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Glad you are going with a safe consistent route now van_driver. Keep at it and slowly but surely you'll be walking in and giving asgar cash for a gallardo .
Not sure which pairs you are trading but try to see if you can maximize your take profits a bit more. From hours and hours of screen time I have noticed EU and GU both tend to move about 30 pips in one direction before turning (15min time frame.) Also as far as free charting goes try to go with FXDD (because of their bar close timing) or if you are willing to pay for charting use Tradestation (its honestly the ferrari of charting but costs 250 a month) and add pivots to your chart. I have a feeling you are trading a lower tf since you are going for ~10 pips and the pivots work well with the lower tf.
Last time I spoke with you I think I was trading about 15-20 pairs. I'm down to just 3 now. EU, GU, and EJ.
I mostly trade EU and UJ. I find these two pairs have very clear trends and are quite volatile, which I like. Sometiems i'll wander into AUD/USD but not too often. Sometimes i'll sit infront of my computer for hours without making a trade, i realized standing on the sideline is also a position! Yes, your right, my time frame is strictly 15 mins. I used to do 4 hours and 1 hour just cuz I thought I wouldn't have to sit infront of my computer as much but usually in the larger time frames you can hit your stop loss really easily before you make any profit, this is especially true if you have a small account.
Regarding charting software, I think i'm used to FXCMs software. Mostly all the indicators are available and the black background is easy on the eyes if your staring at it for hours on end lol.
As for pivots, I haven't used them yet for a trade but i've played around with them. My trading technique is very simple. I have a rule of three and don't listen to bullshit outside of my charts because all it does is cloud your judgment. (this includes websites like forexfactory.com)
And yeah i remember you were trading like crazy with several pairs. I think of pairs as different humans. Each has a different mind and you kinda have to understand each one inside out to know what it's gonna do in the future. Thats why i keep my self limited to a couple of pairs.
edit: here's a good website for forex news if your into fundamentals http://www.forexeconomiccalendar.com/
-I'll look at it once in a while to see if theres anything big coming up but don't trade based on what information I get from it.
I would also suggest using http://www.meetpips.com. I made great use of it when I was demoing before going live. Maybe that will help you keep to your trading plan?
Also, if you're looking for volatility, I'd suggest G/J, E/J, C/J, GBP/CHF or GBP/AUD. The last one is my personal favorite. And lastly, considering holding it for long term. Why make 20-50pips when 400-800 pips are so much nicer? It reduces the chance of over-trading!
Another tip, if you're system is quite mechanical, why not put in the trade with a pre-determined stop-loss and hit the sack? Prevents over-trading and emotional issues. Nothing like waking up to the market going WAY in your direction.
for everyone, don't think your on your road to riches if you have a trading plan that works. You gotta apply it day in day out without breaking a sweat and without trying to justify disobeying your own trading plan.
Okay boys and girls who wants to learn from my mistakes? LOL Be ready to invest a lot of money into trading if this is what you want to get into especially if you don't have a solid plan to begin with. If you think its easy you will end up losing your ass (although for some it is easy) but the majority it is quite a difficult task.
I have a lot of different things starting up again. Its been quite a ride trying to trade forex. A lot of stress that I absolutely did not need. A lot of greed/fear with massive positions opened. This was all money I could have thrown towards new toys or loaded up with citi bank stock when it was $1.xx but I thought I'd try something out. Haven't failed at many things in life and I wouldn't call this a complete failure but I will not be trading forex again. I drained my fx account of everything it had in it today. Learned A LOT about trading, trading psychology, technical analysis, etc. I was clueless when I started. It was too easy to trade large positions on demo but with no idea of stop losses and just hoping for the best when trades go against you they will make you panic. A solid trading strategy is needed and a lot of patience. I don't have any patience for day trading lol
In North America, unlike the rest of the world, Mr Joe Blow off the street can open a direct market access account and trade the markets. In the rest of the world, the only way to gain access to the markets is through trading for a professional firm in the city. As a result, what this has caused is an influx of people from North America who have not been professionally trained to trade the financial markets. This leads to two problems. The first being that the individual loses all their money because they have no professional experience or training, and secondly, amongst the retail community, false information about trading is distributed.
The forex market, many retail want to trade the forex market, however, due to the false information spread amongst retail traders, they fail to understand that the forex market is an over the counter interbank network and as a result is not a market for outright speculation trading.
