Tips & Tricks from the full time traders??

What I have found that really turned things around for me was how to read the moving averages better. If there is NO angle and seperation then I STAY OUT! If the MA's are horizontal then there is NO trend hence NO trade. IT has been on here a bunch, WAIT, the trade WILL come to you, and when it does you will be ready!

I'm not sure about whether you system works, but I found I had a similar problem to yours. Too keen to enter the market.

I found a couple of small ebooks helped with that, I've uploaded one to these forums elswhere.

Also, I have this great quote stuck to my pc.

There are seven characteristics of an objective trader.

1. You feel no pressure to do anything.
2. You have no feeling of fear.
3. You feel no sense of rejection.
4. There is no right or wrong.
5. You recognise that this is what the market is telling me, this is what I do.
6. You can observe the market from the perspective as if you were not in a position, even if you are.
7. You are not focused on money, but on the structure of the market.

Mark Douglas, author of The Disciplined Trader.

- Trade on time frames from H1 upwards.

- Stick to your system!

- Avoid paralysis by analysis and use basic trading principles.

- Have a goal and know when to tune down once it's reached.

- Accept that the market is chaotic and in so doing understand that you have NO control. When you do that, those things, which you consider to be of most value to you will fade away and the most important aspect of trading will remain to be exploited, Money Management!

- Trading is a war, but as a trader you have the fortune of avoiding it until it's fought out and then picking a side to support once the win is evident.

In the same way, do not jump handicapped into a range and loose your money. Wait for the winners to emerge, then just piggyback.

And remember that even when the predominant side is evident, someone might drop a nuke in 5 minutes.

- Be alert.

- Never marry your trading scenario. Once you enter a position and have a target, do NOT expect the price to kindly oblige. You must adapt to the changes in the market and move with the sway.

- Everything you assume is wrong until the market says it is right. Until that happens you are always wrong.

Knowing this, you accept that you are 100% vulnerable and must protect yourself in every situation with the utmost of consideration for your trading capital.

- If your potential loss does not justify your reward, do not trade. 1:1 bare-bone minimum.

- Learn to read a chart properly. Delve into candlesticks and you will better understand the psychology of the market. It is voluntary detriment to rely on an indicator begotten from price data than price data itself.

- No matter how many times you hear that the basics are all you need you'll never truly understand the essence within this until you put it to practice. You will realize that it is all you ever needed.

- When you make a mistake, don't say ok it was a mistake and move on. Acknowledgement is commendable, but is far from sufficient. Ask yourself "why", understand the reason behind "why", then remember "why" and when you've established and narrowed down the problem and not just "a" problem you will have something substantial to avoid and be weary of next time you encounter the same scenario. It is foolish and ignorant to neglect that, which provides you with the most valuable information; your mistakes.

- Practice makes perfect

- You cannot reverse a range! Do not get confused by reversal signals within a range. Do not jump into a mid-range signal when your immediate target is the top, bottom of the range itself. Trade only tops and bottoms in a range.

- And so on and so forth i can go on all day, but there is no point.

You can read an illustrated book that pictorially shows placing your hand over a fire will cause you pain, but you will need to do it yourself to ever register the authentic emotions, feelings, reactions and develop logical conclusions pertaining to that activity or event.

Thats the only way your brain can understand anything and it's the sole reason why theory is nothing without practice.
All the books and training videos in the world don't mean anything if you don't experience it personally. They are just there to help you weed out the unnecessary and point you in the right direction.

You just need to get out there and grab the bull by the horns, or the bear by the balls.


Good luck and Best Regards,
E. Lang

Get rid of the M/Averages, they will kill you in due course, all indicators are rubbish! Money management, money management and money management, nothing else matters. Toss a coin every day, heads you go long, tails you go short, whatever you wish then apply money management and you have as much chance as anyone else! Protect your account so you can play tomorrow. I am currently in a losing streak 8 in a row, but I have been applying money management and I can play again tomorrow. It's the only way. Good luck.

I'm restating what others have said, but maybe have a slightly different take on it.

Money mangement is, of course, a huge key. I played poker last weekend with a group of seasoned players, I was the newbie. I came out ahead both nights. Most games were not draw, so the cards fell as they were. I could not control the cards. All I could control was whether to stay/call/bet/fold. And if I didn't have something in my hand, I folded before putting too much in, and kissed the money good bye that I'd already put in the pot, instead of holding and hoping for luck on the next cards. As a trader, that was so obvious.

MA cross systems are a trend following system. In a ranging market they will give you bad trades, so that you end up with possibly 65% bad trades overall, and therefore must control the losses. The system depends on catching the big moves, so you must take all signals or risk missing the move that makes you profitable, and you must have an exit system that keeps you in to catch most or all of the move. You may also need another strategy to use in the ranging conditions so that you get back some of your losses.

4H is a long time to wait for a candle, especially since a losing streak may last for weeks trading on the 4H. However, since you have to be in the market on every signal, you have to check after every candle, so 1 H is not practical for one person to monitor. Unless you could program a custom indicator to give an audible alarm &/or send an email when your entry conditions occur.

Price action can help if you are good at it. Otherwise, maybe you need to take every signal. Manual backtesting will help sort this out. If you're using MT4, put your indicators on, turn off autoscroll, go back a couple or three years on the chart, and press F12 to advance one candle at a time.

One thing I've read from several different successful traders is that they tested, tested, tested. They spent months testing systems until they came up with their own. I haven't done this, but it seems the time would be well spent.

A good trader can use just about any system and make money, so ignore anyone making blanket statements about anything in forex (except the one I make below ). Ok, let me say ignore anything that can't be proven.

