What is the most important question for a new trader?

Too many to tell about, especially for a newbie. Just remember, the more you practice, the more you know how! Instead of searching the holy grail on trading, much better if you stand on one strategy that you comfort with. Always use stoploss as your brake. Don't be greedy. Always learn from your loss (especially!), understand why and how you loss, and never make same mistakes. Trading is just like babies growth, first born, they must be crying, next, crawling, walking, and falling too, before they can run...keep it persistent, never give up easily...cheers! :-)

It is definitely not easy and not something that I expect to do forever. But for now it clearly has good impacts on my account. It works as a way to avoid doing any decision in emotional states that I yet cannot control properly...

Also, having to face series of days in drawdown and keep coming back to the plan is a good exercise for me... Pain helps us to truly change = )

You're very kind but there is no gain here for good traders to stay and post. The forum was started to be a place for traders to help each other but as with all forums it degrades into scammers and naysayers. People like Varkeer get what they deserve. I personally know three other very good traders who posted here in the past and they suffered the same problems and left. We all leave eventually as we learn the hard way that there is no upside for us.

We use screen names so no one knows who we really are. You would be absolutely blown away if you knew some of the traders, very well known ones, who have posted here in the past. I hope I really have helped those who need it. Varkeer has a post history of claiming profitability for six years but no trade calls or proof. You all know I made live trade calls for nearly a year. If you read the old thread I actually talked one trader through a winning trade in real time. I did post a trade explorer for one month. Live, not past trades. I made thirty percent in that month. It was recorded in the thread. Varkeer has done none of that, and won't.

I am done. I will be over at the calendar. PM if you have a specific question I will help if I can. I only trade forex for fun now, my money is made in futures so I really don't have much to add to a forex forum any more anyway. I felt compelled to try to ask some leading questions and get some of you thinking after watching a Youtuber who was "teaching" totally screw up a Top Step combine last week. I offered to help him but told him he would have to stop the Youtube. He declined so he is now teaching again leading the sheep to slaughter, and the cycle continues.

It's a shame to read another post like this on these forums. I am by no means one of the well known traders you mention, but your "ramblings" and approach were among the resources which helped me put in the hours, develop as a trader and be profitable.

Most online "communities" have the same problem - the keyboard warriors type the most, people with real value keep posting less and less because they get tired. As someone who learned from you and sort-of never thanked you properly, I'd ask you give the wannabe's the middle finger, ignore their comments. We're not here to prove anything to anyone, especially not to those who demand or throw accusations. I'm here to be among people who caught the same bug, if it means I sometimes have to skip a comment or two because it has no value - so be it, like ignoring the neighbour's kid screaming outside

If you don't mind me posting here - hopefully to give a bit back - I have 3 things from my own experience. Pardon the wall of text:


1) what is your real personality? what trading style will fit that personality? what instruments will fit that trading style? I started day-trading full-time, I thought it would suit my personality - sitting in front of charts from 7-8am GMT to around 4-5pm GMT and waiting for zones and setups which had higher probability of a successful trade. Get in, get out quick, ideally don't hold trades overnight... after 7 months I was a nerve-wreck. When things went well it was great, my goal was 10-15% per month and I was sometimes done for the day before 10am. When sh*t hit the fan (like with US-China trade war, or with Trump's love for tweeting about Dow when I was trading DAX), it was insanely stressful. Took me some time to realise that such a trading style wasn't for me and now I have no idea why I thought it would be. I'm impulsive, patient if I have to (a.k.a. getting older) but if I reach my breaking point I explode; silly and often joking around - sure, but when I'm working I plan the big picture, I measure everything, think forward to potential problems and try to find solutions before those problems happen. I was an IT project manager and people joked that my project plans were like novels, with detailed steps and what sequence the activities had to happen in - why the hell did I think quick trading (not scalping, but fairly close to it) would be for me!? I had sleepless nights and lost a lot of weight (in an unhealthy way). It was a great learning experience, though - it answered the question of which instruments to trade - something I really struggled with as a new trader.

Now I have 3 base concepts around which I have a long-term trading method for commodities (i.e. 1 to several months), a mid-term for currencies (usually a few days up to 2 weeks) and an intraday for indices (very rarely holding overnight) which I almost don't trade any more.


