newbie questsion

Hi,

I have just gotten interested in Forex trading. I downloaded metatrader and traded with demo accounts for a little while. Based on trial and error I refined a strategy. My approach was based on technical analysis. I generally sought pairs that were trending in the same direction in all time frames, trending with a consistent fluctuation. For example, a pair trending up, but going up in a squiggly line with consistent squiggles. I would only invest in the up-squiggles in that situation. That way if the trend continued, I would profit, and if there were a breakout, it would still be likely to be in my favor. Once the strategy was defined, in about 7 days of trading, about 15 trades, I made around 50% return.

What I am wondering is, what else should I do before starting to trader real money? Is the short experience I had with the demo account enough to validate my trading strategy, or should I keep it up with demo accounts for a while? Is there a document that discusses common pitfalls of trading strategies that I should read?

Also, I have heard from a friend who is a mathemetician that it's very very rare to make a consistent profit with technical analysis alone. He said it was an inherent mathematical problem to extrapolate what is a pattern and what is an aberration based on past experience. Do people agree/disagree with that or know of a balanced article discussing it?

Part of what is bothering me is that my strategy seemed a little too easy to think of. I assume somebody must have done this before. If it is really as easy as it seemed, why isn't everybody doing it and getting rich?

I don't want to lose a bunch of real money and only then realize I was missing something.

Thanks,
ATrader

What just happened to you is called newbie luck J. Forex is a lot more difficult that it seems, that’s why only 5% of traders have success. You should try your strategy for at least 6 months on a demo account before going real…. 7 days is nothing. 50% on 7 days and 15 trades is synonymous to overtrading. Trading that way you won’t last long in this business.

About the technical analysis question…if you read the book Market Wizards you’ll see that it is possible to be successful using technical analysis.

You keep answering threads that are nearly 3 years old

I agree with what has been said. Luck is waht oyu have seen so far. I would take some time to learn about how the indicators work on your charting system. IBFX.com offeres free workshops on using the metatrader platform. Also see if they can refer you to a well known trader who can give oyu some adivse or share withyou some indicators that have a proven track record. Test out what he or she has to say and do it for several months without deviating to see if oyu can achieve consistant growth. And most of all expect losses they come with the terirtory. Study up on risk managment and good money managemetn practices. You can become successful but it will come with scrapes and bumps.

And GOOD Luck