One of the biggest problems for the new Forex trader (and quite a few experienced traders) is that they are no real rules to Forex trading. Now in some ways that's one of the beauties of forex trading and it's nice to have the freedom to trade when you want to, to enter and exit positions whenever you feel like it, to increase or decrease an existing position and simply not to trade at all if you don't feel like it.

But within this freedom there also lies considerable danger.

No matter what we do in life there is no doubt that we do much better if we have a clear objective in mind and a roadmap to get us there. However, even though having a road to follow is essential, it is also important that we have a set of rules to follow to keep us on that road and to stop us from taking a wrong turning and ending up heading off course or driving up a dead end road.

In Forex trading there's no doubt at all that traders who follow a strict set of rules meet with far greater success than those who simply 'wing it'. Also, if you speak to traders who do follow a set of rules they'll tell you that, nine times out ten, when they have a bad day it's because they don't follow the rules and, when they have a good day, it's because they stick to them like glue.

The problem is that, since Forex trading doesn't really have any rules, you have to create a set of rules for yourself.

Now exactly what rules you will lay down for yourself will depend very much on your own trading plan and your rules will need to be reviewed whenever you update your plan - which you should do on a regular basis. So what sort of rules are we looking at?

Well, you might for example decide that you will never enter a trade without ensuring that you have a stop loss order in place. You might also decide that you will only enter a trade if certain analytical conditions are met. In other words, you will not enter a trade simply because you have a feeling about it, but will only do so if the numbers tell you that you should do so. In addition, you might decide when you are in a profitable trade you will move your stop when your profit reaches a pre-determined level in order to protect your position.

These are just a few ideas and your own list will need to meet your own particular trading strategy. However, whatever shape your list takes and however long or short it is, it is vitally important that you draw up a list, having thought about it very carefully, and that you then stick to it and also review it at regular intervals.