uninterruptible power supply and various levels of back up just in case their system goes AWOL at the same time as the market.

A serious set up would be at least a dual headed PC with broadband and UPS. You may consider a spare dial up line in case of broadband failure. I also have a phone, a mobile phone with GPRS and a laptop with a long battery life and connection to my mobile phone in case everything else fails. When you are committing large amounts of capital into the market you need to ensure that everything is covered.

Choosing the right software is going to be dictated by your trading style but for sure the most professional, stable with functionality to suit your style is most important. Don't skimp by underpaying for software. It is an important part of your work and you will rely upon it a lot so make sure you find something suitable.