Trading psychology is an important discipline that needs to be studied and understood by anyone who aims toward long-term success in the financial markets. Self-mastery and emotional control are key to achieving consistency when trading. There are many characteristics and skills required in order to be successful in forex trading.

As traders in a 24-hour market, we are certainly forced to contend with a good amount of stress and trading pressure. Many times this stress is intensified through periods of losing streaks and rough patches. But in the end, it is the coping mechanisms used to handle this stress that ultimately determine our ability to find a healthy and profitable path.

In recent years, scientists have begun to suspect that emotion plays an important role in evaluating risk and making decisions. We are told that forex traders are trained to evaluate risk and information quickly and reliably, and they often have large financial incentives riding on their decisions--which should cut down on bouts of non-rational behavior.