The 5 Steps to becoming a trader

Well said...very good for newbies like myself.

Thanks.......

I get inspired everytime i read this post..excellant..it keeps me going

Dial, thanks for posting this! I am so conscious of my incompetence now. Have been working hard for the Eureka moment but have a feeling it will take me several months.

Soul, amazing article! Loved it!

Morelli

Thanks Dial
Almost there.

Bump for worthiness.

very insightful, let's me know that there are lots of traders in the same position as I am and going through the same issues that I am and that's reassuring, it keeps me going, knowing that with help I can succeed at this and to everyone that posts messages and threads at Forex Factory I'd like to tell them that they are well read and well appreciated and Thanks A Million!

A "bump" to give this more exposure . . .

Luckily I Read This Thread.... All Newbies Should Read This Thread... Thanks... God Bless You...

Well, 3.92% are in the 5th category so there is still space.

Tis a great thread. I think I am at 4.5. Not entirely natural but I've been through the rest of the steps, painfully at times.

hmmmm, i think i am reading about some forex real realities here or what ? or they are actually talking about me or all the uncompleted stages i passed thru without me knowing someone watching me or what ?
i see myself partly at d beginin of stage 4. i hope i will advance to stage 5.
but could all this phenomenon be this real or what ? but they are real ! cos they are all what i hav heard and experienced ? oh this is great !

I think i entered stage 3 just about litle over month ago, as i gave up whit my indicator hell, and my "genious superiority" as i "know" that i can risk 10 to 20% of my account on every trade i take because just that i can handle drawdowns and have perfect positions because i "know" where market is heading and get my account (wich i do not even have yet ) from 1k to 100k in a year or two.

oh and not to mention, i seriously tought that i do it whitout tight MoneyManagement. heh. good thing i got overwhit those things.

As for now i am not even considering those kinds of things enymore as i gave up my utopia and started to think realistic, i still see much potent in forex market to feed me in future, not by striking here and there, but to stick whit the plans and especialy whit tight MM and dicipline to accept my losses as in future i shall not in eny conditions let them be more than 2% of my capital in one individual trade... never. prediod.

I allso gave up thinking about playing in 5m/15m/30m charts... too much noise in there to handle. 1h is lowest i will go, but pref to use 4h and daily

well.. who wrote this surely nows all the stages.. and when u climb in another stage then u realise that u move on.

I remember how i find forex.
About one and a half year..
I was a student at Marketing ...right now i am graduating it..

I was looking for a quick and big buck job... searching the internet i applied at a local broker..who later i realized that he was just a salesman.. who for xxx amount of bucks the teachers learned us (a whole class).. After a month of learning just basics and i mean it (trendlines, indicators) they let us to take a test..ridicoulos one.. with a 5000k demo acc to make 10000k.. i now laugh.. then after if u make it..yeah right.. they would give us our money back and hire us..

Most of my mates didn't finish the courses..anothers didn't take the test..and nobody take the test..

Then after 6 moths of learning, reading, studying on demo acc..
tryed on the demo acc evrything..one from 10k to 50k in 3 moths..didn't now nothig about money mannagement..i was feeling prepared..

then i open a small real acc.. 500$..

I my first month i take only 11 trades.. i finish it with -80$
was so scared to push the button..waiting for the right momment then the momment came...still saying neah..will wait more..

second month.. 76 trades.. +140$
this month i descover the news.. was so happy but at the end of the day i was watching the statement..and was something like what i got from apples i give it back for peaches.. and when i saw the spread payed i was saying to my self.. working like a dumb man for my broker

third month...45 trades.. +22$
tryed a system..with 234 indicator 544 pivots..256 fibs.. was watching startrek on my screen.. then i came back to the basic.. just pivot's trendline..multiple timeframes.. fibs.. and that's all.. like the naked women

fourth month..105 trades.. +1924$
was something extraordinary.. i didn't respected any rules.. i was a rebel..
didn't now what will come.. was selling buying extralevereging my account.. was feeling like on top of the world

fifth month..70 trades.. -556$
this was a knockdown i remeber well..after i withdrawal 1950$..left with 556$ i was dreaming to make a 10k but that didn't happend.. i was tradeing like i didn't know nothing at all.. disaster.. i lost it very quickly because i was taking like the fourth month many lots..with high risk..but was a great lesson that the market teach me.. and i was very happy to take it..

sixth month..no trades..no money
was studying for my university because i want to go to amsterdam to a master and i have to pay attention to school..

this loss was highly great step to me .. i now realized all the mystakes.. because i have pictures with all my trades and a textbook with why i was entering there why i was getting out..at what market hour was good to enter ..how to put my sl.. and why and when to buy more that one lot.. my sixth month for me was of auto feedbacking my self

seventh month..
now i want to open an real account with 5000$ next week


This is my one and a half experience as a trader.. what stage or what level am i..don't know..to become consistent on + will be hard..but with patience and patience and patience will get there..

Till then.. Wish the best to all

Just thought I'd bump this thread up to the top again. It deserves another look, especially with all of the 'There are no systems' threads going on at the moment. A totally humbling read if you look at yourself and are completely honest. I'll admit it, I'm only a 2, but at least I have an idea where I'm hopefully headed...I hope it is as enjoyable a read as it was for me.

JMC

which step am I in??

Sonic

recently whether due to excessive alcohol abuse or pitiful price action in the only pair i trade (eur/usd) which sidelines me quit a bit I have embarked on a self discovery journey. I know who i am as a trader, I am a young guy who started live forex trading in december 2007 who suffered quite a bit of losses up until recently. The losses were directly associated with my learning methods...being self taught and refusing to use any indicator since day one...you can imagine there was quite a bit of loss. Now....im up trading probably a good 14 hours every day. I assume my experience is already equivalent to 2 years at least in a normal person who did not devote their life to forex as i have chosen to do until i am financially independent. So where do i stand now...november was my most profitable month ever..3000pips gain and 250% equity increase...proper mm and 90% winning ratio in about 200 scalp trades (scalp is loosely used to describe my take profits of between 1pip and 100pips max). Here i am now in the month of december with eur/usd "dead"..yet still have added another 15% to my account already(15% from last months ending equity or equivalent to about 75% of the november start value, the whole equity increases, lot size increases principle).

I guess the purpose of this message is to ask...who am i as trader?...what stage am i in?...am i just some lucky punk or some genius who will turn out to be one of the best in the future..maybe even write a book or two and appear on bloomberg. Who am I really?...As a self proclaimed psychologist it is easy for me to judge others..i have been doing it all my life...i dont need a degree to tell me how good i am at that. But when it comes to judging myself...i find it most difficult.

If this post was too lengthy or off topic i apologize...looking forward to any comments

I want this thread to surface time to time thus the posting,
the message in the first post is very important to any aspiring new trader ,
I hope some who are new to this business gets benefited by reading it ...

good day

up up up

i am not sure what i am at ...i might be at 2.5 or 3 right now...


V

This is SPOT on serious, even the bored bit I'm just getting the hang of stage 4 and stage 5 at the same time I think and I already find it so boring I have to force myself to trade for the sake of the money.


2 years back it was TRADE TRADE TRADE and watching every pip totally addicted.