strategies for beginners

First time i heard about the word trading i believe it was around 2020 in the covid era. I didnt think of it much i thought i it was just scams or fake courses etc.
January 2026 I started looking more into investing in the market and other stuff. I believe late of January the latest epstein leaks were available to the public and as I was digging in these I came across multiple emails and many things about trading.
I watched some yt videos and came across some guys with courses and especially free courses that i got into that to learn more about day-trade.
As of 1st of April im 2 months in this and every day im checking news, charts and everything thats connected to trading.
I made my first live account after i traded on demos and i cant say that im profitable yet.
Well, my question right now is, what is the best strategy to apply.
it would be helpfull to start this new thread and solve a lot of questions about other new traders out there!!!

Whichever one you’ve systematically and reliably backtested and forward-tested YOURSELF (I.e. not relying on anyone else’s “information”, and especially not if they‘re selling or promoting anything) and are confident that it has a genuine edge AND some robustness over a range of market conditions, in as close-to-live circumstances as you can get.

All of that requires some understanding of statistics and probability, as applied to trading - but that isn’t really a downside, because without starting from that, the chances of long-term profitable trading are zero, anyway.

I trade CFD’s from range bars, with conservative risk management and position-sizing, a lower-than-average reward-to-risk ratio (just under 1.0) and a much higher-than-average win-rate (just over 60%), but that doesn’t mean it will necessarily work for you.

What will help you most is to stop "looking for something you can just copy" and start learning what you need to know, to work things out for yourself.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it isn't easy. It requires a lot of subject-specific education, gleaned somehow from a sea of misinformation and marketing.

Depending on what your actual goal is, you might be having the wrong understanding about trading.

Warning: My reply is gonna be unpopular.

A newbie golfer goes to an online golf forum and says "I'm an aspiring golfer, what type of swing should I learn?". All the weekend golfers will reply with their favorite way of swinging the club.

Another newbie golfer goes to a golf academy and asks the head trainer: "I want to be a professional golfer, what type of swing should I learn?"
The head trainer replies: "None, grab your putter and your wedge, focus on your short game first. Once you're able to get up and down (put the ball in hole in 2 shots or less) consistently around the green then work on your swing."

Now let's switch it to trading:
Newbie trader goes to an online trading forum and asks "I want to make money trading. What type of strategy should I use?" and gets all sorts of answers from part-time self-taught traders that aren't profitable.

Another newbie trader goes to a seasoned professional trader and asks "I want to be a professional trader, what type of strategy should I learn?"
Seasoned pro replies: "None, focus on learning to analyze the market. Once you have a consistent process for reading the market, then you'll find your strategy"

Take from it what you will.

Practice on demo account or otherwise in live account the smallest size position. Market psychology books from Mark Douglas a must read, "Trading in the zone".
Alexander Elder's "Trading for a living" a good starting point as it comprises trading psychology, money management and trading system.
Focus on execution and the process not on the outcome(profits or losses).
Kali sinexia kai upomoni.

I will save you 1000s of Hours.
There is NO holly grail for indicators.
In fact, 99% of indicators are lagging.
Learn to trade without ANY indicators and you will be far more consistant.
Soooo many people on this forum have charts loaded with all the bells and whistles that look like its all super impressive..
you will hear buzz words like Liquidity sweep, FVG, Order book, Algo ...... bla bla bla.. ALL just bullshit thats been re hashed ( ICT ) and picked up on by the newbie crypto kiddies
PRICE ACTION and Levels is ALL that matters..

Beginners should not hunt for many strategies at the start. One simple setup on demo or very small size, plus strong psychology, is already enough to build consistency

Gentlemen, I really appreciate your time to reply to this thread.


I will not disappoint you.

You can be profitable in various technics, but if you don't have a good money management and a solid psychology, you will 100% fail.

Trading is 20% system and 80% psychology. I find the support and resistance system to work the best for me.

Since the markets can be highly volatile these days because of the prevailing geo political conditions so the beginners should take precautions while trading or chances they may blow up their accounts too.

I would recommend an engulfing based strategy(you can find a lot of those online, youtube). No indicators and make the system an actual system. Like what are your setups, what are your confirmations, do you scalp/intraday/swing? Those are things that you should decide for yourself.
Don't do prop firms(my opinion), trade real money(small amounts in the beginning) and journaling can help.
I would suggest forward testing is better than backtesting, but this depend a lot on your experience. A small amount of backtesting will help, but don't over do it. The real market will teach you a lot more than any simulation.

I hope this answers some questions, if not, I am open to answer/help with any topic.

took this trade couple days ago. it was i believe the first after my last reply here

That’s a classic origin story—many of the best traders today started exactly like you (including me), skeptical until the data made it impossible to ignore.

Two months in is the "honeymoon phase" where the charts start talking back to you, but the real work is just beginning.

To answer your question about the "best" strategy: The best strategy is the one that accounts for session liquidity and your own psychology.

