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Attachments: My personal experience - Lost 5,000 USD in 4 months Forex. Please advice.
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My personal experience - Lost 5,000 USD in 4 months Forex. Please advice.

1. You have to accept capital risk. If you can't totally accept the money that you use to trade as money that is possibly gone, then you will not succeed. That is not to say you should trade with money you can afford to lose. That's a stupid saying. But instead, you should look at your capital in a risk-free, ho-hum way. It's just numbers. You're just keeping score. No more, no less.

2. Realize that everyone's been there. I don't know a trader who hasn't took a beating at some point in their trading career. Realize that everyone has been in the exact same situation as you.

3. Some people need to take a beating to get it. Be honest with yourself. Some people need to be slapped around to get it. I do. I need to learn the hard way. You could tell me over and over not to do something, but I will probably do it anyway. You can change that mindset, but most of the time, you have to get killed in the process. Most of the successful traders quit making rookie mistakes like overleveraging and overtrading once they drop 20-50% of their account a few times. That feeling makes them sick to their stomach. Most go on to blow their accounts...

4. Stay positive. A loss is a good thing. Don't forget that. A loss is only a bad thing when you do stupid, rookie things. But then, it's not the loss, it's your head at that point.

5. Get involved in church. Start praying more. Talk with God more. Interact with fellow believers in your faith. It will improve your mind and body overall.

I, for one, have lost a lot of money. I know exactly how you feel.
Mr. Trend
i might sound very discouraging, but if you lose your account over and over, i think it's time to re-evaluate. I think somebody said being a trader is like being in professional sports. Sure all of the kids want to be the next michael jordan, but the chances that they will make it to nba is nearly non-existent.

Not all of us can be doctors, lawyers, engineer, etc. So trading should be treated the same way. Not everybody can do this! This is not a way to discourage, but to open people's mind to treat trading like a professional job. Not everyone has the psychological make up of a trader.

I always wanted to be a soccer player when I was young, sort of like ronaldo. But do you think I should pursue my dream, no matter how hard it is? It does sound quite heroic and inspiring to hear if I did say no matter what happens, I will make it to the world cup. But the fact is some things should be left alone if you find it unattainable. There's a fine line between achieving your goal and chasing a dream..

peace
Working towards CME membership
I ran into a similar situation. When I started out, I had grand dreams of telling my old boss to shove it and walk out. Never happened, at least not back then. A few years ago, I lost over $65K. It was everything I had. Then the worst happened, I got laid off. You can only imagine.

To make a long story short, I let go of the drama and all I saw were two options, get back on my feet with work, which I had to do anyway and totally give up trading, or learn from my mistakes, get back on my feet and try again. I chose the latter. Well, it paid off in a big way.

I would say to you...a) don't give up b) learn about money management and position sizing

That's the key



Quoting loser
Hi all,

I am an aspiring forex trader want-to-be, and I only started out Forex Trading in July 2006. I've read books and go seminars to learn more about the market. In less than 2 months time, I've know all the basics from the setups to how to read the indicators and I thought it was enough.

As I went into trading with Mini, I was given a 200x1 leverage by Forex.com and I blew out 3 times from August to December in very short time.

When my friends saw my gloomy face, I still managed to hid from them and they thought I was a successful trader who is making money, and then they thought they've found a "holy grail" in me. I lied about my situation and I lied about my overall results. I was a scumb and I was nothing more than just a big fat mouth and an empty shell.

Although I can share about all indicators and explaining simple forex term, I became the "in thing" within my social circle. But deep inside, every day I traded with my life, I wasn't able to make pips consistently. I knew that it already hit the resistance or Fibo level or whatever trendlines and channels you can make, but I always succumbed by my emotions. I was not able to trade with ease. I told myself to trade on the 1-hour time frame, but when there is no entry possible, I switched to 4-hour and ah-ha yes I've found the entry point with all my EMA and MACD cross over each other. I thought trading was that easy, I've decieved even my dad that I am still making profit. That did not become a reality after my last month of trading.

I told them that I've lost 5,000 USD in the process, I've shared with my closest friend that I've lost that amount and close to crying out in the nights when nobody around. I wanted to be a trader really, I want to be financially free but it seems I can't. After 4 months of hardship, and listened to traders and from books that I MUST CONTROL MY EMOTIONS and PROPER MONEY MANAGEMENT, and yet yet all I still can't. Am I stupid or what my inner devil laughing at me, calling me an educated idiot who never wake up. Now I am, I am very much disappointed with myself, my performance, my lies, everything that resulted in that 5,000 dollars loss.

