Hello All...this is my first thread...please don't beat up on me too much!!
I have been trading for many years and have only recently "discovered" FF since I started trading retail FX. I thought that this market might provide a good way to increase my savings (apart from my regular "job"-trading eminis). I have come to enjoy many of the threads here on FF but see that many are searching for the latest and greatest method to help improve or even jumpstart their trading.
If you are struggling to become consistently profitable, or if you think you are only minimally profitable and would like to be better, I hope this thread may provide some insight. My mentor always told me, "...the market is a mirror..." In that he meant to say that when you look at the markets, whether via a price chart or some other form of analysis, you will only see yourself. That is to say you will only see a reflection of your particular beliefs about the market.
As an example: If I am a trend trader, I will look for and engage with trends (however I define them). So when I look at the market I only "see" trends. Even if the market is NOT currently trending, I will see it as a "pause" in the trend. So when I engage with the market I do so from that point of view, and with every expectation that this current trend will continue until infinity.
I'm sure many of you can see how that particular point of view might lead to problems, especially (like right now), when the market is mostly ranging or consolidating and has been for most of this year. As a trend trader, my belief is clear enough..."markets trend"...but that isn't always the reality. But even that might not be so bad IF (and this is a big IF), I only engaged with the markets when clear trending conditions exist...but you see, because I BELIEVE the markets trend, ALL I see are trends...so in this sense, the market is reflecting what I believe and thus it is a mirror to my beliefs.
Is my belief wrong? No of course not...markets do trend but because my belief lacks definition or clarity...by proxy, so do the markets. Thus I may engage in a trending move only to be frustrated by a seemingly never ending consolidation, or worse, a retracement that was in effect a reversal but my "trending" point of view couldn't see it. Does this sound like you? It was the way I thought for many years. I can't begin to express how frustrating it was!!
So I would like to offer this thread to perhaps get you to think about and refine your market beliefs and literally change how you think about the markets and trading so that when you look at the market you are seeing what it truly is, and not necessarily what you "believe". I invite your participation. Share you beliefs as well. I will not try to "change your mind", your belief is your belief, but I may ask how it is working for you and perhaps offer some humble suggestions to provoke you to question your belief and perhaps redefine it.
I know this kind of thread may seem boring and UNsexy, but (and here comes one of my beliefs), I BELIEVE that the more self aware you are of your core beliefs, the more clarity you will see in the markets, and this clarity will allow you to engage with a higher probability of success.
I will also post charts of trades I take as they occur in real time, so as to show how my beliefs effect my actions.
I have been trading for many years and have only recently "discovered" FF since I started trading retail FX. I thought that this market might provide a good way to increase my savings (apart from my regular "job"-trading eminis). I have come to enjoy many of the threads here on FF but see that many are searching for the latest and greatest method to help improve or even jumpstart their trading.
If you are struggling to become consistently profitable, or if you think you are only minimally profitable and would like to be better, I hope this thread may provide some insight. My mentor always told me, "...the market is a mirror..." In that he meant to say that when you look at the markets, whether via a price chart or some other form of analysis, you will only see yourself. That is to say you will only see a reflection of your particular beliefs about the market.
As an example: If I am a trend trader, I will look for and engage with trends (however I define them). So when I look at the market I only "see" trends. Even if the market is NOT currently trending, I will see it as a "pause" in the trend. So when I engage with the market I do so from that point of view, and with every expectation that this current trend will continue until infinity.
I'm sure many of you can see how that particular point of view might lead to problems, especially (like right now), when the market is mostly ranging or consolidating and has been for most of this year. As a trend trader, my belief is clear enough..."markets trend"...but that isn't always the reality. But even that might not be so bad IF (and this is a big IF), I only engaged with the markets when clear trending conditions exist...but you see, because I BELIEVE the markets trend, ALL I see are trends...so in this sense, the market is reflecting what I believe and thus it is a mirror to my beliefs.
Is my belief wrong? No of course not...markets do trend but because my belief lacks definition or clarity...by proxy, so do the markets. Thus I may engage in a trending move only to be frustrated by a seemingly never ending consolidation, or worse, a retracement that was in effect a reversal but my "trending" point of view couldn't see it. Does this sound like you? It was the way I thought for many years. I can't begin to express how frustrating it was!!
So I would like to offer this thread to perhaps get you to think about and refine your market beliefs and literally change how you think about the markets and trading so that when you look at the market you are seeing what it truly is, and not necessarily what you "believe". I invite your participation. Share you beliefs as well. I will not try to "change your mind", your belief is your belief, but I may ask how it is working for you and perhaps offer some humble suggestions to provoke you to question your belief and perhaps redefine it.
I know this kind of thread may seem boring and UNsexy, but (and here comes one of my beliefs), I BELIEVE that the more self aware you are of your core beliefs, the more clarity you will see in the markets, and this clarity will allow you to engage with a higher probability of success.
I will also post charts of trades I take as they occur in real time, so as to show how my beliefs effect my actions.
@xxxx§|[::::::::::::::::>