Everyone wants to become a trading expert, but how can one make a truly excellent trade? The key lies in the process. Trading without a process is like sailing without navigation—most likely it will end up capsizing.

A profitable trade must hit these nine key points: align with the market trend, discover potential, formulate a plan, manage positions, improve win rate, optimize profit-loss ratio, cope with uncertainties, set stop-loss, and finally draw a beautiful net value curve.

**Following the market trend is the premise**

If you want to make money, the first rule is: understand the market's temperament. You trade when the market is steadily rising; you keep quiet when the market is steadily falling. Many people incur losses because of this—insisting on betting against the trend during a clear downward trend, and as a result, they dig themselves deeper. Following the market is not waiting passively, but rather acting only after accurately judging the direction of the trend.

**Unleashing potential is the first step**

The success of trading starts with choosing the right targets. How to choose? Look at the fundamentals, look at the technicals, look at market sentiment, look at capital flows. No matter what method you use, there is only one goal: to find those currencies with growth potential that have not yet been fully recognized by the market. If this step is done well, making money is already halfway there.

**The plan decides execution**

Trading without restraint will inevitably lead to losses. You need to think through all the questions before placing an order: At what price do you enter the market? At what price do you exit? Should you increase or decrease your position midway? At what loss do you stop-loss? This is not excessive caution, but a standard practice for professional traders. Many retail investors end up losing because they have no plan; they want to profit when prices rise a bit and want to average down when prices drop a bit, ultimately getting played by their own emotions.

**Position management is the moat**

This might be the easiest link to ignore but the most deadly one. Why do retail investors easily get trapped at high positions and cut losses at low positions? Because they like to go all in on the same asset, even risking everything. What about seasoned traders? They use the pyramid building method, entering in batches and diversifying risks. For the same asset's ups and downs, professional traders earn more steadily, while retail investors either earn less or lose more. Position management is all about protecting your principal.

**Winning rate and profit-loss ratio are both indispensable**

Making 100 trades, the higher your success rate, the more times you will naturally make money — this is the power of improving your win rate. But that's not enough. If you have a 70% probability of making money, but every time you make 1 unit you get offset by a trade that loses 10 units, you still end up losing. So you also need to optimize your risk-reward ratio: earn more when you make money and lose less when you lose money. The problem for many people is exactly the opposite — being greedy when making money, failing to take profits when they should, and as a result, giving back their profits; and being unwilling to cut losses when losing money, ending up with small losses turning into big losses.

**Dealing with uncertainty is a compulsory course**

The market is always full of variables. Sudden changes in news, technical breakdowns, and abnormal capital flows - all of these can disrupt your plans. While making a trading plan, you should also think of a Plan B: what will I do if things don't go as expected? Thinking ahead about how to respond will prevent you from making hasty decisions at critical moments.

**Stop-loss is the last bastion**

Setting a stop loss is not admitting defeat, but rather a disciplined way to protect yourself. Trading without a stop loss is like flying without a seatbelt—it's too late to regret when the accident happens. By strictly enforcing stop losses, your losses will always be manageable.

**The net value curve is the best manual**

By achieving all of the above, your net worth curve will gradually become beautiful—steadily rising with manageable drawdowns. This curve is a reflection of your trading ability. By looking at a trader's net worth curve, you can see what level of player they are.