It may not sound much to some of you, but to me, it is a lot and it is painful. Very painful.

My friend asked me if I want to be a whimpee, I don't want. I want to rest and come back again. Blind confidence aside, I really don't know if I can make it. I really really don't know. I'm scare, I've no confidence and I dare not tell anybody about my problem but to share in this forum.

I just hope a kind soul to share with me your experience so I can get some comfort from. Don't console me that trading is not for me, because deepdown my innerself I know trading is for me. It is only about emotions. Please help me by telling me how to control them. I am in a lost, my paragraphs here are not well structured, I just type what I think. I am really really in pain, but definitely not suicidal. Not for 5,000 definitely.

My lifestyle has totally gone upside down due to that loss, I couldn't sleep, I even feel so stressful when I type this out. I'm not going to write further more.

If some of you know what I've went through, please share with me. I need help, psychologically and emotionally. If I can pull off this period, I can become a better trader I believe.
In Charts We Trust!
Great advices and words in here
Trade what you see, not what you think.
I love all you people here. =)

Loser, firstly like steviet mentioned, change on your name.

Secondly, most if not all successful traders started with a loss. Go with the advice given here by all the nice people here, find a system and STICK TO IT. Write down rules that you have uncovered and follow it. Stay disciplined and always use proper money management, that's the key.
It is not fair to all the losers out there that you use their name. You have not earned this title!

Just hang it up and quit like most people do after spending a few thousand in FX education. Don't ever look back at forex again, then and only then, have you earned the title of “loser”. Until then, please don't use that adjective undeservingly.

<o> </o>

You are getting some great advice on this tread. The most important I am seeing and it keeps coming up over and over is discipline and MM. As you know by reading all those books, these two things are what really separate the successful traders from the rest.

<o> </o>

Taking at least a week off and stop staring at MT4 is another good one.

<o> </o>

One thing I have not seen mentioned yet that has helped me is to not tell my friends and family the successes and failures of my fx business. It puts another added pressure that I don’t need. It is natural to want to share your successes with everyone you know, but this elevates their expectation for you and calls for a constant “So how’s it going with the Forex Market”. All most hear from me now is “It’s fine”, whether it has been a great week or rough times. With me I find it best to have one person who I share the hills and valleys. As far as everyone else, it’s none of their business.

<o> </o>

The Wizard is right, that is a great book and a must read. I have it in pdf form, so if you want to borrow it just PM me and I will send you the file. But, you have to promise to buy the actual book when things turn around for you.
Quoting Coul
One thing I have not seen mentioned yet that has helped me is to not tell my friends and family the successes and failures of my fx business. It puts another added pressure that I don’t need. It is natural to want to share your successes with everyone you know, but this elevates their expectation for you and calls for a constant “So how’s it going with the Forex Market”. All most hear from me now is “It’s fine”, whether it has been a great week or rough times. With me I find it best to have one person who I share the hills and valleys. As far as everyone else, it’s none of their business.
I think this is very important. Most people talk to their friends and family when things are going good, and lie to them when things are going bad. It's pressure that doesn't need to be there.

Good advice Coul!
Three Pervasive Myths in the Trading World

By Brett N. Steenbarger, Ph.D.


"My work as a trading psychologist has provided me with a fascinating window on the factors that separate successful from unsuccessful traders across a variety of settings, from proprietary firms to investment banks to hedge funds. Having met and worked personally with well over 100 professional traders in the past few years, the main conclusion I’ve come to is that most of the generalizations about trading success are simply not true. In this article, I thought I’d summarize three of the more pervasive myths about trading success out there and offer my own, different perspectives.

Myth #1: Emotions are at the root of trading problems. Yes, emotions can interfere with concentration and performance, but that doesn’t mean that they are a primary cause. Indeed, emotional distress is as often the result of poor trading as the cause. When traders fail to manage risk properly, trading size that is too large for their accounts, they invite outsized emotional responses to their swings in P/L. Similarly, when traders trade untested patterns that possess no objective edge in the marketplace, they are going to lose money over time and experience an understandable degree of emotional frustration. I know many successful traders who are fiercely competitive and highly emotional. I also know many successful traders who are highly analytical and not at all emotional. Trading is a performance field, no less than athletics or the performing arts. Success is a function of talents (inborn abilities) and skills (acquired competencies). No amount of emotional self-control can turn a person into a successful musician, football player, or trader. Once individuals possess the requisite talents and skills for success, however, then psychological factors become important. Psychology dictates how consistent you are with the skills and talents you have; it cannot replace those skills and talents.