Haven't failed at many things in life and I wouldn't call this a complete failure but I will not be trading forex again. I drained my fx account of everything it had in it today. Learned A LOT about trading, trading psychology, technical analysis, etc. I was clueless when I started. It was too easy to trade large positions on demo but with no idea of stop losses and just hoping for the best when trades go against you they will make you panic. A solid trading strategy is needed and a lot of patience. I don't have any patience for day trading lol
Lots of people can talk the talk. Here's an example of one. You know the strategies, you know the advice. So where is the missing link? Discipline. Unfortunately, discipline in Forex trading is no different in trading Equities, Options or even Futures. So I'd say if you're going to quit FX, quit trading. Or at least take a break.
I firmly believe trading Demo is a MUST. I spent a good 1.5yrs before going live and sticking to my trading plan. I've read many books, spent countless hours in front of the computer (very much less now), and put in my time. [bold] Trading should be boring. [/bold]
You should be able to fill this out if you have a proper strategy:
What is your entry signal?
What is your exit signal?
What is your risk?
How do you determine your position size?
That's it. If you can't concisely answer those 4 questions and write it out so a 10yr old can follow it and trade your plan, then you don't have a working plan. Whether you're into Technical Analysis, Price Analysis, or Volume-Based Analysis, you still need to be able to answer those questions. (I find most difficulty in Fundamental Analysis, but even those who use FA will look at S&R areas.)
Personally, I think Forex is a great training ground for future traders. It's open 24hrs so it'll feed the need for those who need to watch the market. With enough hours logged in, they say you can get a feel of the market breathing, like sitting on the beach for hours and watching the waves. They say you need to survive trading 3 years before you can call yourself a trader.
Another great thing I find with Forex is that you can find forex brokers that allow you to open with a small account. You have $50 to play with? Put it in the market and follow your plan to the T. If you can treat that $50 like you would with $500,000, then you're on the right track.
Hope this helps. Forex is no different than any other market. It's as equally dangerous as the stock market or futures market.
Phew! I found it! I searched high and low for this list.
I don't know who wrote this. But I'm glad it was written.
Quote:
The 5 Steps to becoming a trader
Step One: Unconscious Incompetence.
This is the first step you take when starting to look into trading. you know that its a good way of making money because you've heard so many things about it and heard of so many millionaires. Unfortunately, just like when you first desire to drive a car you think it will be easy - after all, how hard can it be? Price either moves up or down - what's the big secret to that then - lets get cracking!
Unfortunately, just as when you first take your place in front of a steering wheel you find very quickly that you haven't got the first clue about what you're trying to do. You take lots of trades and lots of risks. When you enter a trade it turns against you so you reverse and it turns again .. and again, and again.
You may have initial success, and thats even worse - cos it tells your brain that this really is simple and you start to risk more money.
You try to turn around your losses by doubling up every time you trade. Sometimes you'll get away with it but more often than not you will come away scathed and bruised You are totally oblivious to your incompetence at trading.
This step can last for a week or two of trading but the market is usually swift and you move onth the next stage.
Step Two - Conscious Incompetence
Step two is where you realise that there is more work involved in trading and that you might actually have to work a few things out. You consciously realise that you are an incompetent trader - you don't have the skills or the insight to turn a regular profit.
You now set about buying systems and e-books galore, read websites based everywhere from USA to the Ukraine. and begin your search for the holy grail. During this time you will be a system nomad - you will flick from method to method day by day and week by week never sticking with one long enough to actually see if it does work. Every time you come upon a new indicator you'll be ecstatic that this is the one that will make all the difference.
You will test out automated systems on Metatrader, you'll play with moving averages, Fibonacci lines, support & resistance, Pivots, Fractals, Divergence, DMI, ADX, and a hundred other things all in the vein hope that your 'magic system' starts today. You'll be a top and bottom picker, trying to find the exact point of reversal with your indicators and you'll find yourself chasing losing trades and even adding to them because you are so sure you are right.
You'll go into the live chat room and see other traders making pips and you want to know why it's not you - you'll ask a million questions, some of which are so dumb that looking back you feel a bit silly. You'll then reach the point where you think all the ones who are calling pips after pips are liars - they cant be making that amount because you've studied and you don't make that, you know as much as they do and they must be lying. But they're in there day after day and their account just grows whilst yours falls.
You will be like a teenager - the traders that make money will freely give you advice but you're stubborn and think that you know best - you take no notice and overtrade your account even though everyone says you are mad to - but you know better. You'll consider following the calls that others make but even then it wont work so you try paying for signals from someone else - they don't work for you either.
You might even approach a 'guru' like Rob Booker or someone on a chat board who promises to make you into a trader(usually for a fee of course). Whether the guru is good or not you wont win because there is no replacement for screen time and you still think you know best.
This step can last ages and ages - in fact in reality talking with other traders as well as personal experience confirms that it can easily last well over a year and more nearer 3 years. This is also the step when you are most likely to give up through sheer frustration.