There are people who see success with M/A's. I don't trade crosses personally, it does not fit my personality to have strings of losses, and also, after losses, I tend to take profits too quickly just to get a win on the board, so that system absolutely will not work for me.

The coin toss thing does NOT work. Those that say it will have a faulty analysis. Over time, it will be 50/50, and the spread will eat up the capital. Having a s/l amount different than t/p will better or worsen the odds, but it still comes out a loser due to the spread.

dont go all in in first trade...dont listen to noone,...trust noone, and dont trust market,...different charts different slses and tpses,..if u are trending,..then move slses so that they are not hit, and that u can grab the big move,...love what u do,...and it is ok to be afraid, it is ok to be greedy , but its not ok to be angry...

je9265,
don't be ideology too much, meaning don't jump blindly from one strategy to another or listening to one pro trader then another,
an example, you know most professionals saying Indicators such as MAs are lagging and they are historical number and useless, but I for one say we are going (trading) where the majority goes and it is based on earlier candle movements price reactions based on past, MAs are nothing but a wonderful tool along with your own personal observation of present Market as a price reader for you to give you an aspect of where the price most possibly going to, listen to the price/pairs movements, more importantly work on yourself, prepare yourself for self-education, you'll make it and live this game,
PS - look at this market from a short-term perspective if you want to make huge, now don't be ideology again
mld

Ah...you guys are great!!! Been pondering all your WONDERFUL insight here. Thanks you all for taking up your valuable time to help me out. You've given me the encouragement to move forward, and that it can be done.

So I've learned basically from what you are saying, if I can get my discipline and money management right, I'll do fine.

I guess the reason I like using the MA crossovers is because they're simple, and signals are obviously easy to spot. I've always liked things very simple and to the point, I'm usually a very uncomplicated person, (although I've complicated things very badly with my trading, and it frustrates me.)

Now if I can figure out how to stay incredibly disciplined, and find a very simple money management plan, I'll have it made, right?

Jen

I disagree with this statement. MAs are not rubbish - trading in the direction of the MAs (whichever your MA setup is) will have you trading in the direction of the trend most of the times, especially if you plot few MAs together. Then simply trade breakouts in the direction of those MAs. That's mainly my trading approach.

Example pic uploaded below:

Hi Jen -

here are a few essentials I have learned in my past 20+ years of trading:

Ask yourself how you perceive the markets - what are your specific beliefs about the market?

Build a method based on your beliefs - then trade that method without questioning it. (your discipline is the key)

I give you as an example my own beliefs: (don't worry, they can be different from your own)

A: Prices change (my main principle belief, although not enough on its own to convince me that I can make money from it)

B: Trends exist (overriding principle; main belief and basis for construction of method)

C: Every price move has a counter move (secondary priciple and essential to confirm B)

And last but not least, when constructing a method based upon evaluation of your beliefs, don't get too hung up on indicators initially.

If you decide to use an indicator, it should be based on what you want the indicator to tell you based on your beliefs....not the other way around like many people do. Many people choose to believe in indicators/studies and try to build a system around it.

regards
daytrading

Right man! I love your attitude, build the confidence, its not in the market, it is in you, all th best!
mld

Lots of good adivse has been posted already...

About your MA Cross over problem of un-crossing. Just change your MAs to calculate off the open price instead of the close price. Then when you see the cross, because the open has already happened, the MAs will stay crossed thru the entire bar.

Just watch out with MA crosses on choppy times. this is their main weakness.
I am not too much of a fan of MAs as a trigger, but as a trend indicator,they are great. But if you want to use them for entries, this should help, because FX is a 24 hour market, Opens are usually very close to the same price as the previous close.

Addendum:
Or if you are using something more exotic like the median, then just shift the entire MA 1 . that will show only the actual closed calculation. Not the current price calculation.

That is quite an awesome idea! What better way to derive a system that would result in harmony, fun, and success in trading!?

Sorry for asking such a thing, but what does it really mean , "no more than 3% on each trade" ? Does it mean that i should not set my SL so that it eats 3% of my account if hit and no more? Or smth else..?

He means

Position size = Account balance * Percent Risk / Stop loss / Pipvalue
Example of Eurusd with a $10,000 account Balance, 30 pips stop and a pip value of $10
Lots = $10000 * .03 / 30 pips / 10 = 1 Standard Lot

So, determine your logical stop size first and then go and figure how much you can position.

Does it mean that if i have $100 on account balance and trade $10K (1 pip=>$1), theni should set no more than 3 pips SL , right? So that "no more than 3%" means i should not lose more than 3% and i have to account it when i set SL ?

No. It means if you have a trade on EURUSD and the logical place to put the stop is below a swing low and that amount is 30 pips, then:

$100 * .03 / 30 / 10 = A lot size of 0.01

So one pip = $0.10 and if you were to lose the entire 30 pips stoploss, you would lose $3.00, which is 3% of your account.

Eidt, I corrected one thing. I said one lot = $0.10, I meant 1 pip = $0.10

Also, if you were to claculate the MAs on the open, there is a cool little thing that happens. Also set up a MA of the Low and the High for the same period and timeframe. Notice that when the angle of the MAs increases the open MA will start to hug the low MA on an up move and it will hug the High MA on a down move. So, you can use this as a barometer of the trend strength.

Is that idea laying in such Your trade consists of two dependable numbers : a distance from entry price and the place where you see your setup got broken. This distance (in pips) defines an amount of trade through this "3% lose". If on $1000 account balance you see your SL at least 50 pips then - 1000 x 3% = $30 (you should not lose any more in one trade). $30 \ 50 pips = $0.6\1pips, so you go trade 0.6x100x100= $6000. Right?