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Avoid this Rookie mistake

The wonderful thing about FX is that there are brokers out there, reputable ones, like Oanda, that allow you to put a whopping .50c at risk when you trade live. I make $10k (cash) trades occasionally, yet there are still FX trades where I set my stop loss at $6 and just walk away.

If a system doesn't work with $50.00 in the account it wont work with $5,000.00. So, you may as well just leave the other $4,950.00 on the sidelines until you know what you have is something good. Your goal should be to turn that $50.00 into about $60.00 in year of regular trading at limited 1% risk. Or, something like that. If you can do that then you should probably raise the stakes a bit. The market isn't going anywhere, but if your money is gone, you will.

Quoting Awesomeguy
with 10,000 USD or (whatever currency you use)! You need a lot of money to make good profits!
If you can make "good profits" with $10k, good by the standards that people obsess over on this forum at least, then you are probably trading "stupidly". I was walking on water in 2008 and 2009, and I averaged about 32%. That beats the pants of the pros folks! With a $10k account as a start that is about $6100 in two years. If people are here to make enough to buy a Porsche in 6 months they will destroy that 10k account in no time.

Start with a $50.00 account.
The market is my nation. Traders, my family. Hello, brothers and sisters!
Quoting StockKJay
The wonderful thing about FX is that there are brokers out there, reputable ones, like Oanda, that allow you to put a whopping .50c at risk when you trade live. I make $10k (cash) trades occasionally, yet there are still FX trades where I set my stop loss at $6 and just walk away.

If a system doesn't work with $50.00 in the account it wont work with $5,000.00. So, you may as well just leave the other $4,950.00 on the sidelines until you know what you have is something good. Your goal should be to turn that $50.00 into about $60.00 in year of regular...

very correctly said, first a beginner must try to make money off a 50$ account consistently only then he should try to enter something serious.
the problem with most beginners is that they see order size, pip sizes and they that one order can give them a porche and forget sane money management rules - it's one thing to write - 2% loss in one account, but difficult to implement it in real life ( discipline/greed/impatience)
Quoting StockKJay
If you can make "good profits" with $10k, good by the standards that people obsess over on this forum at least, then you are probably trading "stupidly". I was walking on water in 2008 and 2009, and I averaged about 32%. That beats the pants of the pros folks! With a $10k account as a start that is about $6100 in two years. If people are here to make enough to buy a Porsche in 6 months they will destroy that 10k account in no time.

Start with a $50.00 account.
So basicly learning forex is not a very useful way to spend your time unless you have atleast $100k lying around?

For me this would mean I have to spend 2012 working hard and learning forex to save that $100k so that there's actually a point. I was very much hoping that I could skip the working hard part and start right with learning forex.

Getting rich is so much work.
I learnt basics for a few weeks, then only traded demo
For 2 weeks.. I felt I was better of trading live with emotion, only
If even a small account.. Glad I made that move.

I'd be worried about trading demo for too long and getting
A nasty surprise on live when emotions kick in.
SYNeR, You can try a small live account to feel what it is like. I guarantee it will be totally different for you.

when you run a demo account, you may leave the market for several weeks, you will think it's really easy to earn some money when you see there is a huge increase in your account.
if there is a great loss, you will think it's not a big deal. it's not real money.
nice info... tq
The biggest mistake that rookies make is thinking that they will make money easily trading. Which is the biggest and most competitive game in the world.

If you are buying someone else is selling to you and you can be sure that they think they are making the right decision and you are wrong.
This is the subject that I do not fear, i dont fear going live on an account for one reason,

because I know the risks involved. I know that I will be using my own cold hard earned cash to trade with and if I make a mistake and blow my account, I have only MYSELF and MY decision within that trade to blame.

The only issue that i have a problem with is my confidence that i can trade and make consistent profits over my losses.

I am trading currently on a demo account, which i have made both losses and gains. I can safely say that I dont feel ready tbh, but i dont possess "fear" for the markets. If im honest, id say i possess a challenge to master my skills and become profitable consistently, rather than the fear of it breaking me in the end etc.

i do believe in learning by your mistakes, however I cannot understand why people would rather learn those mistakes aswel as losing money.

If this is what you really want (inlcuding myself) then you will treat the demo as real. Thats what it is for imho.
First of all whoever opens a live account should only deposit the money he/she can afford to lose!

Second of all make sure that you only risking 1-2% of your deposited capitals. That's the reason why they allow you to trade with micro and mini lots.

Finally stick to the plan! Meaning put SL and TP orders well and close the program! Never close manually just because you get nervous. Later you can analyse whether you made a good decision or not, established good stop level etc.
for a noob, if u put in big money you may have a good run even though you wont know anything about trading, but based on your results you think you're the king. Then you have some losses, try to double up by add to losing positions because they should turn around and by this time your big bankroll has been raped. At this point you realize you've got a lot to learn and start taking on alot more smaller positions as you are no longer as ignorant of risk management and you realize that you were gambling and didn't have a system that was sustainable for the long run....now you start trading like it's a business and not a get rich scheme and beat yourself up that you started out too big when you may have learned the same lessons trading small....spoken from experience...lesson is START OUT SMALL...but dont take my word for it-go for gold and hit the jackpot!!...and the next jackpot and the next all up until the point you realize that you dont really know how to hit the jackpot-that sux.
there is always a little bit of luck involved - also you can have bad luck.

I don't see the point of learning to trade on a daily chart - it tooks too much time - a M1 follows roughly the same "pattern" - with some more noise I admit, but well, the noise is always there, even when you don't see it.

Play that in demo, get a feeling for the market flow and as anyone will tell you: start small because there are always(!) times of bad luck or unpredicted actions beside the market which cannot be foreseen.

