Any successful business has a business plan that it follows at all times, good or bad. Many businesses that do eventually fail have one thing almost always in common. They did not follow their written out business plan during rough times. All successful businesses out there have a concrete business plan that has been laid out and strictly followed all the time whether it be in boom times or during bust times. The same must apply to trading also.

Trading, whether it be day or swing is no different than any other company or business out there. It is definitely a business and like all other successful businesses out there it definitely must have a written down plan in place. That is why we find that all successful day or swing traders have a trading plan and system that they follow in their everyday trading activities. They make a trading plan for themselves like a business does and then they trade their plan religiously. So what exactly are some of the ingredients found in a successful trader's trading business plan?

First of all the trader has to settle down on one or two trading chart patterns to focus on. There is no point in trying to learn hundreds of chart patterns out there available to almost every trader out there. Just focus on one or two chart patterns and get very good at them by being consistently profitable. Secondly the trader must choose his or her market to trade very carefully. There are many, many markets available out there to trade. A trader must pick only one or two out that fits their personality.

Thirdly a trader must decide on the amount of money, also called risk capital, that they are willing to risk and lose in any one given market. They must be willing to lose that sum of money they had set aside without it affecting their lifestyle. They must decide on the maximum amount of money that they are willing to lose, also called a drawdown in the trading business, before they finally give up on trading for good.  Fourth on the trading business plan should be laid out a detailed explanation of how a trader will be entering, managing and exiting the trades taken as per their plan. Exits are definitely far more important than the entries as that is where the amount of money made or lost is decided. After all anyone with a computer and a trading account can click on the BUY button to buy a security nowadays. A daily loss limit to stop trading is a good thing to include also. This way you can start out fresh the next day and not wind up turning a small losing day into a big one.

Next on the trading plan list should be goals that a trader must set for themselves. They can be in the form of daily, weekly and monthly goals. This is where a trader can and might decide to stop trading for the day, week or month if their planned goal has been met. The trader has to write down in a journal each and every trade he or she takes so that it will help them evaluate their performance after the trading day is over. This will also help them avoid the same mistakes in the future. They must also include in their plans the days that they will take off and not trade. This is very important as trading is all a mental game and it is very important for a trader to be in top mental shape and form and physically fit too.

Any distractions to a trader's mind in the form of things like a fight with a wife or husband, divorce, unpaid and mounting bills, high balances on credit cards, bad health problems and so on are enemies of the mind and should be avoided at all costs by any trader on all trading days. Traders must also include plans to train on their market after the regular market hours close. This way they keep themselves mentally fit for trading and prepared at all times. They can also include in their plans when it is OK to reward themselves and in what way or when they can or must take time off to cool off mentally.

These are a just a few of the very important things to be included in a trader's trading plan. Many more can be added along the way depending on the personality of the trader. A trader will put himself or herself ahead of most of the traders out there this way as most of the newer traders who fail never had a plan to begin with. A trader must always keep this plan on the desk that they use for trading and follow it religiously. The Trading Plan should be like a Holy Bible for the trader. They can add more items to the plan as they go along and just make sure that they follow their trading plan at all times, good or bad.