Since you’re looking to kick off a thread for new traders, here are the three pillars a trader should focus on:

1. Master a Specific "Model"
Don't try to learn every indicator. Instead, focus on Liquidity-based strategies. Look for "Buy-side" and "Sell-side" liquidity—basically, where the "big money" is resting.
Recommendation: Study CT (Inner Circle Trader) concepts or Supply and Demand. Learn how the market reacts during the London and New York sessions, as that's when the real moves happen.

2. Risk Management (The Holy Grail)
You aren't profitable yet because you’re likely focused on *how much you can make*. Flip that. Focus on *how much you can lose*.
* Never risk more than 0.5% to 1% of your account on a single trade.
* If you lose two trades in a day, close the laptop. The market will be there tomorrow.

3. The "Journal" is Your Boss
Since you’re checking news and charts daily, start recording why you took a trade and how you felt. Most traders don't fail because of a "bad strategy"; they fail because they can't follow their own rules.

Welcome to the deep end It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Keep that hunger for data, stay disciplined on your live account, and the profitability will follow the process.
What pairs have you been eyeing on your charts lately?

Hey there aimx,
I'll start off by saying welcome to trading. A new career where the front of your brain is tested every time you open a chart. Most traders get into trading because they want to make money, right? That's essentially the core reason anyone really picks up this as a career. However the goal shouldn't be 'getting rich' it should be following the money. I've written down a lot of notes about trading during my time in the markets and I'm happy to share a couple of points with you today.

Reading
Books will help you with understanding markets, structure, candlesticks, keywords, buzzwords, stops, earnings, calls, the list goes on. With the three books below I can assure you, putting what you learn into practice even in today's extremely volatile markets will net you profit. 99% of trading is understanding structure, where the money is and the other 1% is clicking buy or sell. These books aren't the be all and it all, but they will get you going:

1. The Art of Currency Trading: A Professional's Guide to the Foreign Exchange Market by Brent Donnelly
2. Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications by John J Murphy
3. Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques by Steve Nilson

Chart Patterns
Below is a few of chart patterns taken from the sources listed above and is in fact for anyone who reads this thread. Study hard! Now please bare in mind these aren't all the chart patterns in the world but are the most common we see throughout the markets.

Money Management
You're basically becoming your own bank here, learning to manage your money properly is going to be a tough lesson. However it will be one of the most crucial that will dictate how much profit you keep at the end of the year after your executed trades. What will help you with this is what I will explain below which is writing down your trades. But to just quickly go over some of the money management terms here are some that you will need to understand:

1. Risk vs Reward (R:R)
   1. How much are you willing to risk for the reward you might recieve?

2. Trades Per Day (TPD)
   1. How many trades per day are you making and at what times?

3. Trades Per Week (TPW)
   1. How many trades per week are you making and at what times?

4. Trades Per Month (TPM)
   1. How many trades per month are you making and at what times?

5. Trades Per Year (TPY)
   1. How many trades per year are you making and what is your profitability ratio? 51.5%? 55%? 59%?

The above questions can be included in a trade journal and help you understand profitability, where you're going wrong and how you can improve. Try improving one thing at a time and when you see progress, confirm it and move to the next thing. Don't overwhelm yourself with understanding everything all at once.

Writing about your trades
Using a trade journal or writing down your trades in a notepad is also a key step in becoming the master of your ways. I'd recommend a free trading journal like stonkjournal which is pretty neat, completely free, doesn't include all the fluff and nonsense most other trade journals have for a hefty price. Writing down what you've learnt, tagging your trades, writing notes on the market, how you're feeling before committing to a trade are all very important observations. They all might seem silly but trust me, they mean a lot and help you analyze yourself and improve your performance over the long term.

That's a lot of information
Yep, you're right. This is what trading is absorbing information, data, candlesticks, pattern recognition. It all comes down to understanding. There aren't many people who are actually profitable in this space, if there were then everyone would be rich and the world would have more millionaires and billionaires and trillionaires. The sad truth is not many people stay long enough to enjoy the profits of their labor.

Trading is hours spent understanding more about yourself than money, but knowing a little about how money works will put you ahead of the majority. Most of us don't have financial education yet we're here trying to guess the direction of a market that has trillions of dollars flowing in and out daily... Sounds wild doesn't it? With a little know-how and commitment I am confident you'll be able to take your share of the market and enjoy a life you believe you deserve.

I wish you the best of luck, report back and share your journey.

Test each strategy in the software for at least three months, then select the most useful one from among them.

The best strategy is the one they can repeat without changing rules every week. From my experience, simple risk control and journaling taught me more than jumping between many systems

Unpopular opinion: Strategy does not matter in an efficient market.

Hi everyone, I'm still quite new here and also new to trading overall. I’ve been reading through a lot of threads and market analysis, but honestly i’m starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with how many strategies and technical setups there are.. It feels like everyone is using something different and i’m not sure which one i should focus on as a beginner. I don’t want to jump from one strategy to another without really understanding anything properly.. Would appreciate any advice on how you kept things simple when you first started or what helped you stay consistent

Equally unpopular opinion: no market (and especially CFDs, which aren’t really a "market" anyway) is fully efficient.

How close are you to the interbank market?

the prestige is peak ngl