Mastering How to Trade in Forex Trading

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Jade Gate
Articles (12)
Have you ever wondered how the elite group of successful Forex traders got to be that way –
successful and highly profitable?
Do you think you have what it takes to join the club? Can you survive the Forex “apprenticeship?”
Most successful traders became profitable by first earning their Forex PhD. In this case, the
letters ‘PhD’ stand for ‘Phenomenally Huge Draw-down.’ It is often said that 95% of new
traders will lose their shirts. What precisely, separates the winners from the losers? The
success stories have a common theme – and it is not what you might expect.
Smart traders understand the risk inherent in this market and plan to be around for the long
haul from the outset. What are the keys to success? Do you have what it takes?
This is Part 1 in a 3 part series on trading Forex successfully.

Strategic/Tactical
1. Respect for Risk
Forex is like an ocean liner that runs on the edge of a razor blade. It can be highly lucrative
and highly damaging. Successful traders comprehend the risk inherent in a highly dynamic
changeable market and adjust their perspective and trade plans accordingly. These lessons
have been learned the hard way, through incurring sometimes significant losses.
Successful traders have enormous respect for risk (since they have experienced the damage
this market can do first hand when they get it wrong), they are highly flexible, not rigid; they
are in tune with the changing tides of sentiment and have the capacity to shift their directional
bias accordingly.

2. Advantage Plus
Successful traders have two key advantages.
First, they have the best information. This consists of 5 key items
● extensive Technical Analysis knowledge that works in the Forex market
● lengthy market experience
● independent/sound research capacity
● self-motivated attention to detail
● thorough and professional preparation

Second, they make the smallest number of mistakes. It is not a question of making no
mistakes (even the best traders get it wrong sometimes) but they strive to keep the error rate
as low as possible.
Successful traders obtain, and maintain their success through accessing and using reliable
high quality information and by keeping their error rate low.

3. Know the Rules and Exceptions
The Forex market has 1001 different nuances that apply in different circumstances. Good
traders know the rules. Great traders know the exceptions. Knowledge, experience and
education matter. Longevity in the Forex market is important since it is only through this
long-term familiarity with “trial and error” that a good trader gains the detailed knowledge
and discipline needed to be successful. Trading Forex is a little like training for
neurosurgery. Traders should avoid conducting major surgery on the patient until such time
as they have sufficient knowledge, skill, training and clinical practice to be highly competent
in their craft. The learning curve can be steep and costly if you venture into major operations
too soon (e.g. misuse of margin, assuming positions that are too large, over-trading).
Successful traders have extensive experience under their belts. They have identified a trading
system that works consistently for them and they apply it rigorously. They also know the
exceptions, that is, when and under what circumstances their normal approach cannot be
relied upon.

4. Timing
Timing is critical to successful trading. A core axiom in maximising success is to only trade
when the market is at its most liquid. This occurs at the beginning of the European session,
during the overlap of the European and U.S. sessions and as the U.S. session closes. During
these times, the tides of momentum are at their peak with the greatest velocity. “Momentum
is like a drawn crossbow, and timing is the trigger which will release the bolt with deadly
accuracy.” (Sun Tzu, Art of War).
Successful traders maximise their chances of success by deliberately stacking the odds intheir favour.

5. Understanding Herd Behaviour
Currencies are drawn to major support and resistance levels. Herd behaviour is rampant in
this market. If new traders learn nothing else, it should be to only place trades when
currencies are at established support and resistance levels and/or when there is clear
confirmation that a breakout move or trend reversal is occurring. Trading within the body of
a move already in progress compounds risk in an already high risk instrument.
Successful traders monitor key support and resistance levels closely.

6. Logic and the Analytical Mind
The Forex market can remain irrational longer than you can remain liquid. Highly analytical
minds can find this lack of logical behaviour difficult to process. Logic and reason based on
fundamentals do not always influence currency behaviour. Bias and impatience are the
trader’s enemies. Some traders would rather be right, than be rich. Check your ego in at the
door before entering, or this market will check it in for you.
Successful traders possess humility – they acquired this the hard way.

7. Price Action (PA).
In the Forex market, zig zag price action and retracements are very common. Most moves
will retrace to previous support or resistance levels and often to the 61.8% fib and many moves will re-test support and resistance levels several times before deciding on direction. Successful traders avoid getting on board too soon since the market generally provides plenty of chances to recognise a move reversal – levels are (nearly
always) tested more than once, usually multiple times. Learning to read the signs for safe entry accurately is a major part of the apprenticeship.
Successful traders recognise the most reliable trade signals. They know when to enter and
when to exit, locking in profits.