Around 60% of new traders die out in the first 3 months - they give up and this is good - think about it - if trading was easy we would all be millionaires. another 20% keep going for a year and then in desperation take risks guaranteed to blow their account which of course it does.
What may suprise you is that of the remaining 20% all of them will last around 3 years - and they will think they are safe in the water - but even at 3 years only a further 5-10% will continue and go on to actually make money consistently.
By the way - they are real figures, not just some ive picked out of my head - so when you get to 3 years in the game dont think its plain sailing from there.
Iv had many people argue with me about these timescales - funny enough none of them have been trading for more that 3 years - if you think you know better then ask on a board for someone who's been trading 5 years and ask them how long it takes to become fully 100% proficient. Sure i guess there will be exceptions to the rle - but i havent met any yet.
Eventually you do begin to come out of this phase. You've probably committed more time and money than you ever thought you would, lost 2 or 3 loaded accounts and all but given up maybe 3 or 4 times but now its in your blood
One day - im a split second moment you will enter stage 3.
Step 3 - The Eureka Moment
Towards the end of stage two you begin to realise that it's not the system that is making the difference. You realise that its actually possible to make money with a simple moving average and nothing else IF you can get your head and money management right You start to read books on the psychology of trading and identify with the characters portrayed in those books and finally comes the eureka moment.
The eureka moment causes a new connection to be made in your brain. You suddenly realise that neither you, nor anyone else can accurately predict what the market will do in the next ten seconds, never mind the next 20 mins.
Because of this revelation you stop taking any notice of what anyone thinks - what this news item will do, and what that event will do to the markets. You become an individual with your own method of trading
You start to work just one system that you mould to your own way of trading, you're starting to get happy and you define your risk threshold.
You start to take every trade that your 'edge' shows has a good probability of winning with. When the trade turns bad you don't get angry or even because you know in your head that as you couldn't possibly predict it it isn't your fault - as soon as you realise that the trade is bad you close it . The next trade or the one after it or the one after that will have higher odds of success because you know your system works.
You stop looking at trading results from a trade-to-trade perspective and start to look at weekly figures knowing that one bad trade does not a poor system make.
You have realised in an instant that the trading game is about one thing - consistency of your 'edge' and your discipline to take all the trades no matter what as you know the probabilities stack in your favour.
You learn about proper money management and leverage - risk of account etc etc - and this time it actually soaks in and you think back to those who advised the same thing a year ago with a smile. You weren't ready then, but you are now. The eureka moment came the moment that you truly accepted that you cannot predict the market.
Step 4 - Conscious Competence
You are making trades whenever your system tells you to. You take losses just as easily as you take wins You now let your winners run to their conclusion fully accepting the risk and knowing that your system makes more money than it looses and when you're on a loser you close it swiftly with little pain to your account
You are now at a point where you break even most of the time - day in day out, you will have weeks where you make 100 pips and weeks where you lose 100 pips - generally you are breaking even and not losing money. You are now conscious of the fact that you are making calls that are generally good and you are getting respect from other traders as you chat the day away. You still have to work at it and think about your trades but as this continues you begin to make more money than you lose consistently.
You'll start the day on a 20 pip win, take a 35 pip loss and have no feelings that you've given those pips back because you know that it will come back again. You will now begin to make consistent pips week in and week out 25 pips one week, 50 the next and so on.
This lasts about 6 months
Step Five - Unconscious Competence
Now we’re cooking - just like driving a car, every day you get in your seat and trade - you do everything now on an unconscious level. You are running on autopilot. You start to pick the really big trades and getting 200 pips in a day doesnt make you any more excited that getting 1 pips.
You see the newbies in the forum shouting 'go dollar go' as if they are urging on a horse to win in the grand national and you see yourself - but many years ago now.
This is trading utopia - you have mastered your emotions and you are now a trader with a rapidly growing account.
You're a star in the trading chat room and people listen to what you say. You recognise yourself in their questions from about two years ago. You pass on your advice but you know most of it is futile because they're teenagers - some of them will get to where you are - some will do it fast and others will be slower - literally dozens and dozens will never get past stage two, but a few will.
Trading is no longer exciting - in fact it's probably boring you to bits - like everything in life when you get good at it or do it for your job - it gets boring - you're doing your job and that's that.
Finally you grow out of the chat rooms and find a few choice people who you converse with about the markets without being influenced at all.
All the time you are honing your methods to extract the maximum profit from the market without increasing risk. Your method of trading doesnt change - it just gets better - you now have what women call 'intuition'
You can now say with your head held high "I'm a currency trader" but to be honest you dont even bother telling anyone - it's a job like any other.
I hope youve enjoyed reading this journey into a traders mind and that hopefully youve identified with some points in here.