Myth #2: Anyone, with dedicated effort, can get to the point of trading for a living. That is nonsense. How many people make their living from acting or musical performance? What proportion of people playing sports can actually make their livelihood from athletics? Many people play chess or poker, but how many can sustain a living from it? Quite simply, to make a living from any performance activity means that you are consistently good at what you do. Not everyone has the talent, skill, or drive to be that successful—in any field. Across the many traders I’ve met in various settings, from home-based, independent traders to professional ones in firms, the best predictors of trading success have been the size of the trader’s accounts and the resources available to the trader. If a person were to make 25% per year on their accounts year after year, they would be among the world’s most successful money managers. Most money managers of mutual funds, hedge funds, and pension funds cannot sustain such performance. If, however, a trader begins with $50,000 of capital, he or she may not be content with $12,500 of profit. This leads the trader to accept huge leverage and court a risk of ruin when an inevitable string of losing trades occurs. Indeed, such excess leverage is a main cause of emotional distress in trading. Take a look at how the Turtles made their money: they learned a trading method, learned to be consistent with that method, and were given enough money by Richard Dennis that they could trade multiple markets with enough size to scale into positions in each. Even with those resources, not all of the Turtle students could succeed. Talent, skill, and opportunity are the ingredients of success, and these are relatively normally distributed in the trading population, just as they are relatively normally distributed in the population at large.

Myth #3: The main cause of trading failure is a loss of discipline. This is a myth perpetuated by “trading coach” and “guru” types that: a) don’t trade themselves and b) have a vested interest in your belief that their services are all that stand between you and success. The main cause of trading failure is a lack of an objective edge in the marketplace, trading random patterns that have never been tested out for success. We would never consider buying a car simply by looking at it. We’d want to research it, test-drive it, and peer under the hood. Amazingly, however, many traders will risk far more money trading patterns that they never research or test-drive. Many times, the reason they stray from those methods is that, intuitively, they realize that those methods are not working. In any performance field, we find a hard-and-fast truth: the great performers spend more time practicing their performances than actually performing. That is just as true for the Broadway actress as for the Olympic athlete. Many traders, however, think that on-the-job training will be enough. Unfortunately, their accounts often don’t survive their learning curves. A well-placed executive within a trading firm confided to me last year that the average time it takes the average trader to blow through their entire account is seven months. That is why brokerage firms are always on the hunt for new customers. It’s not that these traders are all deficient in discipline: they simply haven’t engaged in sufficient practice to figure out the right markets and trading styles for them and to hone their skills. In every other performance field, you can find relatively easy levels of competition: you can join a community theater, play rounds of golf at the par-3 course, or set the challenge level on your chess computer. There is no easy level of competition in trading, however. When you place a trade on a major exchange, you are up against the pros from day one. No wonder it is so difficult to succeed! Discipline is necessary for trading success, but there is much more to success than discipline. It takes concerted practice and the cultivation of skills at reading and acting upon market patterns.

In an ideal world, I wouldn’t have to challenge these myths. You’d be able to obtain very realistic messages about trading success from brokerage firms, vendors, trading gurus, books, and magazines. The reality, however, is that most of these commercial entities have a vested interest in perpetuating a dream that is, in reality, a cruel fantasy: that, without real, sustained effort, anyone can make it big as a trader.

Does that make me a Scrooge during this holiday season, saying “Bah, humbug!” to the aspirations of thousands of traders? I think not. The reason I wrote my most recent book, Enhancing Trader Performance, was to show that there is a common process beneath the development of elite performance in any field. That process involves several components:

* Finding a Niche – Identifying a performance field that takes maximum advantage of your skills, talents, and interests;
* Deliberative Practice – Rehearsing skills in increasingly realistic settings to prepare for the challenges of actual performance;
* Constant Feedback – Intensive review of performance to identify strengths and weaknesses, so that you can capitalize on the former and address the latter.