2) when you scroll back through a chart and see a big move, do you feel you lost an opportunity? Do you have VERY clear criteria for what to trade, when to enter and what lot size, where to place stop-loss, where potential gain is likely to be and when to exit? This is something I noticed when my trading method became more solid - when I scrolled a chart and noticed a big move, it took a quick check to see whether my trading method would have signalled it. If it didn't, I knew I would not have taken that trade anyway so it wasn't a missed opportunity (maybe another trading method would have signalled it, but not mine or not one I have tested). If it did it meant I missed something and should analyse the situation from before the move - were there any news released? Were there any big options? Did something happen in the world? The more I trade the more I think that good traders do not catch most of the big moves - they catch the more probable ones according to their trading method, and the more you trade the more you will start to notice patterns, something will "click" and you'll notice a correlation you haven't seen before, you'll back-test it and improve your trading style by small increments like that. Nothing will replace analysing charts and back-testing.
Start on demo until you understand supply/demand and WHY any market in the world goes up or down. Understand that any levels in trading are probabilistic and sometimes will fail. Stay on demo until you have clear criteria for what instrument to trade (unless you focus on just 1 chart), when to enter and what size, where to place stop-loss, where potential gain is likely to be and when to exit (exit criteria may be somewhere else than stop-loss or potential gain). Enter a trade ONLY when you know those answers beforehand. Stick to a small demo until you make consistent profit for at least 3 consecutive months, I'd recommend 1000 USD/GBP/whatever so you're not mesmerised by all the zeros you "earn" on single trades. I was consistently profitable after 8 months of serious trading - treating my demo account as real money (losses on real money earlier probably helped there), but yours can take longer or shorter - learning what works for you takes the longest. By that time you should have honed the criteria - that would formulate your trading method. When you're profitable for 3 consecutive months you can open a small account and aim for 5% per month - that way you can be VERY picky and choose only the best setups which match your criteria, but you still can scale the lot size up as you grow your account (and that's why you should be consistent before going live).

You can pick an indicator if you'd like to, to give you a place to start - I really liked TDI - but understand HOW it works and what informatin it shows you, don't just blindly stack one indicator on another. Always base your entry on supply/demand principles (or support/resistance, they are roughy the same but I find supply/demand explains better why prices stall or move). If an indicator tells you to enter but support/resistance don't - do not enter. You may feel you're missing some of the entries, but your goal is to be picky - there are plenty of setups every day/week to catch really good ones.


3) This is a direct quote from @Udine on this forum - "how stable is your table?". Usually the goal is for trading to be your only income, but until you are consistently profitable think of yourself as of a student. And when you're at uni, you have to have another source of money. When your "table" has at least 2 legs, you have the comfort of a steady income and no pressure for a minimum gain - you can (and should) learn to be picky with taking trades. Don't expect to win a lottery ticket on a small account, either - this is also from my own experience - when I first thought seriously about trading I thought I can make 100% per month from a 1500 USD account just because I got lucky and made 300 on one half-an-hour trade. I was traveling a lot at the time and thought it could be my only source of income. I aimed for a few big trades instead of slowly building my account up. Of course, I blew that account quickly.

If I could give an advice to myself, I'd say that my trading style is about a constant trickle of income which compounds over a few years into a full second wage. Keep a job as the second "leg". Create "exercises" - things you do every day which make you analyse the charts and your own method. For me, every day I draw previous day's high, low, mid prices. Every week I draw previous week's high, low, mid, close and current's week open prices. Same for monthly. Slowly grow your account until it is a proper second income, in the meantime think about a third "leg". For me it was real estate - buy, renovate, sell. Or buy to rent, if you can afford it. With three "legs" you can slowly start to think of quitting your "normal" job. This is not something most people want to hear, but I'd think of trading as my retirement plan, not a cool way to get chicks and fast cars at 25. I plan to retire early, though, so still not too bad Think of a "5 year plan", boring, conservative, without any leaps of faith - but this is trading for me, for my personality - yours can be different.


I've read similar tips from other serious traders... and I ignored them. I thought I can trade on real money earlier and on a bigger account - try not to be as stupid as me. Points above are based on my own experience and that "slow trickle" style of trading, but most should be universal.

What most people (even those successful) fail to tell you is that trading is like, e.g. being a rally driver - you can't expect to ask "how do you drive?" and after a few posts ride 80mph through snow, on a tight forest road and not crash. You learn little bits which most pros won't even be conscious about - like fishing, when you "feel it" - a pro knows when to reel, when to pull, when to give some slack. It's difficult to explain, it's not "2+2=4" - you'd be surprised how many people do things instinctively and don't know how to pass that knowledge on.