Only a small amount of people is aware of the fact, that google has payout/rollover times on adsense as example which are massive enough to effect the market - no indicator and no news will tell you such things.

That is what I mean with "luck" or the "chaotic nature" of the market. Everyone fails - the trick is to win more often than you lose and also - if you invest in the market, do it with money you don't need for living.
The key to success with Forex trading is having a strategy. There are many different proven strategies out there, all that matters is you choose one of them and stick with it. Chart out a plan of action and, here's the kicker, STICK TO IT!

You need to figure out how you're going to work the markets before you jump in there. Why before? Because once you are in the markets you are going to get really emotional and you will stop thinking clearly. We get emotional due to both success and failure, and both cloud our decision-making. Emotions are great! Just not when it comes to currency trading.

A lot of people don't put together a plan because they are scared to. They feel worried that they aren't smart enough to figure out how to act. But if you aren't smart enough to figure out a strategy when you have time and space to do so, how well do you think you're going to strategize when in the heat of the moment?

The fact of the matter is you don't need to be smart to succeed at Forex. You don't need to be smart to come up with a plan for trading currencies. Just follow the strategy of another Forex trader who was successful before you.

For example, using a strategy that revolves around trends is a great idea. Lots of people have made lots of money by noticing signals that correspond to a possible gain or loss in the market and then acting accordingly. Basically this strategy revolves around attempting to predict future movements by learning from pasty movements. Remember that old saw about history repeating itself? Might as well make some money from that insight.

Technical analysis also offers a practical avenue for Forex trading. Basically with this strategy you'll just be making note of the crossover, the upsides and downsides of the market, to get a good idea of when to buy and when to sell.

No strategy that you could choose is going to perfect. You are going to lose some money no matter what, but with the right strategy you'll gain a lot more. What's most important is that you pick a strategy and you stick with it, no matter what happens in the market!
  • Post #33
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  • Edited 11:43am Jan 20, 2012 11:12am | Edited 11:43am
Quoting adianto
For example, using a strategy that revolves around trends is a great idea. Lots of people have made lots of money by noticing signals that correspond to a possible gain or loss in the market and then acting accordingly. Basically this strategy revolves around attempting to predict future movements by learning from pasty movements.
Not exactly. There is no prediction involved in trend following. The key word is "following." Simply identify the trend, then draw a line connecting the highs or lows. Get in and stay in until price breaks the line. Fine-tune it by learning when a break is likely to be significant or is just over-shooting a little. You'll learn that with experience. Watch for candlestick patterns and traditional chart patterns for signs that the break is or is not meaningful.

Quoting adianto
Technical analysis also offers a practical avenue for Forex trading. Basically with this strategy you'll just be making note of the crossover, the upsides and downsides of the market, to get a good idea of when to buy and when to sell.
I've never found this to be profitable. By the time you're sure the cross isn't going to cross right back again, the juicy part of the move is over. You're getting in late, or worse, at the end. Or noise eats you alive.

If this sort of thing worked, anyone could make a fortune with a simple software program. No one is making a fortune with software programs, regardless of what they claim when trying to sell you one. If they were, the banks would have them and you wouldn't be hearing about rogue traders losing billions at Goldman Sachs. It would all be robots. No bonuses or golden parachutes.

For retail traders, the safest and most profitable course is trend following. As for all the emotional nonsense -- just say no. You don't have to get hysterical because you're trading. You'll win some and you'll lose some, just like everyone else. The only trick to profitable trading is to be sure your profits are larger than your losses. "Cut your losses short and let your profits run." That's it and that's all.

Regarding that, I would add don't look for your ring under the street lamp instead of the place you lost it. If you can't let your profits run, or you can't cut your losses short, don't try to fix that problem by searching for a holy grail strategy. Address and overcome the real problem.
Quoting Forexnuts
I have come across quite a few threads where newbies post trading blip stories where their accounts were wiped out in a matter of minutes. Rule 1: Always start of with a demo account, irrespective of how much experience or knowledge you may have [on fx markets] Rule 2: Always start small Rule 3: Do not assume anything.. Rule 4: Stay well informed Sure, these are general tips but newbies would do well to review it again and again.
Fortunately this good piece of advice have been repeated on different platforms but sadly enough there are some new fresh traders who would jump right into real accounts believing that would give them the real experience of trading. Like how?, when you do not know the very basics of how to swim would you jump right into a pool? No but you would find the very new traders assuming real accounts would give them the real experience. I totally agree with your suggestion/ advice .
I really couldn't agree more. Don't invest more money than you can afford. I would also add not to use a lot size larger than what your account can afford, even if you see a signal that you think is good.
Can anybody tell me how to create custom timeframes like a ten minute chart?
I agree that, forex is high risky, so strictly risk control plan should be conducted, I always suggest lower leverage, normally should below 100, stoplost and short term are helpful.
i think you should practice demo untill you get to the point when mentally you can trade live and make decisions just like demo.
i am against investing more money after loss. different trading methods should be considered if this it the case.
Quoting Pipsgeek
{quote} So basicly learning forex is not a very useful way to spend your time unless you have atleast $100k lying around? For me this would mean I have to spend 2012 working hard and learning forex to save that $100k so that there's actually a point. I was very much hoping that I could skip the working hard part and start right with learning forex. Getting rich is so much work.
i am confused i have 10k account i risk 1%i make 1k a week and thats an average i dont miss but then i didnt understand that i shouldnt be able to do this so i suppose i should concentrate harder to reduce this to where it is acceptable
Sorry to post my questions here but i can't create a new thread yet

what's the meaning of BE ?
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