The successful traders I’ve known have found a market (or set of markets) and a trading style that capitalizes on their abilities. They have been relentless in working on their skills, using videotaping to review markets and performance and using simulators to rehearse under different market conditions. To sustain such effort requires a love of the markets themselves, something not all traders have. Some traders love the action, some love the dream of making money, some love the opportunity to work for themselves—but many don’t love the work itself: the effort of mastering patterns in demand and supply.

Success is possible in trading as it is in any performance field. If anyone tells you, however, that the path to trading success is different than it is for the surgeon or Olympian, you know that you’re hearing a myth. If you choose the path of the elite performer, trading can be wonderfully challenging and rewarding. If trading is not your ideal path for self-development, however, you are far better off finding your passion elsewhere and managing your money prudently. The goal is to develop the best within you, whether that is as a trader or as something else. Your life deserves nothing less."
Hello to loser,

I expierence the same problem of being to emotional in doing my trades, Ive read dozens of books and forums but I just cant get over my emotions when I trade Manually. I know my flaws, im greedy and I dont close positions when I have to even when the strategy tells me to.

This lead me to the conclusion that I just cant trade, I am too emotional, despite my knowledge about the market, once I start trading, I stop becoming a trader and start becoming a gambler.

luckily im also a programmer and more luckily i discovered MQL. Now I can trade my strategies without me having to become emotional. I just need to keep my handsoff the machine, if i get emotional as i watch the trades i simply take a walk and enjoy world...

So my advice is stop trading and start learning how to code MQL.

Kind Regards,
Mikhail
Quoting Dopey
Three Pervasive Myths in the Trading World

By Brett N. Steenbarger, Ph.D.


Myth #2: Anyone, with dedicated effort, can get to the point of trading for a living. That is nonsense. How many people make their living from acting or musical performance? What proportion of people playing sports can actually make their livelihood from athletics? Many people play chess or poker, but how many can sustain a living from it? Quite simply, to make a living from any performance activity means that you are consistently good at what you do. Not everyone has the talent, skill, or drive to be that successful—in any field. Across the many traders I’ve met in various settings, from home-based, independent traders to professional ones in firms, the best predictors of trading success have been the size of the trader’s accounts and the resources available to the trader. If a person were to make 25% per year on their accounts year after year, they would be among the world’s most successful money managers. Most money managers of mutual funds, hedge funds, and pension funds cannot sustain such performance. If, however, a trader begins with $50,000 of capital, he or she may not be content with $12,500 of profit. This leads the trader to accept huge leverage and court a risk of ruin when an inevitable string of losing trades occurs. Indeed, such excess leverage is a main cause of emotional distress in trading. Take a look at how the Turtles made their money: they learned a trading method, learned to be consistent with that method, and were given enough money by Richard Dennis that they could trade multiple markets with enough size to scale into positions in each. Even with those resources, not all of the Turtle students could succeed. Talent, skill, and opportunity are the ingredients of success, and these are relatively normally distributed in the trading population, just as they are relatively normally distributed in the population at large.
I'm sorry but I'm tired of this talk. Me sitting in a chair grabbing 10 pips in a 24 hours period, effectively making more than I would at Taco Bell or doing Data Entry, is NOT similiar to having a talent at chess or football.
Check out how many restaurants fail(more than 80%, and it's not like playing basketball or tennis), look to the left of you, look to the right, one of you wont' graudate from college. If you're in a city, maybe only half of you will graduate from high school.
It's business. If Cable moves 150pips in a day, someones making money. Why not me? All I want is 10pips let's say. Less than 10% of the action.
They use that 80% of ppl are losers thing in lots of area's, like I said, but in the markets it's used to chase you away. I don't get it.
Now, like those things I metioned, yes, not everyone can do it. Not everyone can run a store, or be a meeting planner, or have what it takes to work in fast food. As long as these little candles are going up and down daily, I'll be here. Lose it all or live off of it, won't effect my participation.

I've been staring at the Forex for longer than my screenname here says. I am by far not a guru. And there's so many systems on here, and so many ways to do it, there has to be a way. I've played in penny stocks prior. Can't stand the things that go on over there. I only have myself to blame for anything I've missed overthere. I nickle and dimed myself and missed some big moves.
I'm doing the turtle move in the quote. I'm hoping to skim some off of three markets someday.