For all the people who seriously want to be profitable:
- put in the hours. It's difficult to start because there's so much information out there, not all of it relevant or presented in a good way. Having a mentor helps, but is not necessary - there's no way around sifting chaff and only you can make yourself learn. A doctor, a lawyer or a scientist spend around 10 years on starting their career - why would anyone expect trading will be "get rich quick"? It usually won't be 10 years, but expect a slow and painful grind - you'll be positively surprised when all the things click into place and you'll start making consistent profit instead of being frustrated that you're not getting anywhere.
- learn to ignore people who waste your time - would you enter a lengthy and pointless debate with a total stranger in real life? Or would you talk, exchange ideas, but if it's nothing constructive you'd just finish your beer and ideally never meet that person again, spending time with some real friends instead? This is not just for trading, but in your life - be open to new ideas, but sceptical. Don't take on too much, jumping from one idea/task to another and not really diving deep into any.
- don't ask anyone to prove anything (especially on the internet), unless you're giving them your own money (which you shouldn't). Will anyone posting their live trades or account on this forum make you a better trader? No. Read what they have to say, analyse their method, extract their criteria for a trade and then simply test it - even if it doesn't work and they were full of crap, you didn't waste time - you analysed charts, looked for patterns. In time you will do this again and again with your own trading method when you spot something you think will give you a better edge, often finding it's just a fluke.

What is the most important question for a new trader?

enter slowly and forget the stop loss

You have to realise that this big mouth who is trying to put you down is just trolling in all of his posts to various threads. He makes big claims and has a big chip on his shoulder, yet he not only has posted no trades or a TE to back up his mouth, but he hasn't even posted a single chart...not one....ever!! Forget about him, he's just another of the 'never-gonna-be's' that pollute FF!

~ Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience ~
- Mark Twain -

An aspiring trader should ask himself the following:

 

1. What determines price movement? What happens at turning points?
2. How is it possible that Goldman Sachs is profitable trading forex 80-90% of days year after year and 90% of retails lose money year on year?
3. Given that trading transfers money between participants, net of costs, if readily available TA and all or any conventional method make money, who is the losing party?
4. If one knows some of the participants tendencies and their positions and pain tolerance, wouldn't it be better to just set them up and run them out, continually, every day?
5. Is it possible to find a statistical edge to trade profitably, long term, where many participants have vastly superior resources and lower operating costs? Or, aren't the residual opportunities marginal, at best?

But retail accounts are so small. Who else is loosing money? Funds? Surely there are big players getting it wrong also.

What is the most important question for a new trader?

How much money are you willing to lose before gaining some back?

This is what happens when you refuse to take a loss.

Yes, I recall that.



Here is a fairly good way to be a consistent winner.

Think it kind of depends on how you want to loose your money. You want to loose it recklessly? Slowly? Following a guru? With an EA?

I think this video sums it up nicely about trading fx, stocks... with questions for newbies etc...

How much pain can you take a remain a believer?
Are you willing to suffer?
Can you think outside the box?

My very first question to all new trader is do you know that it's much easier, cheaper, less pain and faster profits$$$ to be a scammer or a false guru than to be a successful trader. 75% of all new traders ended up this way.
So mostly it's start straight and end up crooked.

Cheers.

My opinion is biased from my experience and what I have seen through my life, but I am pretty sure it will be useful and related to most of the new traders. The absolute most important question to ask is :
"What are good other ways to earn profit on my money without putting it at risk in something that I have absolutely no clue about"
Unfortunately nobody will be that lucid when first introduced to the world of forex, and probably not even afeter a few years.
From a statistical perspective, if you deploy the best possible thoughts as a newcomer, that will not help you to become a very profitable trader, and that is what everyone ultimate dream is. The best question will be related to how to avoid being trapped into thinking that you are somehow different than majority of people on the planet. Because it is an absolute fact that large majority of forex retail traders are losers at present, and over longterm almost 100%. So what makes you an exception to that?
It is like a paradox, if you could really formulate the most imporatant questions already, you wouldn't be asking them anyway.

the most fundamental question that underlies everything is how you can handle losses.
because losses they will be for sure.

Trade less, make more.

Once I wrap my head around that.

Don't fall for having to trade everyday. That is apparent, but difficult to adhere to. Fell for it today.