8. Less is More
Successful traders keep their finger off the trigger unless all of their pre-determined entry signals are met. Overtrading is the Number One account killer. Choose your moment of entry carefully. Plan your trade. If in doubt, stay out. Less is more. This cannot be emphasized enough.
Successful traders plan their trades and exercise the discipline to wait for price to come to
them.

9. Psychological Warfare
Trading is psychological warfare with yourself first and with the market second. Trading is a
catharsis, a rite of purification, a cleansing from the impurities of wrong information, lack of
discipline, errors of judgement. Sometimes, when traders make the same mistake over and
over, their learning is merely being taken to a deeper level on each consecutive occasion until
the point is eventually made.
Constant repetition of a mistake occurs because our brains can be unknowingly programmed
to prefer trading a particular directional bias (just like Pavlov’s dog, we are rewarded for
trading a certain long or short bias, so the reward program is “set” to automatic).
Re-programming the brain to be able to trade both the trend and counter-trend is vitally
important, but it is not an easy task.

Allowing yourself to be shaped and “refined” in the Forex crucible requires two key
personality elements – character and fortitude. It also requires a significant cache of reserve
funds, without which, your Forex trading career may be short-lived. One of the worst
mistakes new traders make is to transition from demo trading to live trading with all guns
blazing.
Successful traders have visited their own fallibility, they have survived the crucible and
allowed it to shape them. Successful traders can trade both trend and countertrend moves
with equal confidence.

10. Longevity.
Plan from the outset to be around for the long haul. Trading Forex successfully requires high
levels of self discipline and emotional maturity – trading real money (unlike demo trading)
carries significant pressure that can easily lead to doing the wrong thing in the heat of the
moment. Learning to manage emotions, to remain patient and disciplined is perhaps the
hardest of all apprenticeship hurdles. Being unable to gain mastery of this is the main cause
of losses and blown accounts.
Successful traders are disciplined, smart and market savvy because they have been around
long enough to have visited the raw truth regarding the causes of their failures. They have
diligently applied themselves to the task of overcoming their short-comings and succeeded
(where others have either given up or continued to cling relentlessly to bad habits or
unrealistic objectives, and fail).

Summary
Start small. Trade a live micro account to begin with. If or when you have the runs on the
board with consistent profits in a micro account, that is the time to move to a larger account
and larger position sizing.
Make plenty of allowance for the steep learning curve and be well prepared – understand
from the outset this is a journey you are embarking on, a journey into how this market
operates and a journey into how you operate as a trader. It may take a few months or it may
take years to acquire proficiency, it all depends on you, the trader. Acquiring the necessary
knowledge and skill is a process, sometimes a brutal and lengthy process.
Be fully prepared. Be smart, be realistic, trade safely while you learn the craft of trading Forex successfully.

I have no idea why I’m posting this, but:

1) The markets move in 3’s. Usually.

2) most important skill is knowing when NOT to trade. Don’t push that button unless there is a damn good reason to.

Regards

Thank you

. Many thanks for this

You are very welcome. These are just some of the basics I wish someone had told me when I first started trading FX 17 years ago. Anything that can fast track your knowledge, experience and application of skill matters. I do feel for the newbies in particular, so often operating in the dark and blowing account after account.

good very basic text for around number 2/3-5 (from 10 ) in forex trading.

Thankyou

This is just a bunch of metaphors and babbling

Nobody can tell you how to be successful in one lesson, it takes months to years. My suggestion is to learn how the markets move first before you start doing anything else. I don't trade the forex exchange anymore, most of my trades are in equities. Look at he NQ right now. It's engineering liquidity for a big move when Powel opens his mouth today at 1400. The news is already priced in! There is a huge pool of liquidity being engineered at 19800 that will we be taken out before possibly going lower to seek liquidity at 19739, after that look for a reversal for another draw on liquidity at 19977 followed by a another draw on a huge pool of liquidity sitting at 20035. Institutions hunt for liquidity. That's what moves the markets. Find ONE mentor and stick with him/her. If you're not having dreams of candlesticks at night, you're not studying hard enough. Learning how the market moves is just the beginning. Once you get a grasp on that move on to a SINGLE entry/take profit strategy that utilizes proper risk/reward management.

Good luck!

Liquidity at 19739 was taken out! Now look for a possible reversal to seek liquidity at the other levels I mentioned. Obsess over how the market moves first before you do anything else! Institutions move the market.

The NQ reversed after taking out 19739 and is heading towards that pool of liquidity I mentioned at 19977. There is a ton of liquidity sitting above that at 20035 they will seek to take! If you're not dreaming of candlesticks at night, you're not doing it right.

why dont you prefer equities over FX?

Here comes that draw on liquidity at 19800!

Major institutional move just evaporated liquidity at 19977 and 20035! Don't take my word for it, look at the chart! You can do it, folks. Study the charts!