Trading style recommendation

Hi guys,

I'm in demo right now for a while, winning and losing a couple, but making my research I recognize I'm trading as a scalp, I read some brokers don't pay for scalping.

My question is for serious Traders. I want to do this for extra money, not for living, I will open a Micro or Mini account. But want to do the things correct, so what style do you recommend me to trade as, and that the brokers accept it also, Day trade, Scalping or Swing? or a mix of them?

Regards,

Edgar

All newbies start as scalpers so dont worry about it. Eventually a style will come to you that fits. No one can 'recommend' a style for you. Also, the market doesnt care what your intentions are. It is gonna take you years to learn to trade regardless.

As MrGreen says, you can't be told how and what to trade but if you detail your lifestyle and trade expectations a little more it'll help people find you the more relevant paths.

Such details as how often would you like to trade, what sort of risk to reward are you looking for, what time frames suit you, what market and time zones etc?

Either way, scalping on a Micro account is a great way to learn price action, just start with support and resistance - it's more than enough for now!

Thanks my friend!!!

When scalping it needs a lot of experience.
You must be familiar with the "personality" of the pair.
Furthermore it's important to know at what times it moves or goes sideways.

I would recommend watching the 5min,15min and 1h charts simultaneously.

I prefer scalping on 15min charts.

Beware of Pivot and resistance zones.
You can scalp bar breakouts with setting SL tight.

Thanks to all of you too, well to give a little of my background, I'm from Panama, I work from 9am to 6pm EST as a Financial Officer, I'm more less familiarized with the EUR/USD, which is the market where I am making more money (DEMO Acct), I use limit but not Stop Loss, I watch it, and if I think the loss is too big, I cancel the position and try to make a comeback as yesterday at night I lost a lot with EUR/AUD. I know when I change it to Live acct. it will be different, because with the micro acct, with a low leverage the profits will be lower.

I read the news try to watch the trend, watch the 1Hr and 15 min charts, also investigate the Lows and Highs of the pairs and then I open a position according to all the research. At first I was a little emotional when opening a position, but all of that changed, now I focus on a limited bit of daily pips as a beginner.

I would like to trade daily if I can, sometimes at work I have time to open some positions, but for shorts periods "scalping", at night I have more time, but I will have to research and understand the others pairs.

I read some people wrote on this forum that it is almost impossible to live from trading Forex and the traders who profit from Forex are 5% of 95%, so I want it as an extra money, from 100 to infinite monthly, whatever I make is better than nothing, so my expectations are minimum $100 monthly is it lower I don't care =). I would like to be on the 5% =). If I fail on making money, I will try a couple of times more, if I continue failing so It is not for me, but right now on the Demo Acct am doing ok. So next month I will open my micro acct and see what happen. Wish me Luck!!!! hehehe

and thanks again for all your help, it has been very helpful.

Regards,

Edgar

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=39514

Surviving as a scalper with real money sounds easier than it is. Learn something on demo that you can do with real money.

Thanks, will check it right away.

One of the best pieces of advice I got early in my training was that everyoone is different, has different expections and different risk tolerances. He stated that the best style of trading will find you. In other words, the style that is most suited to you, makes the most sense and is most comfortable, is the style you should focus on developing.

In my case, I started as a swing trader because I thought it best suited me. After about 5 trades, I discovered how much risk was involved and changed my style to activer/scalper. I have never questioned my decision since then.

To quote the matrix

Morpheus: Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.

Same can be said for the trading realm and your particular style. No one can show it to you.

Razor

often, i say check this post.

Thanks people, is nice of you let me knowing all this great knowledge on this forum.

after almost 2 months, I blow up a 300 dollars account, almost blew up a 1500 one, and now I'm recovering from my losing, This is pocket money only, 2 months 2 bad months, but I learn from my bad experiences, this month up to now looks profitable, and I'm not going to make the same mistakes as last month. Last month I was profit by 875 pips, and then I open up a position, with 1 lot, I am trading with .10 lot only until I get more experience, and I let it go, but it went the other way, I didn't put a SL to that position, thinking it will come back and I will profit, It wasn't my case, it went all the way until I saw it -$1,000 then I close it, and try to recover the loss, 2nd. mistake "emotional trading", bad bad mistake, never again!!!! I hope!!! , I lose a couple of hundreds more. Long story short... my acct. finish with a margin call at 320 dollars, now it is at 490 and increasing. Little by Little I will recover, don't want to fund it until I learn more. I learn basics things:

1. SL is my friend. (2% or 3% of your capital)
2. Patience.
3. No fear.
4. Stop emotional trading.
5. Fundamentals helps, but not always.
6. You have to understand the trading.
7. Support and Resistance are the best of the world, know where they are, so you can open longs or shorts.
8. Never open a position without knowing where is the resistance or the support, even if you see is a rally, it can be a whipsaw and blow your account.

I know I have to learn more, but until know, for being a 2 months old trader, I think I made a great improvement. Lets see if this month is my month, I will be happy if I reach $1000 or near, my goal is 400 - 500 pips a month, or 25 pips daily, I have made 170 pips since 1st. of October, I know I will have wrong trades, Since the beginning of the month I have 2 wrong trades, 19 good ones.

I will continue my knowledge, as I read on a post, this is a business, is not a casino, you have to study even years and you will never stop learning. I read people that took years to profit, so I will not quit easy.

Regards,

Edgar

Edgar,
u can alternatively go with 1-2% instead of 2-3%.

if possible, demo trade for now. until very confident with how u trade.

Thanks for the advice, yes I have read the same, but I want to see if I can recover it, if not I will go demo for some months. and back to live after, right now I am on demo, practicing scalping on 5m and pending order for swing trade also. to see how I am on that, I'm focused also on EUR/USD, but will lookup for opportunities on other pairs too.

Actually I've learned that SL is your enemy. But low leverage, yes, that's a real friend.

Definitely a love/hate relationship.

Hi Edgar.

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date. Very interesting to hear.

You opened the thread asking about the optimal style. What did you end up settling on? Also, TF, pair, etc? Not looking to copy. Just interested in your experience and process.

Thanks.

Hi djc0:

I will try to resume all I did, Hope this help you also and maybe others with the same questions.
Stop
1. I began with EUR/USD because of the margin of 2 pips when you open a position, well depends on the broker and the kind of account you have.

2. Read the followings threads, all of them:

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=2331
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=193996

3. Always looking for others opinions at:

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=10372
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=177093

4. As I stated before, and you will see on other threads is SL (Stop Limit) is a must use in every position.

5. Don't open positions before a news, even if you know which way it must take north or south, because my little experience taught me that there can be whipsaws of more than 60 pips that can reach your SL, so wait 15 or more mins and see where does the trend is going.

6. I used some indicators, but the best ones, are Resistance and Supports, the others are fancy things, but some are useful.

7. Wait for 1hr candle to see if the trend continues, before closing a position if you are not sure when to close it.

8. I use pendings positions, also I scalp a little when I see the opportunity. Always between pivots.

If I remember something else I will post here, but with the links I gave you, it must be enough to become a better trader, I usually post on http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=193996, this is a thread of a friend of mine I made here, we are a little group of beginers, well I'm the less expirience on the thread, but we are usually posting a lot of news there, its good because you don't have to search the whole web for them, we make like a consolidation of news on this thread.

Regards,

Edgar

Thanks Edgar. I appreciate you taking the time to post back. I agree, less indicators and more understanding the "story" is certainly the way to go.