I just saw one of the first posts I put on this board about a year ago and it reminded me how little I knew back then and how much more info I have a year later. And how much more experience I still need.
I thought I'd write about my first year and hopefully it will be encouraging to some others just starting out. I have this board largely to thank for the success I've had so far - it's where I got my start and my basic knowledge about trading.
When I first stumbled across this board I knew nothing about trading. That was about a year ago. I downloaded MT4 and it took me a while even to figure out how to use it and what was going on. I really knew nothing about forex or trading but I was instantly hooked. It wasn't the thought of big $ profits (although that would be nice) but it was just that I found it really interesting. I'd been in a boring job for years and I finally felt alive and really into something and it was great!
I blew through the first demo account in less than a week. Big surprise, huh? Got a second one and took it more seriously. I read all the books that are listed here as the favorites. I studied for hours and backtested. I tried several systems that were posted here. I had a few really good trades and ran the demo account up. I also learned that you got to cut your losses short. Hanging on to a loss hoping it will turn back into a profit is a really bad idea lol. 20% drawdown sucks. Anyway after a couple months of being profitable on demo I opened a small live account. I had pretty much the same results and ran the account up about 50%. But then I stalled for a few months and just bounced around that level and wasn't able to move it up any more.
I think my main problem at this point was that I was not keeping a journal and really learning as much from my trades as I could have. I kind of got discouraged and stopped trading for a while. Looking back, I should have been pretty happy that I hadn't blown out that first live account. When I came back to trading after a few weeks, I got nervous about the brokers and all the stories I'd heard and started to look around for another market where the brokerages are regulated. Not that it helps much really.
That's what got me into futures and that has really become my home. Forex was my first love but I guess futures are my place to be because I've done much better there. Probably due to discipline and nothing in particular about the market. I started keeping a journal on every single trade and taking statistics and got very disciplined about trading. I started using only one indicator and support/resistance lines. Took everything else off my charts and kept it simple. I kept track of every trade - how far it went against me, how far in my favor, time of day, week, market conditions, slippage, etc. All kinds of stuff. It helped me see what was likely to be profitable and what wasn't working out so well. Now I just stick to the trades that are most likely to be profitable and I determine this using statistics and not what I think or hope will work.
After demoing for a while on futures until I was consistently profitable, I'm now trading a live account and I'm positive with it. I only trade one contract at a time (that's pretty small since its eminis) and since I work full time I'm limited on how much time I can spend trading. My equity is definitely going up.
So, have I "made it"? Not by a long shot! I figure I'm off to a pretty good start because a year after starting this trading journey I have had two trading accounts that both stayed positive. But I still need several more years of experience to know how I'm going to handle unusual conditions in the market and to make sure I can maintain my discipline. Right now my biggest struggle is to increase the number of contracts I trade - my problem is fear. I'm so focused on not losing my equity that I limit myself by not trading a big enough stake. So I still have a lot more to learn but I'm confident now that I have a winning system and I'm on my way.
To get where I am today, I have spent at least 5 hours a day studying and trading. Weekends are probably another 6-8 hours a day. My evenings very often are doing a tick replay sitting in an internet cafe. This is while I've held a full time job. I spent my vacation time taking off half a day at a time to trade. I've felt like I've had two jobs all this time but honestly I have absolutely LOVED every second of it. I would do this even if there were no $ involved because to me it is like a complex and difficult game and I want to beat it. I'm about to go part time at work so I can have more time to trade. I'm hoping that in another couple of years I'll be at the point I have the choice to quit my job. The funny thing is that as I've discovered I probably can make enough trading to eventually quit, I've begun to find reasons (mostly social) why I like to work. So I may never completely quit my job.
Everything I've learned, I learned here on this board, from a book or very rarely from other trading sites. babypips.com and investopedia were the two main other sites I used. I never took a class or training session and other than paying for books, commissions, and my data feed and charting service, everything has been free. I haven't had a mentor although I really would have loved that. I still would. I've gotten where I am by really listening to the GOOD advice here from long term traders. I'm a skeptical person by nature, so I paid attention to who seemed to be posting sound advice and had some real experience under their belt. They're often the quiet posters here who sidestep the flames and don't brag. There's lots of good info on this site - all you'll need to get started.
The two things that I've learned that are a little different than what I've seen on the board:
1) demo trade until you're profitable. It's absolutely true that you don't know if you can make it until you have real $ in the market. But there's no point throwing away $ until you have a consistently profitable system. Forget trading live if you don't have a system yet.
2) I trade from a very statistical approach. I have all kinds of stats about my trades and I use them to determine where to set stops and which trades to enter. Boring? Yeah. But it works.
It has been focusing on a single system and keeping statistics that's allowed me to stay in this game for my first year. Well yeah, of course the obvious one of cutting your losses. There's a lot of profitable systems out there, so don't get hung up trying to find the perfect one.
I'm hoping things really take off the second year, and I hope there's been something useful in this post to encourage newbies.