Remember that only 5% will actually make it - but the reason for that isnt ability, its staying power and the ability to change your perceptions and paradigms as new information comes available.
The losers are those who wanted to 'get rich quick' but approached the market and within 6 months put on a pair of blinkers so they couldnt see the obvious - a kind of "this is the way i see it and thats that" scenario - refusing to assimilate new information that changes that perception.
Im happy to tell you that the reason i started trading was because of the 'get rich quick' mindset. Just that now i see it as 'get rich slow'
If youre thinking about giving up i have one piece of advice for you ....
Ask yourself the question "how many years would you go to college if you knew for a fact that there was a million dollars a year job at the end of it?
Those steps are really accurate (except I haven't reached the last couple steps yet so i wouldn't know :P). to add to that, it pays to not listen to other peoples bullshit opinion on what to buy/sell unless it's coming from a professional. Everyone else has the exact same information as you. Taking all the noise out of my trades was the best thing I ever did, now its just me and my charts, and a little bit of revscene but thats it. Discipline is pretty much what makes or breaks a trader. Most traders are pretty much like computers. When there's a problem with a computer, there's usually just one little thing that's wrong with it. For example if there's a bunch of straight lines and there is one "kink" sticking out that ruins everything. Humans are the same way. One little "kink" in your trading like not having the discipline to follow your trading plan 100% of the time will make you crash your account in no time. Also, making a half assed attempt to make money in forex wont do much, you really gotta put in overtime to see any money. And don't treat this as a hobby. Hobbies are for wasting money like modding cars, but your not trading forex to waste money for fun just cuz you think your pro cuz you can read charts and make trades. Treat it like a business and it will treat you like a business owner
Think of losing that money as tuition. Usually how much people lose goes hand in hand with their ego. Of course it doesn't have to be that way since you can paper trade developing strategies and engineering a sound plan that can be scaled for all market conditions. Which is another reason why it can take years to learn because markets are always changing character. Being able to adapt is what separates a Professional trader from a new guy on a hot streak. Paper trading is a great learning tool but obviously taking your edge live with real money is a whole new beast all together, which is why discipline and being adamant with your plan is so important.
There is NO excuse blowing your account in 1 day or several with proper money management. Size of trades should always correlate with bank roll and risk:reward. You don't make more money trading by trying to squeeze out more profits of daily ranges, but by sizing up accordingly as account increases with consistency , and decreasing size as draw down occurs with cash. Forcing things and trying to go above and beyond what the market offers you, will humble you in a matter of time.
Trading is so easy yet so difficult because its everything human emotions protect us from: uncertainty, fear, greed, revenge, the need to be right. If you don't surrender to letting those emotions go, you'll be blinded by what the market is showing you, and inevitably blow your account. You don't have to be +50% accurate in picking your trades, scaling charts (whether you use tick,vol, or min charts etc) to accommodate your risk, understanding supply and demand (sup and res levels), probing the market at these levels and letting the winners ride while Pyramiding into them can allow you to be only 25% accurate in picking winners, and still come out profitable in the end. And the days you are greater than 50% are just pure monsters.
There is always this need with new guys to start making money right away. Open a demo account, have some success with it, start trading live, blow the account getting sliced to death with small stops or averaging down as the trade goes against them. Blame the market is out for them because they cant take responsibility, leave the business and preach it's impossible to make it in this racket because they failed at it. There is NO rush to learn this stuff, the market isn't going to go anywhere, it takes a lot of time, patience and hard work. Having a successful mentor can fast forward the learning curve immensely, hard to come by though. Surely trading isn't for everyone, but those who have the drive and patience for a career that has no bearing on how much you can make, will one day have the light bulb go off.
Ooh interesting reads...I opened up a small live account with money I can lose cause I just can't trade seriusly with a game account...so far learning alot... How much did u guys end up blowing if u don't mind telling? Posted via RS Mobile
holy fuck 1 year later and im still at it. just funded a new account. i am not going to give up. they say it takes 10000 hours to master something at 8 hours a day thats 1250 days or approx 3.5 years. people make millions off this shit. i don't know if i'm addicted like a casino junky would be or if im making progress either way i'm not going to let this go until I get profitable.
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. 
but I thought I'd try something out. Haven't failed at many things in life and I wouldn't call this a complete failure but I will not be trading forex again. I drained my fx account of everything it had in it today. Learned A LOT about trading, trading psychology, technical analysis, etc. I was clueless when I started. It was too easy to trade large positions on demo but with no idea of stop losses and just hoping for the best when trades go against you they will make you panic. A solid trading strategy is needed and a lot of patience. I don't have any patience for day trading lol