That's my feelings, and that's my philosphy. Thanks for reading my rant to the end. I hope you picked something up from it. For all this talk about thinking positive, the talk about how no one can do Forex, of all things, isn't positive or encouraging. If we have the apititude and ability, the barriers to entry look low and promising. Saw a hundred points go through on Cable last night in an hour, someone somewhere made money off of that.

personally, I still have things to work on. Closing profit too early possibly, sometimes getting bored/impatient. That's called in a job interview, "name your 3 weaknesses"!
Quoting techno79
Saw a hundred points go through on Cable last night in an hour, someone somewhere made money off of that.
Someone somewhere lost money off that as well. Motivation is great, but you're gonna need more than a pat on the back to become a successful trader. You're gonna need to work your ass off.

Maybe I'm just a Scrooge myself, but I'll aways believe that it's better to be realistic than optimistic. Especially when your financial future is on the line.
Quoting llambert3
You need a system that wins most of the time and stick with it.

This also works for me... If I enter a trade with a 40 pip s/l with say 3 lots, I imediately accept a loss of 120. Once this is accepted by my mind, when it happens it then becomes expected.

Also, place your trades and shut down the computer.

Like now, I got in a sell on eur/usd at 1.3089 because of my system. What did it do? Retraced back some to as high as 1.3117. My old self would've gotten out and took the loss. This is why most newbies lose money.. FEAR. My new self is sticking to my system. If it hits the s/l, it is accepted by me. I'll get the next one.
i am not alone afterall ... im currently in this situation . but really shut down the computer help a lot for me.

btw to all newbies like myself...pls pls pls start with a demo account or mini account for a start.
Quoting twinchell
Someone somewhere lost money off that as well. Motivation is great, but you're gonna need more than a pat on the back to become a successful trader. You're gonna need to work your ass off.

Maybe I'm just a Scrooge myself, but I'll aways believe that it's better to be realistic than optimistic. Especially when your financial future is on the line.
I'm sure a lot of people got fired from their jobs today, won't stop other people for applying for the same job. I think that 10 pips last night might even be underoptimistic if anything if someone had an entry all set-up.
If you watched it go down 20pips, up 30 and down 100 and got nothing out of it, ask yourself why? And how can you catch it the next time away?
If it's all a pattern and cycle, I would ask why are you missing the plays? To be that off the ball would get one fired from work too. If they have a job that's not completely pointless probably.

I spent a LONG time looking at every stock mover everyday and working on why they all did what they did when they did and how much they did what they did. I KNOW someone else has already figured this out in some point in history, but never found it. I don't turn the computer off, say it's all random, and how most people can't figure it out. But then again, most ppl who've made deans list at some point don't usually do that.
Thanks for all the contribution.

I am always a fighter within, even though I've a optimistic mindset before everything, but lately the loss dealt much into my confidence and esteem. I started out few months back thinking I want -and I will- become the best trader of all time, even against the very person sitting beside me. No fight.

But all came crashing down due to stupidity, and add to that insult is that I am by no means IQ below par (not saying that I've high intelligence), just to say that how in the h$ll that my mind was thinking the right way but my heart was pumping like hell on the other way.

Ever since I found Forex, I've actually found life after that. I don't know, I can sit before the screen, or books or ANYTHING related with Forex.. 25 hours a day (to indicate that I can sit all hours whatever a day can give). If you ask me about passion, yes hellya Oorah! I have it, if you ask me about myself whether I'm in or I'm out, "Oorah!" yes fcuking he#! I'm in for this in the long haul whatever my life can give me.

I cannot digest all posts in such a small column but I did read all of them, and yes I want to be the Michael Jordan of trading (I know I can), yes I'm going to read Mike Douglas book, hell yes I will be fcking back into the market but not sooner, I tell myself there must be a balance of power or hell will break lose, I will take no matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it takes, I will try, no, I mean I must overcome all factors that are hindering my trading path if I want to have the slightest chance of becoming a successful trader.

I sound like my 5 grands is a billion to me when some of you actually lost many times over, I am ashamed. I want to thank you all to give me the momentum to keep me going. I don't know how to explain it, but I do agree with one of you mentioned that trading is not for everyone, but ironically everyone here thinks that trading is for him/her. I myself thinks the same way as the person who posted it. You will know what I mean, I don't want to quit yet because deep inside I know I can do it. I totally agree with you, but not unless further down the road that I am convinced that this market is not for me, I will stay in for as long as my passion lives, perhaps in the lifetime.

This forum has helped me to adjust my inner wound by just creating this topic. With so many voices around here, you guys all became "one voice" within me, almost God-like calling out my name that I will have to persevere, and I must. Not until the time that once again God will come out and tell me what to do next. Right now, God is telling me -via you- that I must stay afloat and I must fcuking learn from all.