I think I can now label myself an "advanced beginner" after a year.
Squid
I thought I'd write about my first year and hopefully it will be encouraging to some others just starting out. I have this board largely to thank for the success I've had so far - it's where I got my start and my basic knowledge about trading.
When I first stumbled across this board I knew nothing about trading. That was about a year ago. I downloaded MT4 and it took me a while even to figure out how to use it and what was going on. I really knew nothing about forex or trading but I was instantly hooked. It wasn't the thought of big $ profits (although that would be nice) but it was just that I found it really interesting. I'd been in a boring job for years and I finally felt alive and really into something and it was great!
I blew through the first demo account in less than a week. Big surprise, huh? Got a second one and took it more seriously. I read all the books that are listed here as the favorites. I studied for hours and backtested. I tried several systems that were posted here. I had a few really good trades and ran the demo account up. I also learned that you got to cut your losses short. Hanging on to a loss hoping it will turn back into a profit is a really bad idea lol. 20% drawdown sucks. Anyway after a couple months of being profitable on demo I opened a small live account. I had pretty much the same results and ran the account up about 50%. But then I stalled for a few months and just bounced around that level and wasn't able to move it up any more.
I think my main problem at this point was that I was not keeping a journal and really learning as much from my trades as I could have. I kind of got discouraged and stopped trading for a while. Looking back, I should have been pretty happy that I hadn't blown out that first live account. When I came back to trading after a few weeks, I got nervous about the brokers and all the stories I'd heard and started to look around for another market where the brokerages are regulated. Not that it helps much really.
That's what got me into futures and that has really become my home. Forex was my first love but I guess futures are my place to be because I've done much better there. Probably due to discipline and nothing in particular about the market. I started keeping a journal on every single trade and taking statistics and got very disciplined about trading. I started using only one indicator and support/resistance lines. Took everything else off my charts and kept it simple. I kept track of every trade - how far it went against me, how far in my favor, time of day, week, market conditions, slippage, etc. All kinds of stuff. It helped me see what was likely to be profitable and what wasn't working out so well. Now I just stick to the trades that are most likely to be profitable and I determine this using statistics and not what I think or hope will work.
After demoing for a while on futures until I was consistently profitable, I'm now trading a live account and I'm positive with it. I only trade one contract at a time (that's pretty small since its eminis) and since I work full time I'm limited on how much time I can spend trading. My equity is definitely going up.
So, have I "made it"? Not by a long shot! I figure I'm off to a pretty good start because a year after starting this trading journey I have had two trading accounts that both stayed positive. But I still need several more years of experience to know how I'm going to handle unusual conditions in the market and to make sure I can maintain my discipline. Right now my biggest struggle is to increase the number of contracts I trade - my problem is fear. I'm so focused on not losing my equity that I limit myself by not trading a big enough stake. So I still have a lot more to learn but I'm confident now that I have a winning system and I'm on my way.
To get where I am today, I have spent at least 5 hours a day studying and trading. Weekends are probably another 6-8 hours a day. My evenings very often are doing a tick replay sitting in an internet cafe. This is while I've held a full time job. I spent my vacation time taking off half a day at a time to trade. I've felt like I've had two jobs all this time but honestly I have absolutely LOVED every second of it. I would do this even if there were no $ involved because to me it is like a complex and difficult game and I want to beat it. I'm about to go part time at work so I can have more time to trade. I'm hoping that in another couple of years I'll be at the point I have the choice to quit my job. The funny thing is that as I've discovered I probably can make enough trading to eventually quit, I've begun to find reasons (mostly social) why I like to work. So I may never completely quit my job.
Everything I've learned, I learned here on this board, from a book or very rarely from other trading sites. babypips.com and investopedia were the two main other sites I used. I never took a class or training session and other than paying for books, commissions, and my data feed and charting service, everything has been free. I haven't had a mentor although I really would have loved that. I still would. I've gotten where I am by really listening to the GOOD advice here from long term traders. I'm a skeptical person by nature, so I paid attention to who seemed to be posting sound advice and had some real experience under their belt. They're often the quiet posters here who sidestep the flames and don't brag. There's lots of good info on this site - all you'll need to get started.
The two things that I've learned that are a little different than what I've seen on the board:
1) demo trade until you're profitable. It's absolutely true that you don't know if you can make it until you have real $ in the market. But there's no point throwing away $ until you have a consistently profitable system. Forget trading live if you don't have a system yet.
2) I trade from a very statistical approach. I have all kinds of stats about my trades and I use them to determine where to set stops and which trades to enter. Boring? Yeah. But it works.
It has been focusing on a single system and keeping statistics that's allowed me to stay in this game for my first year. Well yeah, of course the obvious one of cutting your losses. There's a lot of profitable systems out there, so don't get hung up trying to find the perfect one.
I'm hoping things really take off the second year, and I hope there's been something useful in this post to encourage newbies.
I think I can now label myself an "advanced beginner" after a year.
Squid
