No more BS - What have you learned?

Tell me what you've learnt in your trading experience

I'm talking about everything BUT the entry and strategy side of things

Yea yea patience and all that... give me something new

What have you REALLY learnt - ?

What I learned is:

1) The market doesn't give a $hit about me or anyone of us.

2) Must stay nimble. If your position isn't going your way, kill it. Exit take the loss and move on.

3) Protective Stop Loss everything.

4) Market at times seems erratic, there is logic in its pricing movement. We may not see it because of our particular strategy.

5) Its ok to go off strategy. See an entry that hasn't form to your strategy, take it anyway. You never know where it might take you

6) Don't be afraid of all timeframes. If your favorite timeframe isn't giving you the entry/exits you're looking for, move to another timeframe. Don't lock yourself in any one particular timeframe.

7) Every position needs a target. Those with the "let it ride" strategies won't work. You get an entry, place a stop, and place a profit target. Whether its 20 pips away or 500 pips away, you're trades need a goal. (something to aim for)

... thats all I've got for the moment.

trading is a lot more like playing poker that most care to admit. Identify losers really quickly and try to string out the winners for as much as possible. There is not much else to it.

I will give You such answer what You will not have heard

What i have learned is that - i can wait.

And to others i can suggest to learn how to wait.

However, i need to practice it.


Best,
Tom

Want a true NO BS of what I've learn?


You'll need:
A Stop order, take profit order, and an entry order.


--Open the trade and cross your fingers.

That I am a gambler.

Something which never showed up in my real life.

I've learned to be responsable about my actions (trades).

1. Technical analysis alone is nothing more than complicating a coin toss.
2. An edge will never be found in a price pattern or a candle stick formation.
3. There must be "real" reasons as to why a trend exists (and that's only assuming that you believe in market randomness / nonrandomness)
4. The slower you build your profits, the faster you can build your fortune. (leverage related)
5. The one most significant impact to your trading success is your ability to know when to get out (whether you are in a profitable or losing trade is not important)

I think those are my big five... probably a few more but those have to do more with personal development (and who really gives a rats ass about those, right?)

(1)..... i have learnt that most traders know just enough about trading to make themselves truely miserable.....

(2)..... i have learnt this is laregly due to suspicous minds..... they doubt everything...... they doubt the trend will continue, they doubt the broker is honest, they doubt the price action justified, they doubt others forex trading results, they doubt themselves capable of winning ...... and on and on...... those doubts negatively effect results.....

the successful are cautious...... the yet to be's are suspicious..... there in lies the difference......

//----

or i might be wrong in which case i've learned nothing...... not sure......h

LOL
The perfect list.
1-5 Pretty much on the mark. I'm saving this list for my personal collection of market rants.

... how the biggest game in the world is played.

1. screen time = intuition
2. intuition + balls = winning trades
3. winning trades + stop loss = rising equity

That I don't have to "win" every time in order to win overall.

That really lessened the stress that i had before. Now I am fine if I have a losing trade.

I've tried hoards of, "free," methods and paid for some courses even.

I've found that just about all of the, "wizbang, enter when this crosses in this indicator,"method usually are pretty much absolute garbadge.

I've also found that the methods that I've had the most luck with involve different variations on only two three things:

1. Trend trading....trying to get in with the overall flow.
2. Support and resistance.
3. Breakouts where price breaks and makes a good move because all the other traders see it too and pile on.

I've also found that you can screw up any method by all the common new trader mistakes and faults no matter how good the purported method. That is: much of the ANY methods success has to do with the trader.

Nice thread, and quite interesting the ppl posting in it so far.

Some of the things I've learnt(in no particular order):

1. There is no such thing as a good or a bad trade, only a trade as per your rules or not as per the rules. A trade outside of the rules that makes a profit is still a bad trade, a trade within the rules that makes a loss is still a good trade.

2. Know thyself. One of the most impt things in trading is to find a trading strategy (time frame) that fits in with your personality.

3. "There are professionals on all time frames" - HiddenGap

4. Compunding is really the 8th wonder of the world.

5. Once in a trade, if I find myself asking myself, "why isn't this going my way" there is only one thing to do - get out, take the loss.

6. What matters more than how much I win, is how much I lose, when I lose.

Cheers,
K.

i learned that
every person has a different strategy as they have different personalities.
for me most of rules (fx mantras) did not work so i turned against them
and i m increasing my account 100 % monthly.
i never use stoplosses
yet i have not in loss from one complete month. yes some trades go wrong. but my profits increased every day.
experience comes only after losses. so stop crying and keep practicing demo. build experience & patience.
once u find the right strategy. improve it. and road to success will come towards you.
the best analysis is when u take a look on charts, take a look on economic calender, and jump in.
a detailed analysis which took 1- 2 hours will make u punch in ur face

I will never have 100% confidence in my trade.

I must never have 100% confidence in my trade.

The single most important thing I've learned, which i feel has helped me the most to this point, which is ignored by 95% of the people here:

-Don't take advice from losers*. Not even a little. No, they don't have a good point.



*taking this advice results in a paradox that may blow your mind.


Edit: V and what Craig said V

I have learned that 95% of the time the market is not worth trading. If I knew the exact time that the market was tradeable, I would be a multimillionaire FX trader in a short amount of time. My biggest challenge going forward is to tune out the 95% of the trading day/week that is not worth trading. The holy grail to me is knowing the exact time when my set up occurs rather than constantly waiting for it to appear.

1. There is no one path, what ever works is what ever works, even if it goes against the consensus one gets in a forum.
2. The guys who really post the big numbers over long periods of time all seem to have the same personality type, they are methodical and logical. Research, test, execute & evaluate...then repeat.
3. Anybody that can't define a trading concept in a few sentences, or claims it cannot be defined, has no idea what they are talking about.