Thank you guys. Thank you for all your passionate replies.

I dunno what to change my username to, perhaps this eye-catching nick might spur some people to know more about themselves. If I change, it will change to whole impression of what this thread supposed to be.
if you like i will help you. but first read the book, pm me and lets chat for a bit. ps the reason i do this well quite frankly differantr situation but somebody jelped me, and you post was rather touching. hope to hear from you in a week.
Quoting Jarret
Mate,

"Trading in the Zone" by Mark Douglas.
THE MAN
Quoting loser
Thanks for all the contribution.

I am always a fighter within, even though I've a optimistic mindset before everything, but lately the loss dealt much into my confidence and esteem. I started out few months back thinking I want -and I will- become the best trader of all time, even against the very person sitting beside me. No fight.

But all came crashing down due to stupidity, and add to that insult is that I am by no means IQ below par (not saying that I've high intelligence), just to say that how in the h$ll that my mind was thinking the right way but my heart was pumping like hell on the other way.

Ever since I found Forex, I've actually found life after that. I don't know, I can sit before the screen, or books or ANYTHING related with Forex.. 25 hours a day (to indicate that I can sit all hours whatever a day can give). If you ask me about passion, yes hellya Oorah! I have it, if you ask me about myself whether I'm in or I'm out, "Oorah!" yes fcuking he#! I'm in for this in the long haul whatever my life can give me.

I cannot digest all posts in such a small column but I did read all of them, and yes I want to be the Michael Jordan of trading (I know I can), yes I'm going to read Mike Douglas book, hell yes I will be fcking back into the market but not sooner, I tell myself there must be a balance of power or hell will break lose, I will take no matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it takes, I will try, no, I mean I must overcome all factors that are hindering my trading path if I want to have the slightest chance of becoming a successful trader.

I sound like my 5 grands is a billion to me when some of you actually lost many times over, I am ashamed. I want to thank you all to give me the momentum to keep me going. I don't know how to explain it, but I do agree with one of you mentioned that trading is not for everyone, but ironically everyone here thinks that trading is for him/her. I myself thinks the same way as the person who posted it. You will know what I mean, I don't want to quit yet because deep inside I know I can do it. I totally agree with you, but not unless further down the road that I am convinced that this market is not for me, I will stay in for as long as my passion lives, perhaps in the lifetime.

This forum has helped me to adjust my inner wound by just creating this topic. With so many voices around here, you guys all became "one voice" within me, almost God-like calling out my name that I will have to persevere, and I must. Not until the time that once again God will come out and tell me what to do next. Right now, God is telling me -via you- that I must stay afloat and I must fcuking learn from all.

Thank you guys. Thank you for all your passionate replies.

I dunno what to change my username to, perhaps this eye-catching nick might spur some people to know more about themselves. If I change, it will change to whole impression of what this thread supposed to be.
i like your f'cking attitude hell yea!..

this is what i do to control my emotions

1. When people ask you how's your trading going, say it's fine. Treat like a job with salary. You wouldn't share your salary with others would you? So don't share profits or losses with anyone

2. remember that whenever you win or lose a trade just :

3. treat trading like a business. It's not popularity contest to see who has the biggest pips or return. This will take the pressure off

4. do something other than trading. I can't stress this enough. Forex has taken me away from the gym and I vow to not let it. Forex is a business, not my life..

peace
Working towards CME membership
Quoting hilmy83
1. When people ask you how's your trading going, say it's fine. Treat like a job with salary. You wouldn't share your salary with others would you? So don't share profits or losses with anyone

2. remember that whenever you win or lose a trade just :

3. treat trading like a business. It's not popularity contest to see who has the biggest pips or return. This will take the pressure off

4. do something other than trading. I can't stress this enough. Forex has taken me away from the gym and I vow to not let it. Forex is a business, not my life..

peace
1. Thanks I've learned my lesson, I treat it as everything in life is about Forex. I shouldn't.
2. I will just accept the market as it is.
3. I've never treat it like a business, now I do. I will in future, I don't know when yet, but I myself will keep telling myself to do that when I'm back to live trading again.
4. I used to jog and wash my car regularly, but all the trading took me away, I even went mobile trading whenever I have Internet access even Wifi. I will refrain from doing that.
*all the above will take time, but I will do it, I want to be in this for long, I want to be in the forum to share within this community. I love everything.

Looks like Mark Douglas book is a must read, I will digest it all, re-read over and over again till it becomes part of my natural thinking and yes God please gimme the power to attain all.
I haven't been on here for a number of months but saw this thread and had to respond. To all those out there that have been asking me to post again , I apologise that it has taken me so long to get back on.

I read your post and thought would be a good idea to throw some words of advice our there for you and some ideas doe how to pick your forex business up again.

Firstly , your mind set might have to change a little bit.

You are essentially running a business and once you start to think along those terms as opposed to trade and looking at the money things will start to change. I would suggest you write a business plan , the same as you would be doing for anything else. Some suggestions for this business plan would be this -

1 - No more than 5% or capital a risk in any one trade

2 - No increase in trading size for a 2 week period. What this mean is that if you have a couple of trades that go your way then you do not increase that amount of money per trade until the end of 2 weeks after your first winning trade. This doesn't mean that if your capital is going backwards that you shouldn't be reducing your size , you definately do. Read details on the capital management of the Turtle Traders off the web to give you a better understanding of what I am talking about here.

3 - No more than 1 trade per day. This sounds hard to follow , but it will make a massive amount of difference to your trading. If you have a bad trade you try and "win" the money back and this is a no no !!

4 - Work out what hours you are going to trade and treat it like a job. I know people say that they are trying to get away from that , but this is the only way that you will make money consistantly out of it. I would suggest that you be looking at the 8am (London time) as the key time to look at taking a position.

5 - Never allow a winning trade to become a loosing trade. So once your in profit of 25 points or so then set your stop to break even straight away and getting back to point 3 , if it comes back and takes out your stop and then goes 200 points in your direct then its just tough and will have to wait till the following day.

6 - You must have a business plan and some sort of check list that at the end of every trading day you mark off to see if you have followed your rules. I would suggest that you keep some sort of online trading diary that you can't change. No one that knows you will be aware of how your going and as you can't change it will keep you honest about your results (and I don't mean your points but your result about how you stick to you rules.

7 - Look at a system of stepping out your position over time. Most brokers now a commission free so multiple trades don't cost you anything more to do. Say 25% at +20 points , 50% at +50 points and 25% at your target. I would use this in a combination of OCO orders with a break even stop.

8 - Start investing in your education. This means a lot of reading. I would treat it again like a business. When you get a university degree you don't get it over night. Set yourself a schedule of reading 2 hours a night instead of TV or something that fits in with your lifestyle. I would suggest the public library for source of research, it will save you a tonne of money which as a new trader is not fun. If they do not have the book in that your after , you can request if and most of them will do it at no charge for you. By doing this you will be exposed to new ideas across a very broad spectrum of trading and something for a totally unrelated market you might be able to use. For example , the main ideas for my trading came from a book on Fund Managers and futures trading book , not a currency trading book , and related them to my market. I would suggest that you have the discipline for this over a extended period of time even if you are consistantly profitable.

Just a couple of other things that might help you. I would try to think like the people that really control the market , the day traders for institutional firms in London , Frankfurt and New York. They sit down at 8am London time and trade and at the end of the day they close there positions for square and go home , fresh slate and next day come to work new and fresh. If they are doing it on a massive scale and making very very good money doing it then why would you try and do anything different.

This second point may sound funny , but try to think like a female trader. This sounds strange , but statisics don't lie. Females make up a smaller amount of new traders but make up almost 50% of successful traders , what does that tell you ? That females traders have a higher chance of becoming successful than male traders. The main reason for this is that they do not have the adrenaline rush that most male traders do , they are shown a set of rules and follow them.

Some of the books that I would recommend to you is trading in the zone - Mark Douglas and Trend Trading by Daryl Guppy.

You should be starting will a small account a treating it like a 12 month computer game when you are learning and realise that you will be doing it like this for 12 months. For you to become successful it has to become second nature to you and almost mundane.

I hope this helps.

I apologise for everyone for not having any input for the last couple of months but I have been concentrating on my trading business and a couple of other things and moving to the other side of the planet.

All the best

Bear
Thank you Bear, that was great advice. I actually printed that out.
Will be part of my trading bible. I want to succeed sooo bad!!

Thank you!
Steve
No problems

Happy to help. You might want to have a look at some of my older posts if that helps as well

Bear
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